Pitcairnia flammea var. corcovadensis was formed by the reduction of P. corcovadensis. The re-establishment of the latter taxon is based on two points: (1) P. corcovadensis occurs sympatrically with P. flammea in many locations, and (2) a morphometric analysis on a natural population involving these two taxa showed that they were distinct and no intermediate form was found despite their overlapping flowering seasons. Herbarium collections were examined to verify that this distinction is consistent throughout their geographic distribution. Despite the apparent reproductive isolation, artificial hybrids can be produced between P. corcovadensis, and P. flammea. Five morphological traits were recorded for 221 six-month old seedlings from artificial hybrids and parental taxa that were grown under the same controlled conditions. Analysis of variance and discriminant analysis on seedlings showed the differences to be genetically based. A brief review of the synonyms related to P. flammea complex concluded that P. lancifolia var. lancifolia, P. lancifolia var. minor, and P. pumila are synonyms of P. corcovadensis. A re-description, an epitype establishment, geographic distribution, description and list of material examined are provided for P. corcovadensis.

Communicating Editor: Paul Wilson

The assignment of collections belonging to the genus Trema has been reassessed using numerical taxonomy methods. Observation in the field in Togo, West Africa, confirmed high phenotypic variation but not the previously asserted lack of character concordance within the T. guineensis complex. This study was carried out to assess the circumscription of taxa in the area. Distance between specimens was computed using the Gower's general coefficient of similarity and the non-parametric MODECLUS cluster analysis was used to discover how the specimens segregated. The existence of three clusters in the 158 specimen dataset using 44 morphological characters was suggested by MODECLUS. Canonical discriminant analysis supported the recognition of those three clusters using 40 morphological characters. Classificatory discriminant analysis showed that all specimens except one are identified correctly by the discriminant function. We suggest that three species be recognized in Togo and the neighboring countries: T. orientalis, T. africana, and T. nitens. A key to the species is included and the advantages of the method suggested here are discussed.

Communicating Editor: Paul Wilson

Descriptions, keys, distribution, ecology, and notes on taxonomic problems and comparisons with related taxa are provided for seven new species of Phaseolus from México. The new species are classified in informal Phaseolus groups, in accordance with a recent phylogenetic analysis using molecular and non-molecular characters. Phaseolus macvaughii and P. perplexus are members of the P. leptostachyus group and P. pauciflorus group, respectively, Phaseolus juquilensis, P. marechalii, and P. xolocotzii are part of the P. polystachios group, and P. hintonii and P. zimapanensis, form a well-supported clade with P. xanthotrichus, within the P. tuerckheimii group.

Communicating Editor: Matt Lavin

Glycine tabacina, a wild perennial relative of soybean, comprises a widespread polyploid complex in Australia and islands of the Pacific Ocean. Data from a single-copy nuclear locus, histone H3-D, confirm the existence of two polyploid races. Plants of one of these (AAB′B′) are nonstoloniferous and have linear leaflets. One of the genomes of this race is that of an A-genome diploid, identified by the histone data most closely with a race of G. tomentella. Its other genome (B′B′) was donated by a nonstoloniferous diploid species that is sister to all of the remaining B-genome species, which are stoloniferous. Plants of the second race of polyploid G. tabacina (BBB′B′) are stoloniferous, have ovate leaflets, and combine a B′ genome with a genome of the core B-genome diploid group. The likely source of the shared B′ genome is a species previously referred to as G. sp. aff tabacina, that is here formally named Glycine stenophita.

Communicating Editor: Alan Whittemore

Vicariant biogeographic relationships have been commonly sought, inferred, or assumed between Africa and South America. Yet for disjunct distributions involving North America and the Old World, Africa is rarely considered. We present a molecular biogeographic study in the legume family that suggests a vicariant biogeographical relationship between Africa and North America. Such a relationship is likely to be shown with additional phylogenetic analysis to be prevalent among legume groups and other taxa that diversified during the Tertiary in seasonally dry tropical vegetation. If so, this finding would strengthen the hypothesis that the Tertiary North Atlantic land bridge had a significant influence on the Cenozoic formation of continental biotas, including that of Africa.

Communicating Editor: Jeff H. Rettig

Members of the traditional genus Dentaria (Brassicaceae) comprise about twenty species disjunctly distributed in three biogeographical areas: eastern North America, western North America, and Eurasia. The group has variously been treated as a distinct genus, as a subgenus of Cardamine, or as several sections within Cardamine. Using chloroplast DNA sequence data from the trnL intron and ndhF gene we examine the evolutionary relationships of traditional Dentaria species to Cardamine sensu stricto and the validity of Schulz's sectional treatment of Cardamine (including Dentaria). Sequence data were obtained from nine Dentaria species, representing all three disjunct biogeographical groups and two of Schulz's sections, and six other Cardamine species representing a range of morphological variation within the genus and three of Schulz's sections. Results from maximum parsimony analysis show multiple origins for Dentaria within Cardamine and do not correspond well to Schulz's sectional classification. Cardamine including Dentaria appears to form a monophyletic group with Nasturtium as its sister-group. We also find strong support for monophyly of the eastern North American species group previously placed in the genus Dentaria. Further, we find that C. clematitis and C. flagellifera, considered by some to be conspecific, are distinct and not closely related.

Communicating Editor: James R. Manhart

A phylogenetic analysis of Cyperaceae tribe Cariceae was conducted using chloroplast DNA sequences from the gene ndhF and trnL intron and trnL-trnF intergenic spacer. Twenty nine taxa within Cariceae, four outgroup genera, and approximately 3,000 bp of cpDNA were included in the study. Our analysis reveals a monophyletic Cariceae with 100% bootstrap support. Within Cariceae, the South African genus Schoenoxiphium forms a clade that is sister to the rest of the tribe. Our results indicate that genus Carex is paraphyletic with respect to Kobresia, Cymophyllus, and Uncinia. Cymophyllus and Uncinia are nested within an assemblage containing Kobresia, Cymophyllus, and several unispicate Carex species. At the subgeneric level within Carex, only Carex subgenus Vignea appears monophyletic. Several well supported clades were identified within the Cariceae, including the Schoenoxiphium clade, Uncinia clade, Carex subgenus Indocarex/Carex clade, and subgenus Vignea clade; however, relationships among some clades are only moderately supported. Interpretation of the phylogenetic patterns and an account of past phylogenetic hypotheses with respect to the new data are provided.

Communicating Editor: Jeff H. Rettig

The relationships of Lycopodium and Lycopodiella (Lycopodiaceae) were investigated based on two plastid data sets (rbcL gene and trnL intron) from a representative sample of 21 species. Separate and combined analyses of the data reveal consistent patterns of relationship. There is strong support for monophyly of Lycopodium and Lycopodiella. There is also support for monophyly of species groups or sections sensu Øllgaard (Lycopodium, Diphasium, Magellanica, Complanata, Lycopodiella, and Campylostachys). The combined data provide new evidence of relationships between subgeneric groups. In Lycopodium, section Pseudodiphasium groups with section Magellanica, section Obscura groups with section Diphasium, and section Annotina groups with section Lycopodium. In Lycopodiella, sections Lateristachys and Caroliniana group with section Campylostachys and this group is sister to section Lycopodiella. Tentative calibration of the phylogenetic tree using fossil evidence indicates a minimum age of Early Jurassic (208 Myr) for the split between Lycopodium and Lycopodiella. Reticulate fossil spores from Upper Permian records are potentially of Lycopodium affinity and indicate that early cladogenesis in Lycopodium may be even older. An evaluation of biogeographic and phylogenetic patterns in these two genera shows a striking difference from that in Huperzia. Sections within Lycopodium and Lycopodiella have broad geographic distributions, whereas molecular data partition the much larger Huperzia group into predominantly neotropical and paleotropical clades.

Communicating Editor: Alan Whittemore

The taxonomy of the dogroses (Rosa sect. Caninae) is notoriously problematic and all the members of the section are characterized by a form of unbalanced meiosis (so-called “canina meiosis”). We used a novel combination of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers and elliptic Fourier analysis of leaflet shape to investigate relationships within and between the seven common dogrose taxa in the Nordic countries. A between-individual genetic distance matrix calculated on the basis of the presence/absence of RAPD bands was used in a non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis. Population data from elliptic Fourier analysis of leaflet shape were analyzed with canonical variates analysis. Elliptic Fourier analysis of leaflet shape provided a valuable complement to traditional, often subjectively-assessed, morphological characters and detected subtle patterns of within- and between-taxon differentiation that are generally consistent with the relationships recognized in the current taxonomic treatments of the section. In contrast, RAPDs emphasize the discontinuities between three groups of taxa and suggest that R. canina and the two subspecies of R. dumalis, as well as the taxon-pair R. sherardii and R. villosa subsp. mollis, are more closely related than can be concluded on the basis of morphological characters.

Communicating Editor: Alan Whittemore

Results of phylogenetic analyses of nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences from Heliantheae s.l. (sensu lato) lead us to conclude that Pelucha should be placed taxonomically in Helenieae s.s. (sensu stricto) rather than in Plucheeae or Inuleae s.l. The sister-group relationship between Pelucha and a clade comprising Psathyrotes and Trichoptilium inferred from nuclear ribosomal DNA trees is in accord with morphological characteristics shared by the three genera and with their common restriction to desert environments of western North America. The shrubby habit of Pelucha is unusual in the otherwise mostly-herbaceous Helenieae s.s. and is conceivably the result of evolution on islands in the Gulf of California. In a revised subtribal classification of Helenieae s.s., two new subtribes are erected: Psathyrotinae, for the group comprising Pelucha, Psathyrotes, and Trichoptilium, and Plateileminae, for Plateilema. Gaillardiinae is delimited to comprise Balduina, Gaillardia, and Helenium s.s., Marshalliinae is retained for Marshallia, and Riddelliinae is reinstated for Amblyolepis, Baileya, Hymenoxys sensu Bierner, Psilostrophe, and Tetraneuris.

Communicating Editor: Jerrold I. Davis

The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of 18S–26S nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) was sequenced in 65 taxa representing most coneflowers (i.e., species in Dracopis, Echinacea, Ratibida, and Rudbeckia) and other taxa representing 21 outgroup genera of tribe Heliantheae. Results of parsimony analysis of the rDNA dataset by itself and in combination with the cpDNA dataset uphold the hypothesis from an earlier cpDNA restriction site study that Echinacea is not closely related to the other three genera of coneflowers. The data support placement of Echinacea in subtribe Zinniinae. The remaining three coneflower genera represent a monophyletic lineage corresponding to subtribe Rudbeckiinae sensu H. Robinson. The rDNA data support two sublineages in Rudbeckia congruent with the two traditionally recognized subgenera, subg. Macrocline and subg. Rudbeckia. In subg. Macrocline, two geographic areas of diversification are indicated: southeastern and western United States. The widespread species R. laciniata is placed strongly with the western lineage of subg. Macrocline. The rDNA data support transfer of Dracopis to Rudbeckia subg. Macrocline, a relationship also supported by multiple morphological characters. The rDNA data do not confidently resolve the sister group of Rudbeckiinae from among the members of Heliantheae investigated. Multiple hypotheses are suggested for the outgroup taxa, such as expanding subtribe Zinniinae to include Echinacea and Trichocoryne, a genus previously regarded as belonging to subtribe Hymenopappinae (Heleneae or Heliantheae sensu lat.). Our findings further support expansion of subtribe Engelmanniinae to include Balsamorhiza, Borrichia, and Wyethia even though these taxa lack ray floret complexes and have fertile disc ovaries. We suggest that bioprospectors might usefully search among taxa of Zinniinae for bioactive substances similar to the immune stimulants of Echinacea.

Communicating Editor: Alan Whittemore