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Phylogenetic systematics and character evolution in the angiosperm family Haloragaceae¹

University of Connecticut, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Storrs, Connecticut 06269 USA

ABSTRACT

The poorly known Haloragaceae R. Br. (Saxifragales) are highly diverse in habit (small trees to submerged aquatics) and labile in floral merosity (2–4), both uncommon among the core eudicots. This family has a cosmopolitan distribution, but taxonomic diversity is concentrated in Australia. An explicit phylogenetic approach has not previously been utilized to examine relationships or character evolution in this family. We used molecular evidence from nrDNA ITS and cpDNA trnK and matK regions under both Bayesian and parsimony analyses to address phylogenetic relationships. Combined molecular analyses defined a monophyletic Haloragaceae with the woody genera (Haloragodendron, Glischrocaryon) sister to the rest. Relationships among many genera were well resolved, with genera as currently delimited generally well supported, although there were notable exceptions; a new genus (Trihaloragis) is recognized, and the aquatic genus Meionectes is again distinct from Haloragis. Three new species combinations are also recognized. There are multiple (two or three) origins of the submerged aquatic habit in the family and potentially an intermediate reversal to the terrestrial habit, neither previously demonstrated in a core eudicot family using an explicit phylogenetic hypothesis. Ancestral character analyses suggest two origins of trimerous flowers and multiple reductions to dimerous flowers throughout Haloragaceae.

Key Words: aquatic • Bayes • floral merosity • Haloragaceae • ITS • matK • phylogenetics

Received for publication December 22, 2006. Accepted for publication October 15, 2007.

FOOTNOTES

¹ The authors are especially grateful to S. Jacobs and P. Wilson (NSW) for extensive field assistance in Australia; also to R. Bayer, R. Cranfield, G. Crow, C. B. Hellquist, Y. Kadono, C. Martine, N. Ritter, J. Rourke, and G. Towler for assistance and/or collections in the field. They thank N. Tippery for assistance with Latin descriptions; P. Lewis, L. Lewis, C. Jones, and three anonymous reviewers for helpful discussion and/or comments on the manuscript; and the staff of the following herbaria for their generosity in loaning specimens: C, CAL, CANB, CBG, HBG, MEL, NSW, PERTH, R, UBC, UPS, USCH. This research was funded by NSF DDIG 0309123, NEBC Graduate Student Research Award Program, Karling Graduate Student Research award (BSA), William R. Anderson Student Research Grant (ASPT), and the University of Connecticut Bamford Endowment Fund.

² Author for correspondence (e-mail: miclmood{at}cyllene.uwa.edu.au ; current address: University of Western Australia, Department of Plant Biology, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia

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