MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS OF THE TRIBE INULEAE S STR (ASTERACEAE), BASED ON ITS SEQUENCES OF NUCLEAR RIBOSOMAL DNA

The sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of 18S-2 6S nrDNA for a sample of 16 taxa from the Inuleae s. str. and two outg roup taxa are analysed cladistically with PAUP. A consensus tree of th e four most parsimonious cladograms is presented. Three different test s of cladogram stability are conducted (Bremer support, parsimony jack knifing and bootstrapping); all tests indicate a high degree of suppor t for the basal nodes of the tree. The ITS phylogeny of the tribe is c ompared with previous hypotheses based on morphological data. The posi tion of Anisopappus as sister group to the rest of the tribe is suppor ted by the molecular data, but the proposed subdivision of Inuleae s, str. into a paleate grade group and an epaleate clade is not. The inte rpretation of the character evolution of, e.g. receptacular paleae and pappus features within the tribe is discussed.