Abstract
Nicotiana is found predominantly in the Americas and Australia, but also has representatives in Africa and the Pacific Islands. All native Australian Nicotiana species belong to section Suaveolentes. The number of species in this section is uncertain and subject to revision. An example of this uncertainty is the taxonomic status of a South Australian Nicotiana accession colloquially termed ‘Corunna’. Here, we report sequences for nuclear and plastid markers for N. sp. Corunna (D.E.Symon 17088) and accessions of two other Australian species, N. burbidgeae and N. benthamiana. Phylogenetic comparison of these sequences with those of other members of Nicotiana places all three taxa in N. section Suaveolentes and shows that ‘Corunna’ represents a distinct phylogenetic lineage in a well supported clade along with N. goodspeedii, N. maritima, N. amplexicaulis and N. suaveolentes. Phenetic analysis of floral characters also supports recognition of N. sp. Corunna (D.E.Symon 17088) as a distinct species, which we describe here as Nicotiana paulineana Newbigin & P.M.Waterh., sp. nov. The enlarged molecular dataset described here contributes to a better understanding of taxonomic relationships within the section.
Highlights
The nightshade or Solanaceae family is widely distributed across all temperate and tropical continents
We provide sequence data for N. burbidgeae and N. benthamiana, two Australian species that have rarely appeared in phylogenetic treatments of N. section Suaveolentes (Chase et al 2003; Clarkson et al 2010)
The trees produced with internal transcribed spacer of rRNA (ITS) or maturase K (matK) sequences alone are shown in Fig. S1 and S2
Summary
The nightshade or Solanaceae family is widely distributed across all temperate and tropical continents. The family contains many of the world’s most important agricultural species, such as potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants and tobacco. It includes several important model species used in plant research, including Nicotiana benthamiana Domin and Petunia Juss. Nicotiana L. is one of the larger genera in the Solanaceae that includes mainly annual, non-woody plants, and includes various species commonly referred to as ‘tobacco plants’. The genus Nicotiana includes 86 species in 13 sections distributed across tropical and temperate regions, with most being native to South and North America (Knapp et al 2004).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
