Although the Lembophyllaceae has undergone considerable revision during the last century, the generic and familial level relationships of this pleurocarpous moss family are still poorly understood. To address this problem, a generic revision of the Lembophyllaceae based on molecular data was undertaken. We analyzed two plastid markers, the trnL-trnF and the psbT-psbH region in combination with the ITS2 of nuclear ribosomal DNA. The molecular data reveal that the current circumscription of the family is too narrow and that several genera previously placed in the Lembophyllaceae should be reincluded. The family includes: Bestia, Camptochaete, Dolichomitra, Dolichomitriopsis, Fallaciella, Fifea, Isothecium, Lembophyllum, Looseria stat. nov., Pilotrichella, Rigodium, Tripterocladium, and Weymouthia. Looseria contains a single species: Looseria orbiculata comb. nov. Acrocladium is excluded and provisionally accommodated in the Lepyrodontaceae. Generic limits supported by the molecular data support a return to the early twentieth century family concept of Brotherus. The analyses indicate that the segregate genus Orthostichella is distinct from its parent genus Pilotrichella, probably at the family level. Whereas Pilotrichella is resolved within the Lembophyllaceae, Orthostichella clusters with Porotrichum and Porothamnium forming a clade (OPP-clade) sister to the remaining Neckeraceae and Lembophyllaceae. Hence, the Neckeraceae is paraphyletic. Recognition of the OPP-clade as a new family is desirable but awaits the results of detailed ongoing morphological studies.

Using a morphological dataset of 136 vegetative and reproductive characters, we infer the tracheophyte phylogeny with an emphasis on early divergences of ferns (monilophytes). The dataset comprises morphological, anatomical, biochemical, and some DNA structural characters for a taxon sample of 35 species, including representatives of all major lineages of vascular plants, especially ferns. Phylogenetic relationships among vascular plants are reconstructed using maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference. Both approaches yield similar relationships and provide evidence for three major lineages of extant vascular plants: lycophytes, ferns, and seed plants. Lycophytes are sister to the euphyllophyte clade, which comprises the fern and seed plant lineages. The fern lineage consists of five clades: horsetails, whisk ferns, ophioglossoids, marattioids, and leptosporangiate ferns. This lineage is supported by characters of the spore wall and has a parsimony bootstrap value of 76%, although the Bayesian posterior probability is only 0.53. Each of the five fern clades is well supported, but the relationships among them lack statistical support. Our independent phylogenetic analyses of morphological evidence recover the same deep phylogenetic relationships among tracheophytes as found in previous studies utilizing DNA sequence data, but differ in some ways within seed plants and within ferns. We discuss the extensive independent evolution of the five extant fern clades and the evidence for the placement of whisk ferns and horsetails in our morphological analyses.

Cyathea atrocastanea , a new species of tree fern is described, illustrated, and compared with similar species. This new species should be classified as vulnerable (VU) according to the IUCN criteria. This species is distinct by its atrocastaneous and scurfy petiole, and rachis, and by the broad ovate and yellowish, nonbullate scales on the costulae and midveins. A key to the exindusiate species from southeastern Brazil with nondenticulate petiole scales is also presented.

Pinus subsection Ponderosae includes approximately 17 tree species distributed from western Canada to Nicaragua. We inferred phylogenetic relationships of multiple accessions for all widely recognized species from 3.7 kb of CpDNA sequence (matK, trnD-trnY-trnE spacer, chlN-ycf1 spacer, and ycf1). The sister relationship between subsections Ponderosae and Australes was corroborated with high branch support, and several clades, most with lower branch support, were identified within subsection Ponderosae. Pinus jeffreyi was sister to P. coulteri, P. sabiniana, and P. torreyana. Californian accessions of P. ponderosa and P. washoensis occurred in a clade separate from P. arizonica and P. scopulorum from the southwestern United States. Western Mexican species P. cooperi and P. durangensis had CpDNA sequences identical to one or more accessions of P. arizonica and P. scopulorum, and together these taxa were closely related to clades of P. engelmannii-P. devoniana (Mexico) and P. douglasiana-P. yecorensis-P. maximinoi (western Mexico to Guatemala). A well supported clade of taxa from Mexico and Central America included P. pseudostrobus, P. montezumae, P. hartwegii, P. maximinoi (one of three accessions), P. nubicola, and P. donnell-smithii. Chloroplast DNA sequences were nonmonophyletic for most species, although the degree of support varied.

Piper picobonitoënse (clade Schillria), a new endemic species of Piperaceae from Cordillera Nombre de Dios, Honduras, is described and illustrated. Distinguishing characteristics of this species include distichous leaves; lamina lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, slightly falcate, the apex extremely narrow and long-acuminate, base acute to obtuse and equilateral, drying thin-chartaceous; spikes erect, green, free of leaf-base; and triangular floral bracts, W-shaped on upper margin, glabrous. A discussion and an identification key to morphologically related species in Honduras are included.

Piper picobonitoënse (clade Schilleria), es descrita e ilustrada como una nueva especie endémica de las Piperáceas de la Cordillera Nombre de Dios, Honduras. Características distintivas de esta especie incluyen hojas dísticas; lámina lanceolada o elíptica angosta, levemente falcada, el ápice extremadamente agudo y largo-acuminado, la base aguda a obtusa e inequilátera, delgado-cartácea al secarse; las espiguillas erectas, verdes, libres de la base de la hoja; brácteas florales triangulares, en forma de W en parte superior de la margen, glabras. Se incluye una discusión y una clave de identificación para las especies morfológicamente relacionadas en Honduras.

Corallorhiza striata is a wide-ranging, morphologically variable, mycoheterotrophic species complex distributed across North America. Objectives of this study were to assess relationships and test validity of previously delimited varieties of C. striata, including the recently described C. bentleyi. Two plastid DNA regions were sequenced for individuals from several populations across North America, identifying four major clades. The large-flowered C. striata var. striata (northern U.S.A., southern Canada) was sister to the smaller-flowered var. vreelandii (southwestern U.S.A., Mexico), and these were sister to a Californian clade with relatively intermediate-sized flowers. C. striata var. involuta (Mexico) and the endangered C. bentleyi (eastern U.S.A.) shared a close relationship, sister to the remaining C. striata. Principal Components Analysis and Nonparametric Multivariate Analysis of Variance on nine quantitative morphological characters, using plastid DNA clades as independent variables, demonstrated strong correlations between molecular and morphological groupings. Morphological analyses supported differentiation of both C. striata var. involuta and C. bentleyi relative to all other accessions of C. striata, suggesting their recognition as separate species; these findings will have future implications for conservation. The biogeographic scenario was more complex than previously thought, with members of two major plastid DNA lineages (C. bentleyi /var. involuta and the remaining C. striata) existing in Mexico and U.S.A./Canada. These findings contribute to a burgeoning body of data on poorly studied North American plant distributions extending into southern Mexico.

A new species of Rhipsalis (Cactaceae) from Rio de Janeiro State, in southwestern Brazil, is described and illustrated. The new Rhipsalis aurea is circumscribed in the subgenus Erythrorhipsalis and is morphologically most similar to R. pulchra Loefgr., but is distinct by the smaller, suberect habit, smaller secondary stem segments of determinate growth, golden yellow flowers, depressed-globose fruit, and epidermis and pollen grain features. Following the IUCN criteria this new species is vulnerable due to its restricted area of occurrence and reduction of the quality of habitat observed in the present and projected for the future. A taxonomic key to the subgenus Erythrorhipsalis is included.

Taxonomic treatments recognize three varieties of Cercis canadensis: with variety canadensis, widespread throughout the eastern United States, and varieties texensis and mexicana, found east and west of the Pecos River in Texas, respectively. The distribution of Cercis continues southward into northeastern Mexico, but complex variation in leaf shape has confounded straightforward application of varietal names to the Mexican plants. To clarify the taxonomy of Cercis in Mexico, we conducted a morphometric analysis with 281 herbarium specimens, including a representative set of samples from Texas. Correlation and principal component analysis of 12 characters recovered two groups that correspond to the presence versus absence of branchlet pubescence. These groups are geographically distinct at the northern and southern extremes of the focus area but exhibit a large central region of overlap. No other discontinuities in character states were discovered to corroborate this division. Leaf shape varies continuously from ovate-acuminate at the northern and southern extremes to subreniform in the central region, suggesting clinal adaptation to the mesic versus xeric environments in which the plants occur. Based on our data, we apply the varietal epithets mexicana and, provisionally, texensis to Mexican C. canadensis with pubescent and glabrous branchlets, respectively, the latter based on geographic proximity to plants in Texas in the absence of definitive evidence on the phenotypic distinction between varieties canadensis and texensis.

Several hundred angiosperm genera range from Africa to Asia and Australia, among them Bridelia (Phyllanthaceae), with ca. 40 species, including commercially important timber trees. We here use nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences from herbarium material, plus new collections from China, to test the monophyly of Bridelia and to infer the geologic times when it acquired its disjunct range. For the Southeast Asian mainland, within-species sampling, including material collected close to the type localities, allowed testing current species concepts. Based on a sample of 114 chloroplast matK sequences of Phyllanthaceae, Bridelia is monophyletic and sister to an Asian clade which requires resurrecting an older generic name to make the African Cleistanthus monophyletic. Within Bridelia, gene trees from the combined data (3,177 aligned nucleotides from 25 species of Bridelia plus outgroups) agree with most morphological species boundaries. Exceptions are that B. tomentosa must include B. harmandii and B. curtisii to become monophyletic and that B. fordii is distinct from B. retusa. The topology, together with relaxed clock divergence times, implies that Bridelia dispersed from tropical Asia to Africa once or twice between 10 and 1.85 million years ago (Ma). Australia was reached, probably from New Guinea, at least twice, both times ca. 2 Ma. Together with earlier studies, there are now at least eight cases of Neogene long distance dispersal between Africa and Asia (followed by speciation), with no directional bias apparent so far.

The mulberry family Moraceae comprises 37 genera and approximately 1,100 species distributed throughout tropical and temperate regions worldwide. Moraceae exhibit a complex array of inflorescence architectures, breeding systems, and pollination syndromes, which forms the basis of traditional taxonomic classification. However, morphologically based classification conflicts with evolutionary relationships proposed by molecular phylogenetics. In this study we assembled a morphological character matrix for analysis separately and in combination with existing molecular data. We evaluated 81 vegetative, reproductive, and wood anatomical characters for 94 species representing nearly all Moraceae genera. Using parsimony and Bayesian methods, these characters were evaluated with respect to ndhF chloroplast and 26S nuclear DNA sequences. Topological comparisons tested whether opposing classification schemes are more or less supported by the data. Results did not support any classification of Moraceae based on morphology. We present a revised tribal classification and describe a new tribe, Maclureae, revise the membership of tribe Castilleae and describe two subtribes, Castillineae and Antiaropsineae, and reinstate the genera Malaisia (including Malaisia scandens) and Sloetia (including Sloetia elongata). Lastly we discuss the evolution of inflorescence architecture in relation to other floral features.

Pieris is an eastern Asian (EA)-eastern North American (NA) disjunct genus with P. cubensis in the West Indies (WI). In this study, we inferred interspecific relationships using nucleotide sequences of the internal and external transcribed spacer regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA and chloroplast genome (matK, trnL-F, and psbA-trnH). Pieris nana was sister to the rest of Pieris, i.e. Pieris subg. Pieris. The species of subg. Pieris diverged consecutively in the order of Pieris cubensis, P. swinhoei, P. floribunda, P. phillyreifolia, and P. formosa plus P. japonica. Neither section Phillyreoides nor section Pieris was monophyletic, and P. phillyreifolia of NA was more closely related to two of the EA species (P. formosa and P. japonica) than to the other NA species (P. floribunda). Morphological characters, such as inflorescence position, testa cell shape, and placenta attachment, used to define the sections were homoplasious. Dispersal and vicariance analyses suggested that ancestral populations of Pieris were widespread in the composite area of EA, NA, and WI, and two dispersal events may have occurred from the New World to the Old World. Pieris cubensis may have originated as the result of a dispersal event from the composite area of NA and EA during the early diversification of Pieris in the late Eocene.

Alectra (Orobanchaceae) consists of primarily hemiparasitic herbaceous species distributed mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, with two species native to tropical America, and two widespread species extending out of Africa into India and China. Despite containing an economically important noxious agricultural weed, Alectra has never been the subject of a phylogenetic analysis. The monophyly of Alectra was assessed using DNA sequences from the nuclear (internal transcribed spacer) and chloroplast (rpl16, trnT-L) genomes, including 11 of 12 species. One of two holoparasitic species, Alectra alba, was placed outside of Alectra, supported as sister to a lineage containing the Asian holoparasitic genera Aeginetia Christisonia. Two highly supported lineages of Melasma were revealed: one containing the two included African species, and the other comprising the tropical American Melasma rhinanthoides and the single accession of the tropical American Escobedia. The placement of the Madagascan endemic Alectra fmticosa was shown to be unresolved in relationship to the remaining Alectra species and the two lineages containing Melasma. The monophyly of the remaining species of Alectra was highly supported.

Multiple DNA sequences from plastid (trnL-F region and rbcL) as well as nuclear (ITS and 26S rDNA) genomes were used to infer the phylogeny of the Cuscuta californica complex. This group is currently circumscribed to include nine species distributed mostly in western North America. Four well-supported lineages have been revealed within this complex. The first lineage includes the controversial C. californica s. l., an assemblage of taxa characterized by their lack of infrastaminal scales; the second lineage consists of a single species, C. subinclusa, with short fimbriate scales. The third lineage groups C. howelliana, C. salina, and C. suksdorfii, with scales that exhibit a reduction trend, while the forth includes C. decipiens and a new species from New Mexico and trans-Pecos Texas, C. draconella, both with well-developed infrastaminal scales. Stereo, compound, and scanning electron microscopy were used to investigate the new species and compare it with C. decipiens, its closest relative, as well as to update the taxonomic treatment of C. californica s. l. Cuscuta decipiens, in its original delimitation, is polyphyletic and was thus recircumscribed. In contrast to previous taxonomic treatments of C. californica s. l., phylogenetic relationships in conjunction with morphological data support the delimitation of three species: C. brachycalyx, C. californica, and C. occidentalis.

Generic circumscriptions and phylogenetic relationships of the Cape genera Capnophyllum, Dasispermum, and Sonderina are explored through parsimony and Bayesian inference analyses of nrDNA ITS and cpDNA rps16 intron sequences, morphology and combined molecular and morphological data. The relationship of these genera with the North African genera Krubera and Stoibrax is also assessed. Analyses of both molecular data sets place Capnophyllum, Dasispermum, Sonderina, and the only southern African species of Stoibrax (S. capense) within the newly recognized Lefebvrea clade of tribe Tordylieae. Capnophyllum is strongly supported as monophyletic and is distantly related to Krubera. The monotypic genus Dasispermum and Stoibrax capense are embedded within a paraphyletic Sonderina. This complex is distantly related to the North African species of Stoibrax in tribe Apieae, in which the type species, Stoibrax dichotomum, occurs. Consequently, Dasispermum is expanded to include both Sonderina and Stoibrax capense. New combinations are formalized for Dasispermum capense, D. hispidum, D. humile, and D. tenue. An undescribed species from the Tanqua Karoo in South Africa is also closely related to Capnophyllum and the Dasispermum—Sonderina complex. The genus Scaraboides is described herein to accommodate the new species, S. manningii. This monotypic genus shares the dorsally compressed fruit and involute marginal wings with Capnophyllum, but is easily distinguished by its erect branching habit, green leaves, scabrous umbels, and fruit with indistinct median and lateral ribs, additional solitary vittae in each marginal wing, and parallel, closely spaced commissural vittae. Despite the marked fruit similarities with Capnophyllum, analyses of DNA sequence data place Scaraboides closer to the Dasispermum—Sonderina complex, with which it shares the erect habit, green (nonglaucous) leaves, and scabrous umbels.

The Balkan Peninsula is one of the few biodiversity hotspots in Europe, characterized by numerous endemic taxa. Due to their often-restricted distribution and the scarcity of modern phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies from this region, the phylogenetic position and taxonomy of these species are often poorly understood. One example is Asyneuma comosiforme, a stenoendemic species known only from the Shija Gorge in northeastern Albania. Since its description in 1921, the position of this poorly known species within Asyneuma has been questioned. Here, we use nuclear ITS and plastid trnL—trnF DNA sequence data to address the question of the phylogenetic position of this enigmatic species. The inferred phylogenies clearly support A. comosiforme as sister to the main clade of isophyllous Campanula species, which is supported by morphological and ecological similarities. Thus, a new nomenclatural combination, Campanula comosiformis, is proposed. Given the restricted distribution, this species should be considered at least vulnerable, but the small population size might warrant its classification as endangered.

A new species, Edraianthus pulevicii (Campanulaceae), endemic to the Durmitor mountain range (SE Dinaric Alps, Montenegro, Balkan Peninsula) is described and illustrated. Additionally, specific rank is proposed for E. serpyllifolius f. pilosulus from the Komovi Mts. (NW Prokletije mountain range, Montenegro, Balkan Peninsula), E. pilosulus. Both are morphologically similar to E. serpyllifolius s. s., all having spathulate leaves. Edraianthus pulevicii differs from E. serpyllifolius s. s. in having distinctly crenate as well as much longer and broader basal and cauline leaves with indumentum on the upper side, hairs on the leaf margin and leaf surface oriented towards the leaf base, broader and longer bracts, and revolute calyx lobes reflexed at the apex. Edraianthus pilosulus is morphologically similar to both E. serpyllifolius and E. pulevicii but differs from the former in having more or less dense hairs on the upper side of the leaves, and from the latter in having considerably smaller basal and cauline leaves with no or sparse crenation, hairs on the leaf margin and the leaf surface oriented towards the point, and narrower bracts. A new systematic treatment is supported by chloroplast DNA sequence data and AFLP fingerprinting data. A distribution map and a key to Edraianthus taxa with spathulate leaves are provided and the name Edraianthus sutjeskae is validated.