Melastomataceae are a tropical eudicot family of about 156 genera and 4500 species. Melastome androecium and fruit evolution are little understood due to controversial hypotheses about family circumscription and intra-family relationships. Our poster presents a phylogenetic hypothesis for Melastomataceae and their closest relatives, Memecylaceae, Crypteroniaceae, Alzateaceae, Rhynchocalycaceae, Oliniaceae, and Penaeaceae, based on combined rbcL, ndhF, and rpl16 sequences and parsimony, minimum evolution, and maximum likelihood reconstructions. Fifty-six exemplars, representing the 13 traditional tribes and three subfamilies, Astronioideae, Melastomatoideae, and Memecyloideae (= Memecylaceae DC.), were sequenced, with additional denser taxon sampling for ndhF. Memecylaceae are sister to Melastomataceae, and Pternandra, a SE Asian genus of 15 species, is the first-branching Melastomataceae. This placement of Pternandra has low bootstrap support (72%), but agrees with its melastome-like leaf venation. The next deepest split is between the SE Asian Astronieae, with anthers opening by slits, and the remaining melastomes, which have anthers opening by pores. Morphological implications of the phylogeny concern stamen connective appendages, loss of anther endothecia, the evolution of poricidal dehiscence, and switches between berries and capsules.

Key words: Alzateaceae, Crypteroniaceae, Melastomataceae, Memecylaceae, Oliniaceae, Rhynchocalycaceae