Abstract
Solanum is one of the largest plant genera and exhibits a wide range of morphological diversity. Solanum section Gonatotrichum, the focus of this study, is unique within the genus because of its fruits that swell with turgor pressure and explosively dehisce to disperse the seeds. We infer phylogenetic relationships within section Gonatotrichum using DNA sequence data from two nuclear regions (ITS and the granule-bound starch synthase gene [GBSSI or waxy]) and the chloroplast region trnT-F. The resulting phylogenetic trees support the monophyly of the section with the inclusion of Solanum lignescens, a species not previously thought to belong to the group due to the presence of stellate hairs. This inclusion of this species in section Gonatotrichum suggests that the simple, often geniculate hairs of species in the group may represent reduced stellate hairs. The presence of heterantherous flowers appears to be derived in the section, but this character is largely lost in Solanum parcistrigosum.
Highlights
Solanum (Solanaceae), with approximately 1500 species, is one of the 10 largest flowering plant genera (Frodin 2004; Bohs 2005)
Multiple accessions were sampled for four species, with four accessions sampled for S. parcistrigosum, and two each for S. evolvuloides, S. manabiense, and S. deflexum
Within section Gonatotrichum, S. turneroides is strongly supported as sister to S. parcistrigosum in the combined tree (100% BS, 1.0 PP), and S. evolvuloides is sister to this clade (82% BS, 0.98 PP)
Summary
Solanum (Solanaceae), with approximately 1500 species, is one of the 10 largest flowering plant genera (Frodin 2004; Bohs 2005). Weese and Bohs (2007) recognized 12 to 15 major clades in Solanum, one of which they called the Brevantherum clade. This large clade includes species with short, broad anthers that lack spines but commonly have stellate hairs or lepidote scales. It encompasses members of the formally named sections Brevantherum Seithe, Extensum D’Arcy, Lepidotum Seithe, Stellatigeminatum A. Sheph. belongs to the clade on the basis of morphological data, but no sequence data have been available to place it in a molecular phylogeny
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