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Phylogenetic position of the Hawaiian geraniums based on rbc L Sequences
Author(s) -
Pax Denise L.,
Price Robert A.,
Michaels Helen J.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.2307/2445884
Subject(s) - subgenus , biology , monophyly , geraniaceae , phylogenetic tree , geranium , clade , convergent evolution , genus , botany , habit , phylogenetics , zoology , evolutionary biology , genetics , gene , psychology , cultivar , psychotherapist
The seven currently recognized species of Geranium endemic to the Hawaiian Islands are unusual in their shrubby or arborescent habit and unlobed, parallel‐veined leaves rather than the palmately cleft or lobed leaves and herbaceous habit typical of the genus. Their placement within the genus and their biogeographic source have been obscured by this morphological distictiveness and the limited resolution of relationships on the basis of morphology in the very speciose subgenus Geranium. Phylogenetic analysis of rbc L gene sequences provides strong support for the monophyly of the Hawaiian group, and indicates that the Hawaiian clade is deeply nested within section Geranium rather than comprising a separate section. The continental relatives studied to date with the greatest similarity in sequence to the Hawaiian group are native to the Americas rather than Asia or the Pacific. The Hawaiian species are extremely similar to one another in rbc L sequence, while the tree topology obtained is consistent with a basal position for Geranium arboreum within the group.