Authors: A N SchmidtLebuhn
Publish Date: 2007/11/27
Volume: 270, Issue: 1-2, Pages: 25-38
Abstract
Minthostachys Benth Spach Labiatae from Andean South America was long held to be closely related to Macaronesian Bystropogon L’Hér or to North American Pycnanthemum Michx The possibility of a close relationship to elements of South American Satureja/Clinopodium sl is here proposed for the first time and a phylogenetic analysis of nrITS data is employed to test the competing hypotheses For Minthostachys and its putative closest relatives the possible evolution of morphological characters is investigated with a cladistic analysis The results suggest that Minthostachys is nested in a clade of South American Mentheae and probably in the former genus Xenopoma Willd a group of smallflowered beepollinated species currently included in Clinopodium L Minthostachys is considered monophyletic based on nrITS data and its scandent habit
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