Phylogeny of Theophrastaceae (Ericales s. lat.)

Abstract

Morphological traits and sequences from two chloroplast genes, ndhF and trnL‐F (intron, 3′ exon, and spacer), have been used to investigate relationships in the Ericalean family Theophrastaceae. A total evidence parsimony analysis shows that the herbaceous genus Samolus is sister to all other Theophrastaceae. The latter are in turn divided into two major groups, one with Theophrasta, Neomezia, and Clavija and the other with Deherainia, Votschia, and Jacquinia. The representatives of Jacquinia are found in two separate well‐supported clades, one consisting of the white‐flowered species and the other of the mostly orange‐red‐flowered species, together with J. paludicola and J. longifolia, two aberrant species with whitish yellow flowers. Deherainia and Votschia group with the latter clade, which makes Jacquinia paraphyletic. We propose that J. paludicola and J. longifolia, together with the orange‐red‐flowered Jacquinia, be recognized as a separate genus, Bonellia. The sister taxa Theophrasta and Neomezia are confined to Hispaniola and Cuba, respectively. Within Clavija, which is the sister group of Theophrasta‐Neomezia, the only Antillean species, Clavija domingensis, is sister to all other species occurring in South and Central America. With the splitting of Jacquinia, Jacquinia s. str. is composed of species occurring in the Caribbean, which are mostly confined to the Greater Antilles, whereas Bonellia is composed of a mixture of Caribbean, Central American, and South American species.