Polygalaceae
Martin F. Wojciechowski and Johanna Mahn
Introduction
Polygalaceae R. Br., a widespread family of ca. 18 genera and perhaps 1050 species, is considered to be monophyletic on the basis of morphological and molecular data (trnL-F; Persson, 2001). This family of trees, lianas and herbs is distributed worldwide except for the western Pacific (e.g., New Zealand). Polygalaceae were traditionally considered to be related to Malpighiaceae or Krameriaceae, all three of which have bilaterally symmetrical flowers that superficially resemble those of Fabaceae, however, analyses of molecular data (rbcL, 18S rDNA and atpB; Soltis et al. 2000; Doyle et al. 2000) place the family as the sister group of Fabaceae.
References
Doyle, J. J., J. A. Chappill, C.D. Bailey, and T. Kajita. 2000. Towards a comprehensive phylogeny of legumes: evidence from rbcL sequences and non-molecular data. Pages 1-20 in Advances in legume systematics, part 9 (P.S. Herendeen and A. Bruneau, eds.). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.
Persson, C. 2001. Phylogenetic relationships in Polygalaceae based on plastid DNA sequences from the trnL-F region. Taxon 50: 763-779.
Soltis, D. E., P. S. Soltis, M. W. Chase, M. E. Mort, D. C. Albach, M. Zanis, V. Savolainen, W. H. Hahn, S. B. Hoot, M. F. Fay, M. Axtell, S. M. Swensen, L. M. Prince, W. J. Kress, K. C. Nixon, and J. S. Farris. 2000. Angiosperm phylogeny inferred from 18S rDNA, rbcL, and atpB sequences. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 133:381-461.
Title Illustrations
| Scientific Name | Polygala dalmaisiana |
|---|---|
| Specimen Condition | Live Specimen |
| Copyright | © 2008 |
About This Page
Martin F. Wojciechowski
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Martin F. Wojciechowski at and Johanna Mahn at
Page copyright © 2006 Martin F. Wojciechowski and
All Rights Reserved.
- First online 14 June 2006
- Content changed 14 June 2006
Citing this page:
Wojciechowski, Martin F. and Johanna Mahn. 2006. Polygalaceae. Version 14 June 2006 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Polygalaceae/21094/2006.06.14 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
