Abstract
The genus Coryphantha includes plants with globose to cylindrical stems bearing furrowed tubercles, flowers arising at the apex, and seeds with flattened testa cells. Coryphantha is the second richest genus in the tribe Cacteae. Nevertheless, the genus lacks a phylogenetic framework. The limits of Coryphantha with its sister genus Escobaria and the infrageneric classification of Coryphantha have not been evaluated in a phylogenetic study. In this study we analyzed five chloroplast regions (matK, rbcL, psbA-trnH, rpl16, and trnL-F) using Bayesian phylogenetic analysis. We included 44 species of Coryphantha and 43 additional species of the tribe Cacteae. Our results support the monophyly of Coryphantha by excluding C.macromeris. Escobaria + Pelecyphora + C.macromeris are corroborated as the sister group of Coryphantha. Within Coryphantha our phylogenetic analyses recovered two main clades containing seven subclades, and we propose to recognize those as two subgenera and seven sections, respectively. Also, a new delimitation of Pelecyphora including C.macromeris and all species previously included in Escobaria is proposed. To accommodate this new delimitation 25 new combinations are proposed. The seven subclades recovered within Coryphantha are morphologically and geographically congruent, and partially agree with the traditional classification of this genus.
Highlights
Coryphantha (Engelm.) Lem. was described by Engelmann (1856) as a subgenus of Mammillaria Haw
Mammillaria sphacelata and M. beneckei were recovered as the sister clade to Coryphantha s.s. (PP = 0.96, Fig. 1)
M. sphacelata and M. beneckei were included in the Mammillaria clade PP = 0.98, Fig. 2)
Summary
Coryphantha (Engelm.) Lem. was described by Engelmann (1856) as a subgenus of Mammillaria Haw. Hunt and Benson (1976) proposed Coryphantha sulcata (Engelm.) Britton & Rose as the type of this genus. Coryphantha is morphologically characterized by adult plants with globose to cylindrical stems, covered with numerous spirally-arranged tubercles, flowers that arise at the apex of the stem, stem tubercles with a groove in maturity, and seeds with flattened testa cells (Anderson 2001; Dicht and Lüthy 2005; Hunt et al 2006). The taxonomy of Coryphantha has been complicated. Attributes such as the shape and size of the stem, the number, color, and orientation of the spines change according to the development state of the specimen, causing confusion with members of other genera such as Escobaria Britton & Rose, Mammillaria, and Neolloydia Britton & Rose (Vázquez-Benítez et al 2016). Benson (1969, 1982) recognized Escobaria as a subgroup of Coryphantha because of the tubercle grooves, an opinion that persists to this day (Zimmerman and Parfitt 2004)
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