cpDNA supports the identification of the major lineages of American Blechnum (Blechnaceae, Polypodiopsida) established by morphology

Authors : Jose María Gabriel Y GALÁN, Carmen PRADA, Cristina ROLLERI, Abdelkader AINOUCHE, María VICENT

Pages : 769-777

Doi:10.3906/bot-1210-49

View : 17 | Download : 11

Publication Date : 0000-00-00

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Blechnaceae is an important leptosporangiate family insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(9-10 genera, about 250 species);. It is monophyletic and distributed mainly in tropical America and Australasia. Among the species 80% belong to Blechnum, a genus with a very complex taxonomy and uncertain internal relationships. In terms of American diversity, the results of morphological studies have arrived at 8 informal groups. Molecular works on this genus are scarce, and there is no information for the majority of American species. The main objective of this work was to evaluate whether the groups proposed to organise the diversity of American of Blechnum are consistent with a molecular analysis. We sequenced 2 chloroplastic regions from species representing all of the groups. In our molecular analysis most of the informal groups were maintained as well supported clades. Only 2 species, B. brasiliense and B. spicant, appear to be isolated from their alleged relatives. Combining our molecular results with previous morphological knowledge, we propose the recognition of 4 lineages: 1); B. serrulatum , 2); B. spicant, and 3); core Blechnum, which represents a large clade that can be divided into core Blechnum I insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(arborescent species, cordatoids, and B. brasiliense); and core Blechnum II insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(epiphytic species and herbaceous terrestrials, both monomorphic and dimorphic groups);.
Keywords : Key words America, Blechnum, chloroplast DNA, morphology