stamens, well developed staminodes, cupule present in the fruit, and tepals mostly persistent in 
the fruit), although help to recognize the genus as a distinct taxon in the Lauraceae, do not 
represent apomorphies in this clade; 2) the combination of characters that shape the concept of 
Cinnamomum are applicable to many species formerly included in Phoebe in the Neotropics, and 
they should be placed in that genus; 3) pinninerved and triplinerved species can be considered 
congeneric, although some morphological data (such as correlation of domatia with other 
vegetative features) suggest that the two groups may be unrelated; 4) accepting the group of New 
World species of Cinnamomum as monophyletic, there is no indication of identifiable 
Pearce taxa (sections or subgenera). Principal morphological characters, such as leaf 
venation pattern, presence of domatia, and number of sporangia in the anthers of whorl III, do not 
define main subdivisions within this group of species; rather the distribution of these characters 
suggests that they have evolved in parallel fashion several times within the group. 
