Phylogenetic position of Cyperus clandestinus (Cypereae, Cyperaceae) clarified by morphological and molecular evidence. (12th December 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Muasya, A. Muthama; Viljoen, Jan‐Adriaan; Dludlu, Meshack N.; Demissew, Sebsebe
• Is Part Of: Nordic journal of botany. Volume 32:Number 1(2014:Feb.)
• Page Start: 106
• Page End: 114
• Publication Date: 2013-12-12
• Subjects: Botany -- Periodicals; Mycology -- Periodicals; 580
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1756-1051.2012.01700.x
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0107-055X

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Extreme morphological reduction and convergent evolution can obscure taxonomic relationships. This phenomenon is frequently encountered in Cyperaceae, where characters traditionally used to diagnose genera have been shown to have evolved independently multiple times. The Ethiopian high‐altitude perennial first described as <italic>Cyperus clandestinus</italic> was subsequently moved to <italic>Ficinia</italic> because it has spiral glume arrangement, unlike typical <italic>Cyperus</italic> species, which have distichous glume arrangement. However, this position has remained uncertain as no nutlets have previously been studied to establish the presence or absence of the gynophore – the synapomorphy for <italic>Ficinia.</italic> We resolve this 140‐year‐old puzzle by describing the morphology of the nutlet, which lacks a gynophore, and use DNA sequence data to resolve the taxon within <italic>Cyperus. Cyperus clandestinus</italic> was found to be closely related to <italic>Remirea maritima</italic> and <italic>Cyperus cyperoides</italic> in the C<sub>4</sub><italic>Cyperus</italic> clade, whose members predominantly have distichously arranged glumes. This provides further evidence for the unreliability of glume arrangement as a character to distinguish between members of the <italic>Cyperus</italic> and <italic>Ficinia</italic> clades, whereas gynophore presence is more congruent with molecular data.</p> </abstract>