Abstract
The controversial issue of the circumscription ofHoffmannseggia and its relationship toCaesalpinia was examined using morphological characters and chloroplast DNA restriction site data from 32 species. The 53 morphological characters used included several not previously explored, but together they still failed to give unequivocal resolution of the taxa examined. However, morphological characters did provide some evidence for aHoffmannseggia clade, but different from that traditionally circumscribed. The cpDNA restriction site analysis using 16 enzymes yielded 233 informative characters that provided strong evidence for aHoffmannseggia clade. Both data sets supported the circumscription of a distinct “Pomaria” clade consisting in part of species traditionally placed withinHoffmannseggia. Nevertheless, bothHoffmannseggia andPomaria and their allies fall within a larger clade of species traditionally considered to belong toCaesalpinia broadly defined. BecauseCaesalpinia itself appears to be polyphyletic, we advocate here maintainingHoffmannseggia with the expectation that species ofCaesalpinia s. l. will ultimately be reapportioned to a number of smaller, monophyletic genera.
Published Version
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