PHYLOGENY OF THE AFRICAN GENERA ANOMATHECA AND FREESIA (IRIDACEAE, IXIOIDEAE), AND A NEW GENUS XENOSCAPA

Anomatheca and Freesia, African genera of Iridaceae subfamily Ixioidea e, are currently thought to be closely related, but until now the exac t nature of their alliance has been difficult to determine. Cladistic analysis has provided one means of assessing their relationship. Using 25 characters found to be useful for phylogenetic analysis, including traditional morphological features as well as original data from poll en morphology; leaf anatomy, embryology, and seed development, Freesia appears to be monophyletic but nested in Anomatheca sect. Anomatheca, one of two sections of the genus. A second section, Xenoscapa, which includes one named species and a second one described here, comprises a well-supported clade that is probably only distantly related to Free sia plus sect. Anomatheca. We herein unite Anomatheca and Freesia, but under the later name Freesia. Because Freesia is already a conserved name and because it is a well-known and horticulturally important genu s, Anomatheca has been formally rejected in favor of Freesia. We raise sect. Xenoscapa to generic rank and transfer A. fistulosa to it, desc ribe the new species, X. uliginosa, and provide new combinations in Fr eesia for the species until now included in Anomatheca.