Molecular Systematics of Onagraceae: Examples from Clarkia and Fuchsia

Abstract

This insight is perhaps nowhere more appropriate than for a number of plant families, several of which are discussed in this book (see Chapters 10 and 11), that are the focus of extraordinarily detailed, multidisciplinary biosystematic studies. The Onagraceae, comprising seven tribes, 16 genera, and approximately 650 species (Raven, 1988), is undoubtedly one of the most thoroughly examined angiosperm families of moderate size (Raven, 1979, Raven, 1988; Sytsma and Smith, 1988). Abundant and detailed biosystematic information exists for cytology, breeding systems, morphology, vegetative and floral anatomy, and flavonoid chemistry (see the review in Raven, 1988). More recent systematic studies have used proteins and formal cladistic analyses (Gottlieb, 1986, Gottlieb, 1988; Crisci and Berry, 1990). Given the wealth of information from traditional and more recent systematic approaches, molecular phylogenetic analyses in the Onagraceae are especially applicable and justified in order to place other data bases in a more accurate or detailed phylogenetic context.