Plant Biol (Stuttg) 2006; 8(1): 93-102
DOI: 10.1055/s-2005-873060
Research Paper

Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart KG · New York

Phylogeny of the Genus Peperomia (Piperaceae) Inferred from the trnK/matK Region (cpDNA)

S. Wanke1 , M.-S. Samain2 , L. Vanderschaeve2 , G. Mathieu2 , P. Goetghebeur2 , C. Neinhuis1
  • 1Institut für Botanik, Plant Phylogenetics and Phylogenomics Group, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany
  • 2Department of Biology, Research Group Spermatophytes, Ghent University, K. L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Further Information

Publication History

Received: June 13, 2005

Accepted: October 13, 2005

Publication Date:
25 January 2006 (online)

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Abstract

The genus Peperomia is one of the largest genera of basal angiosperms, comprising about 1500 - 1700 pantropically distributed species. The currently accepted infrageneric classification divides Peperomia into nine subgenera and seven sections. This classification is based on some 200 species, primarily using fruit morphology. The monophyly of these infrageneric taxa has never been tested and molecular phylogenetic studies of a representative sampling within Peperomia do not exist. This paper provides the first molecular phylogeny for the genus Peperomia. Monophyletic clades within Peperomia are identified and previously used morphological characters are critically reviewed. We show that the importance of some morphological characters has been overestimated and that some of these characters presumably have evolved several times independently. Only one previously described subgenus has been confirmed to be monophyletic.

References

S. Wanke

Institut für Botanik
Plant Phylogenetics and Phylogenomics Group
Technische Universität Dresden

01062 Dresden

Email: stefan.wanke@tu-dresden.de

Editor: F. Salamini