3 INTERCONTINENTAL DISJUNCTIONS IN PAPAVERACEAE SUBFAMILY CHELIDONIOIDEAE - EVIDENCE FROM CHLOROPLAST DNA

An RFLP analysis of the chloroplast genome of Papaveraceae subfam. Che lidonioideae resulted in one most parsimonious tree consisting of thre e monophyletic groups. Each group contains intercontinental disjunct t axa. Whereas Eomecon/Sanguinaria and Stylophorum are examples for the well known E Asian - eastern N American disjunction, the E Asian -C an d S American disjunction in Macleaya/Bocconia is rare. The genus Stylo phorum in this analysis is paraphyletic. The N American Stylophorum di phyllum is sister group to the Old World members of Stylophorum and Ch elidonium. All American representatives of the subfamily possess disti nctive morphological features. This might be the result of Tertiary an d Quaternary climatic oscillations leading to severe bottleneck situat ions in ancient N American populations.