A new species of Plagiochila from China, P. chenii sp. nov., is described and illustrated. In addition, five species names of Plagiochila are newly placed in synonymy. These are Plagiochila capillaris Schiffn. ex Steph. (= P. corticola Steph.), P. forficata Steph. (= P. corticola Steph.), P. pseudopunctata Inoue (= P. gracilis Lindenb. & Gottsche), P. schofieldiana Inoue (= P. gracilis Lindenb. & Gottsche) and P. togashii Inoue (= P. corticola Steph.). Plagiochila corticola Steph. and P. vernicosa Inoue & Grolle are again reinstated as correct names of species of sect. Firmae. A lectotype is designated for P. corticola. Finally, sect. Capillares Carl (1931) is newly merged in synonymy of sect. Firmae Carl (1931). The following eight species are recognized in sect. Firmae: P. chenii Grolle & M. L. So, P. corticola Steph., P. gracilis Lindenb. & Gottsche, P. monospiris Inoue & Grolle, P. nitens Inoue, P. pseudocapillaris Inoue, P. pseudofirma Herzog, and P. vernicosa Inoue & Grolle. A key to the species of sect. Firmae, which is confined to Asia and Melanesia, is provided.

Communicating Editor: Richard Jensen

Original meiotic chromosome counts are presented for 39 species in 15 genera of Acanthaceae from Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, the United States, and Venezuela. These reports include the first counts for 20 species representing 10 genera of the family, including the first chromosome number documented for the genus Poikilacanthus. Counts for 15 species confirm numbers previously reported for them from different sources. New chromosome numbers are reported in two genera, Carlowrightia (n = 17 in C. pectinata) and Justicia (n = 24 in J. galapagana). New chromosome numbers are also reported in two species of Justicia, J. comata (n = 28) and J. oerstedii (n = 11). Systematic implications of these chromosome numbers are addressed where appropriate.

Communicating Editor: Anita Cholewa

Setaria macrostachya and S. vulpiseta have been treated as distinct species by most authors since they were first described more than 180 years ago. In three recent publications, however, S. macrostachya was listed as a synonym of S. vulpiseta. The present study, which included the examination of some 350 herbarium specimens, has convinced us that these two species are as distinct as many others in the genus, and should continue to be recognized as separate taxa.

Communicating Editor: Jerrold Davis

The genera Moscharia (two species) and Polyachyrus (seven species) form a monophyletic group within tribe Mutisieae, subtribe Nassauviinae, defined by the leaves with auricles at their bases, and the capitula with 1-seriate involucre. A cladistic analysis of the species of the two genera was carried out using 22 characters from life cycle, external morphology, pollen, and trichomes. Polarity of the characters was based on the outgroup comparison method. One cladogram was produced, with 37 steps, a consistency index of 0.73, and a retention index of 0.75. The cladogram defines six monophyletic groups: (((Polyachyrus annus, (P. carduoides, (P. cinereus, (P. fuscus, P. gayi))), P. sphaerocephalus), P. poeppigii), (Moscharia solbrigii, M. pinnatifida)). The probable ancestral geographic area for the group, determined by Bremer's method, is North- Central Chile area (30°–35° south latitude). The study suggests that the Pleistocene could be the period of evolution of the ancestor of Moscharia and Polyachyrus.

Communicating Editor: Matt Lavin

A study was performed to determine intraspecific phylogenetic relationships between Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes from widely separated areas of the world. Eighteen populations of Arabidopsis were studied using polymorphic DNA and morphologic analyses. Experiments were performed employing 15 microsatellite loci in 10 individuals from each of 18 Arabidopsis populations from four continents. Microsatellite loci were amplified by the Polymerase Chain Reaction, electrophoresed, sized, and the polymorphisms analyzed. Morphological studies were performed comparing 11 physical traits in 10 individuals from each population. It was found that: 1) the commonly held premise that North American Arabidopsis thaliana populations originated in Europe is supported; 2) although Asian populations examined appeared genetically distant from the European populations, the hypothesis that Arabidopsis originated in Asia requires additional examination; 3) the laboratory ecotype Kashmir may have originated in Europe, not India; and 4) Arabidopsis morphology has generally changed little among populations across the world.

Communicating Editor: Jim Manhart

The larger part of the matK gene and the (3′−) adjacent spacer have been sequenced and used for phylogenetic analyses in 48 species of Lauraceae from all parts of their geographical range, and in three outgroup taxa. Except for the aberrant genera Hypodaphnis and Cassytha, the genetic divergence within the family is surprisingly low. In spite of this, several clades receive sufficient support to change our current concepts of relationships within the family. Particularly well supported is a Beilschmiedia–Cryptocarya clade that had been recognized by wood anatomy, but not in most of the recent morphological systems. The separation between taxa with involucrate and non-involucrate inflorescences, which had been one of the basic subdivisions in all systems of the family so far, is not supported by the present data. Instead, there seems to be an early division into a Gondwanan group and a Laurasian–South American group.

Communicating Editor: Alan Whittemore

A cladistic analysis of tribes Beslerieae and Napeantheae revealed that both are monophyletic groups and that Napeantheae is sister to Beslerieae. These relationships are supported by parsimony and most models of maximum likelihood analysis, although with the F81 model, maximum likelihood places Napeantheae within Beslerieae making the latter tribe paraphyletic. All analyses indicate that within Beslerieae, Besleria and Gasteranthus are sister genera. In parsimony analysis these two genera are sister to the remainder of the tribe whereas in the maximum likelihood analyses, Cremosperma is sister to Besleria/Gasteranthus. Regardless of the analysis, there is a close relationship between clades comprised of dehiscent fleshy-fruited genera and those with indehiscent fleshy fruits. This is similar to Episcieae, implying that the transition from dry capsular fruits to berries may require a two-step process where a fleshy dehiscent capsule is the first stage followed by an indehiscent fleshy berry. The origin of stomata in islands, a characteristic common among Beslerieae and Napeantheae is discussed.

Communicating Editor: James Manhart

The origin of the flora of the Macaronesian archipelagos has been a subject of controversy for over a century with the traditional opinion asserting that it is a relictual fragment of a widespread Tertiary subtropical European flora. A phylogenetic investigation of the three Macaronesian genera of the Bencomia alliance (Bencomia, Dendriopoterium, and Marcetella) using sequence data from the nuclear rDNA Transcribed Spacer region (ITS) has provided evidence relevant to the origin of the Macaronesian flora and the evolution of morphological characters of interest to students of island biology. In the ITS phylogeny, the Bencomia alliance, Sarcopoterium, a monotypic genus of the eastern Mediterranean, and Sanguisorba ancistroides, also a Mediterranean species, form a clade that is sister to the Eurasian Sanguisorba minor. These relationships contradict the relictual hypotheses and show that the endemic Macaronesian Rosaceae are sister to Mediterranean Sanguisorbeae. The data also contradict a recent placement of Dendriopoterium and Marcetella together in a subgenus of Sanguisorba. The ITS tree demonstrates that dioecy evolved in the islands from a continental monoecious or gynomonecious ancestor and that there has been an increase in plant size and woodiness compared to continental relatives rather than the decrease suggested by previous workers.

Communicating Editor: Matt Lavin

Phylogenetic relationships of New Zealand species of Brassicaceae belonging to the South Island endemic Ischnocarpus, Iti, Notothlaspi, and Pachycladon, and the indigenous Cardamine, Cheesemania, Lepidium, and Rorippa were studied using nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer sequences. Results support a monophyletic Notothlaspi and suggest that species of this genus are not closely related to Thlaspi, the genus to which Hooker provisionally assigned N. australe. The cosmopolitan genus Cardamine is paraphyletic by the inclusion of the monotypic genus Iti. The association of Iti with New Zealand Cardamine is of particular significance, as the relationships of this monotypic genus have historically proven elusive. Cheesemania species, Ischnocarpus novae-zelandiae, and Pachycladon novae-zelandiae form a closely related monophyletic group. The species of Lepidium form a monophyletic group, but the New Zealand species are not monophyletic indicating two possible dispersal events to New Zealand. Additionally, the tribes Arabidieae, Lepidieae, and Sisymbrieae are polyphyletic. This study highlights the difficulty of using traditional characters such as fruit type and cotyledon arrangement to define the tribes of the Brassicaceae.

Communicating Editor: John Freudenstein

We used sequence data from the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (nr-ITS) region, both alone and in combination with data from the intron and spacer of the trnL-trnF chloroplast (cp) region, to study phylogenetic relationships within the large tropical and subtropical family Acanthaceae. Substitution rate in the nr-ITS region is nearly twice that of the trnL-trnF cp region, and more than twice the rates of other cp loci that have been sequenced for members of Acanthaceae (i.e., rbcL, ndhF). In terms of phylogenetic relationships, the hypothesis based on ITS was largely congruent with the trnL-trnF results. Exceptions are Crossandra pungens and the two Acanthus species, which are placed enigmatically by nr-ITS data. The combined analysis provides strong support for a single hypothesis of relationships among Acanthaceae sensu stricto (s.s.) and their closest relatives. 1) Elytraria (representing Nelsonioideae) is more distantly related to Acanthaceae s.s. than Thunbergia and Mendoncia. 2) These last two genera are sister taxa and together are the sister group of Acanthaceae s.s. 3) Acanthaceae s.s. are monophyletic. 4) There are at least four major monophyletic lineages within Acanthaceae s.s.: the Acanthus, Barleria, Ruellia, and Justicia lineages. 5) These four lineages are related as follows: {Acanthus lineage [Barleria lineage (Justicia Ruellia lineages)]}. 6) Within the Justicia lineage, there are at least five monophyletic sublineages, related as follows: {Odontonema sublineage [Stenostephanus sublineage (Henrya sublineage {Dicliptera New World Justicia sublineages})]}.

Communicating Editor: Jeff Rettig

We sequenced the complete ITS regions and the 5.8S gene of nuclear ribosomal DNA of 24 plants representing 20 species and two hybrids from six sections of Bidens, plus one species of Cosmos, and produced a phylogenetic tree. All Hawaiian species have identical sequences, including B. cosmoides. Bidens cosmoides is the most morphologically divergent species in the genus, and has previously been segregated into the monotypic section Degeneria and considered to represent a separate introduction of Bidens into Hawaii. Hawaiian and southeast Polynesian species represent a single monophyletic colonization of islands in the Pacific Ocean. There is a basal dichotomy in Bidens between north temperate species of wet habitats in sections Hydrocarpaea and Bidens and subtropical and tropical species of well drained habitats in sections Psilocarpaea, Campylotheca, and Greenmania, suggesting the two groups are not closely related. Segregation of the aquatic B. beckii as the monotypic genus Megalodonta is not supported. A recently discovered Bidens on Starbuck Island in the South Pacific is not closely related to Polynesian Bidens. It could represent a second colonization of the South Pacific, or it could be a recent, non-indigenous introduction. The continental sister group of Polynesian Bidens appears to be a group of Latin American herbaceous species with determinate growth in section Psilocarpaea rather than the indeterminate woody vines of section Greenmania. This suggests that woodiness and indeterminate growth are apomorphic in Polynesian Bidens.

Communicating Editor: Kathleen Kron

Sequences from the chloroplast-encoded gene rbcL and the nuclear-encoded internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region were analyzed independently and then combined to infer phylogenetic relationships of Corynocarpus. Relationships obtained from the rbcL and ITS data sets are are largely congruent and well resolved. The combined data set provides even greater support for relationships. The rbcL results support current placement of Corynocarpus in its own distinct family, the Corynocarpaceae, and suggest that this family is most closely related to the Anisophylleaceae, Begoniaceae, Coriariaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Datiscaceae, and Tetramelaceae, together comprising the order Cucurbitales. This contradicts traditional classifications, which have placed the Corynocarpaceae in the Celestrales. The five species of Corynocarpus are genetically distinct, but comparison of ITS sequences shows little infraspecific sequence variation within C. laevigatus and C. rupestris. The present distribution, fruit morphology, and patterns of relationships inferred from the sequence data suggest a Palaeotropical center of origin and two independent radiations in the Corynocarpaceae. The first radiation comprises C. cribbianus and C. rupestris, which extend through New Guinea to Australia, and the second radiation comprises C. dissimilis and C. laevigatus, which extend southwards through New Caledonia to New Zealand.

Communicating Editor: John V. Freudenstein