FAMILIAL PLACEMENT OF CYRTANDROMOEA, TITANOTRICHUM AND SANANGO, 3 PROBLEMATIC GENERA OF THE LAMIALES

Cladistic relationships among Gesneriaceae and related families are in vestigated using ndhF sequence data, to establish the affinity of thre e genera whose familial placement was uncertain on the basis of morpho logical evidence alone. A first analysis, including 18 outgroup specie s from the Buddlejaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Bignoniaceae, and Acanthace ae resulted in eleven most-parsimonious trees of 5740 steps each. Rece nt classifications had placed Cyrtandromoea in Scrophulariaceae or Ges neriaceae, Titanotrichum as a monogeneric tribe in Gesneriaceae, and S anango in either Scrophulariaceae, Gesneriaceae, Loganiaceae, or Buddl ejaceae. Sequence data from the chloroplast ndhF gene indicate that th ey are Gesneriaceae: Cyrtandromoea belongs to the Klugieae, the monoge neric Titanotricheae are perhaps sister to the remainder of the Cyrtan droideae, and Sanango is placed in the Gesnerieae as was predicted by recent morphological and chemical analyses.