SUBFAMILIAL AND TRIBAL RELATIONSHIPS IN THE RUBIACEAE BASED ON RBCL SEQUENCE DATA

A parsimony analysis of rbcL sequences from 49 Rubiaceae genera (repre senting 23 tribes) and 7 outgroup taxa was performed. Species represen ting 48 genera of Rubiaceae were sequenced: Anthospermum, Antirhea, Be rtiera, Bouvardia, Calycophyllum, Catesbaea, Cephalanthus, Cinchona, C offea, Cubanola, Deppea, Enterospermum, Erithalis, Exostema, Gardenia, Guettarda, Haldina, Hallea, Hamelia, Hillia, Hintonia, Hoffmannia, Hy dnophytum, Ixora, Keetia, Luculia, Meyna, Mitriostigma, Morinda, Mussa enda, Nauclea, Nertera, Oldenlandia, Ophiorrhiza, Parapentas, Pentagon ia, Pentas, Pentodon, Pinckneya, Pogonopus, Psychotria, Rachicallis, R ogiera, Rubia, Sarcocephalus, Theligonum, Uncaria, and Vangueria. The cladistic analysis resulted in 24 equally parsimonious trees with a co nsistency index (C.I.) of 0.38. The results were analyzed to test high er-level classification and reconstruction of Rubiaceae phylogeny, and to place taxa with disputed taxonomic positions. There are three grou ps of taxa more or less corresponding to three of Robbrecht's four sub families: Cinchonoideae s. str., Ixoroideae s.l., and Rubioideae. Ther e is no support for the subfamily Antirheoideae, the taxa of which are nested within Cinchonoideae s. str, and Ixoroideae s.l. The positions of Luculia and Hintonia are uncertain. The tribal positions (sensu Ro bbrecht) are supported for a majority of the genera, but other indicat ed relationships contradict earlier classification. The data, although based on a limited number of taxa, support the monophyly of the tribe s Anthospermeae, Chiococceae s.l., Guettardeae, Hamelieae, Hedyotideae , Naucleeae s.l., Psychotrieae, and Vanguerieae, but there is no suppo rt for the positions and/or narrow circumscriptions of Cephalantheae a nd subtribe Mitragyninae (Cinchoneae), or for a wide circumscription o f Cinchoneae. The rbcL data also give useful suggestions for taxonomic positions of the following genera with uncertain affiliations: Bertie ra, Catesbaea, Deppea, Hillia, Ophiorrhiza, Rachicallis, and Theligonu m.