Abstract Detail

Systematics Section

Gardner, Andrew [1], Emshwiller, Eve [2], Vaio, Magdalena [3], Guerra Filho, Marcelo [3], Oberlander, Kenneth [4], Dreyer, Leanne [5], Heibl, Christoph [6].

From woody shrubs to weedy, succulent, and bulb-bearing herbs: an updated phylogeny for Oxalis.

The genus Oxalis (Oxalidaceae) is extremely diverse in morphology, habitat, and geographic range. Among the 500+ species, there are woody shrubs inhabiting the Atlantic rainforests of Brazil,succulent Andean tuber crops, cosmopolitan weedy annuals, and bulb-bearers in southern Africa and many regions of the Americas. Leaves are not only trifoliolate, but also unifoliolate and pinnately or palmately-compound. Breeding systems include tristyly, distyly, and (semi-) homostyly. Earlier taxonomic and recent phylogenetic work has addressed groups within this complex genus, but never Oxalis as a whole. A representative phylogeny for the entire genus will be crucial for our understanding of the evolutionary transitions that have led to the incredible diversity we see in the extant species of Oxalis. We present our most recent phylogenetic inference for the genus based on plastid and nrITS sequence data, using the phylogeny to reconstruct its morphological and geographical diversification. Among our key inferences are transitions from woody morphology to diverse storage morphologies, from pinnately-compound to unifoliolate and palmately-compound leaves, from tristylous to several other forms of heterostyly, and from exclusively South American to African, North American, and cosmopolitan distributions.

Broader Impacts:

1 - University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Botany, 430 Lincoln Dr., Madison, WI, 53706, USA
2 - University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Botany Dept, 321 Birge Hall, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI, 53706-1313, USA
3 - Federal University of Pernambuco, Botany, Rua Nelson Chaves s/n, Recife, PE, 50670-420, Brazil
4 - Stellenbosch University, Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa
5 - Stellenbosch University, Botany And Zoology, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa
6 - University Of Munich, Biology

Keywords:
Oxalis
Phylogeny
nrITS
plastid
Biogeography
Heterostyly
bulb.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 28
Location: Lindell C/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Time: 10:30 AM
Number: 28008
Abstract ID:528