PRINCE, LINDA M.* AND W. JOHN KRESS. National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany MRC-166, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560. - Phylogenetic relationships among genera of the prayer plant family (Marantaceae) based on chloroplast DNA sequence data.
The Marantaceae are a cohesive but taxonomically difficult group. The
genera appear well-defined with few changes in circumscription over
the recent decades. Relationships among the genera are poorly
understood. The latest treatment above the rank of genus was that of
Loesener in 1930, dividing the genera into two tribes based on the
number of fertile locules. Andersson provided an informal treatment
of the family in 1980, dividing the genera into five groups plus five
genera of uncertain affinity based on a number of morphological
characters. We sequenced the chloroplast matK gene plus
flanking non-coding spacers and the trnL to trnF spacer
region for 85 ingroup taxa representing 28 of the 31 currently
recognized genera in the family. Additional sequences for 9 outgroup
taxa representing the 7 other families of Zingiberales were included
in the analyses. Our data do not support either of the above
classifications although some of Andersson's groups are supported in
part. A number of genera appear paraphyletic or polyphyletic based on
our results including Phrynium, Calathea, and
Schumannianthus. We evaluate the strength of the morphological
features used for previous classifications and propose a provisional
classification of Marantaceae.
Key words: Marantaceae, matK, phylogeny, trnL-trnF intergenic spacer