Phylogenetic relationships of Rhododendron section Vireya (Ericaceae) inferred from the ITS nrDNA region
Gillian K. Brown A B D , Lyn A. Craven B , Frank Udovicic C and Pauline Y. Ladiges AA School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia.
B Australian National Herbarium, Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
C National Herbarium of Victoria, Birdwood Ave, Melbourne, Vic. 3141, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: browngk@unimelb.edu.au
Australian Systematic Botany 19(4) 329-342 https://doi.org/10.1071/SB05019
Submitted: 24 June 2005 Accepted: 3 January 2006 Published: 25 August 2006
Abstract
Rhododendron L. taxonomy has been tested in recent times by molecular phylogenies based on several DNA regions. Most of these studies have aimed at higher-level relationships, despite the importance of lower ranks, such as sections, to most workers on the genus. Almost one-third of the species of Rhododendron are placed in one of the lepidote (scaly) sections, section Vireya (Blume) Copel.f. Results of phylogenetic analyses of the ITS region (ITS-1, 5.8S and ITS-2) for the genus Rhododendron, with sampling concentrated on section Vireya, are presented. The results of Bayesian and parsimony analyses were predominantly congruent. Subgenus Rhododendron is inferred to be monophyletic, while two of the three sections, Rhododendron and Vireya, are polyphyletic; the monophyly of section Pogonanthum Aitch. & Hemsl. was not tested in this study. Relationships between the species of section Vireya do not correspond to the traditional classification based on morphology, instead correlating strongly with geographic areas, with a disjunction between an Australian–New Guinea clade and clades of west and middle Malesian taxa. The phylogeny also indicates that the ITS region may not undergo complete homogenisation in all species of Rhododendron.
Acknowledgments
We thank Dr David Binney, the late Dr John Rouse, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Mt Tomah Botanic Garden for access to leaf material; Dr Randy Bayer and researchers in the molecular systematics laboratory (CPBR) for assistance with problems associated with laboratory work; Dr George Argent for confirming the identification of the RBGE accession of R. aequabile; and also comments from an anonymous reviewer. The Baker Foundation, the School of Botany (Nicholas Travel Fellowship) and Scholarships Office (Melbourne Research Scholarship; M.A.T.S.; M. A. Bartlett Research Scholarship Fund) at the University of Melbourne, CSIRO Plant Industry, the American Rhododendron Society, the Australian Rhododendron Society Victorian Branch Inc., and the Royal Horticultural Society are thanked for financial support. Sequencing for this project was conducted at the Australian National Herbarium, CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra.
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