Phylogenetic analyses of morphological and molecular data reveal major clades within the perennial, endemic western North American Apiaceae subfamily Apioideae1

Abstract

Abstract The taxonomy and phylogeny of the perennial North American Apiaceae subfamily Apioideae endemic to western North America (north of Mexico) have posed great challenges to systematists. Available classifications based on morphological characters are in general inconsistent and unsatisfactory, and cladistic analyses based on these data are limited to only a few taxa and a small number of characters. In this study, we scored 54 morphological characters from 123 taxa of North American Apioideae (representing 111 species in 21 genera) to construct an estimate of phylogenetic relationships and to compare the results obtained with those inferred for the group through previous studies using molecular data. The morphological and combined (morphological and molecular) datasets were analyzed using maximum parsimony (with equal, proportional, and successive approximations weighting strategies and Goloboff fit criterion applied to the morphological characters) and Bayesian approaches. Phylogenetic trees derive...