Abstract

Abstract With nearly 2,000 species, all restricted to the Neotropics, Miconieae represent the largest radiation within Melastomataceae. Generic limits and relationships within the tribe have long been contested. Our molecular phylogenetic analyses of the tribe, based on sequences of nrITS and ndhF, resulted in consistent support for a clade comprising Bellucia, Loreya, Henriettea, and Henriettella, which is neither nested within nor sister to the Miconieae. Furthermore, and based upon a series of presumably synapomorphic anatomical and morphological characters, e.g. megastyloid crystals, absence of both medullary and cortical vascular bundles, plinerved leaves, axillary or cauliflorous inflorescences, we consider three additional genera, Kirkbridea, Llewelynia, and Myriaspora, to belong to this clade, a newly recognized tribe, Henrietteeae. These seven genera had formerly been assigned to the Miconieae based on their having exappendiculate anthers (except Kirkbridea) and berry fruits. Henriettella and Lle...

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