Phylogenetic relationships within Nyctaginaceae tribe Nyctagineae: Evidence from nuclear and chloroplast genomes

Nyctaginaceae are a small family of mainly New World tropical and subtropic al trees, shrubs, and herbs. To date phylogenetic relationships within the family have not been examined. This study provides the first phylogenetic h ypothesis of relationships within Nyctaginaceae tribe Nyctagineae based on sequence data from both nuclear (ITS) and chloroplast (accD 5'coding region and intergenic region between the rbcL and accD genes). Morphological char acters are also discussed as they relate to the phylogeny inferred using mo lecular data. Results suggest that neither Acleisanthes nor Selinocarpus is monophyletic but that together they comprise a monophyletic lineage. The g enus Mirabilis is strongly supported as monophyletic, but the monophyly of two of its sections is suspect. Morphology generally agrees with the molecu lar data and in some instances reinforces clades weakly supported by nuclea r and chloroplast data. Further sampling will help clarify relationships of these genera within Nyctaginaceae.