Molecular Phylogeny of <I>Ophiopogon</I> (Asparagaceae) Inferred from Nuclear and Plastid DNA Sequences

Abstract

The East and Southeast Asian genera Ophiopogon, Liriope, and Peliosanthes are classified in the tribe Ophiopogoneae (Asparagaceae). Phylogenetic relationships of this group were explored using maximum parsimony, Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses of nuclear ITS and plastid psbA-trnH, matK, rbcL, and trnL-trnF sequences. These analyses supported the monophyly of Ophiopogon, Liriope, and Peliosanthes within the Ophiopogoneae, although tree topologies based on nuclear and chloroplast DNA differed in the placement of many taxa. Incongruence between these two datasets may be a result of hybridization and introgression. Our results reveal that Ophiopogon consists of two major lineages, which we recognize at the sectional level: O. lancangensis, O. multiflonts, O. yunnanensis, O. reversus, O. longibracteatus (sect. Ophiopogon), and O. tsaii (sect. Peliosanthoides).