Two centuries from species discovery to diagnostic characters: molecular and morphological evidence for narrower species limits in the widespread SW Australian complex (Restionaceae s.l./Anarthriaceae, Poales).

Background: The extreme southwest of Australia is a biodiversity hotspot region that has a Mediterranean-type climate and numerous endemic plant and animal species, many of which remain to be properly delimited. We refine species limits in , a Western Australian endemic genus characterised by the occurrence of the greatest number of plesiomorphic character states in the restiid clade of Poales. In contrast to many other groups of wind-pollinated Australian Poales, was traditionally viewed as having well-established species limits.

The application of high-throughput sequencing for taxonomy: The case of Plantago subg. Plantago (Plantaginaceae).

Plantago is a cosmopolitan genus including over 250 species, concentrated in temperate and high-elevation tropical regions. The taxonomy of Plantago is very difficult, mainly because of its reduced morphology, which features relatively few characters for species classification. Consequently, the infrageneric classification of the genus remains controversial and inadequate.

Phylogenomics and historical biogeography of the monocot order Liliales: out of Australia and through Antarctica.

We present the first phylogenomic analysis of relationships among all ten families of Liliales, based on 75 plastid genes from 35 species in 29 genera, and 97 additional plastomes stratified across angiosperm lineages. We used a supermatrix approach to extend our analysis to 58 of 64 genera of Liliales, and calibrated the resulting phylogeny against 17 fossil dates to produce a new timeline for monocot evolution. Liliales diverged from other monocots 124 Mya and began splitting into separate families 113 Mya.

Another look at the root of the angiosperms reveals a familiar tale.

Since the advent of molecular phylogenetics more than 25 years ago, a major goal of plant systematists has been to discern the root of the angiosperms. Although most studies indicate that Amborella trichopoda is sister to all remaining extant flowering plants, support for this position has varied with respect to both the sequence data sets and analyses employed. Recently, Goremykin et al.

Hydatellaceae identified as a new branch near the base of the angiosperm phylogenetic tree.

Although the relationship of angiosperms to other seed plants remains controversial, great progress has been made in identifying the earliest extant splits in flowering-plant phylogeny, with the discovery that the New Caledonian shrub Amborella trichopoda, the water lilies (Nymphaeales), and the woody Austrobaileyales constitute a basal grade of lines that diverged before the main radiation in the clade. By focusing attention on these ancient lines, this finding has re-written our understanding of angiosperm structural and reproductive biology, physiology, ecology and taxonomy. The discovery of a new basal lineage would lead to further re-evaluation of the initial angiosperm radiation, but would also be unexpected, as nearly all of the approximately 460 flowering-plant families have been surveyed in molecular studies.

Evolution of reproductive structures in grasses (Poaceae) inferred by sister-group comparison with their putative closest living relatives, Ecdeiocoleaceae.

Despite much recent activity in the phylogeny and developmental genetics of grasses, the enigmatic homologies of their reproductive structures remain largely unresolved, partly because their highly derived morphology has resulted in a unique associated terminology. Outstanding questions include whether grass lodicules and stamens are derived from a single perianth or stamen whorl, respectively, whether the grass caryopsis is homologous with a nut, and how the scutellum evolved. We investigated the reproductive structures of the putative sister group of grasses, the southwestern Australian family Ecdeiocoleaceae, which includes two genera, Ecdeiocolea and Georgeantha.

Contrasting patterns of radiation in African and Australian Restionaceae.

The floras of the Mediterranean-climate areas of southern Africa and southwestern Australia are remarkably species rich. Because the two areas are at similar latitudes and in similar positions on their respective continents, they have probably had similar Cenozoic climatic histories. Here we test the prediction that the evolution of the species richness in the two areas followed a similar temporal progression by comparing the rates of lineage accumulation for African and Australian Restionaceae.