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The Impact of Molecular Methods on the Systematics of Angiosperms
Author(s) -
Wagenitz C.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
botanica acta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.871
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1438-8677
pISSN - 0932-8629
DOI - 10.1111/j.1438-8677.1997.tb00640.x
Subject(s) - systematics , polyphyly , morphology (biology) , biology , saxifragaceae , evolutionary biology , taxon , clade , zoology , botany , taxonomy (biology) , phylogenetics , gene , biochemistry
A comparison is made between the systematics of selected orders and families based on morphology and other “classical” characters on the one hand, and the results of molecular methods on the other hand. It can be shown that taxa defined by a broad array of characters from morphology, anatomy, embryology and phytochemistry usually are confirmed by molecular results. On the other hand a family like the Saxifragaceae s.l. delimited solely on the basis of floral morphology has been shown to be grossly polyphyletic. Some quite surprising results of the molecular analyses usually agree with some embryological or phytochemical characters, and sometimes even with characters of vegetative morphology and anatomy. As a special case “unequal ancient splits” are discussed, where one clade contains few genera and species usually retaining many primitive characters, and the other shows great diversity and contains the more advanced members.