A new phylogeny of Rumex (Polygonaceae) adds evolutionary context to the diversity of reproductive systems present in the genus

By

Grant, Kirstie
Koenemann, Daniel M
Mansaray, Janet
Ahmed, Aisha
Khamar, Hamid
El Oualidi, Jalal
Burke, Janelle

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2022

Original Publication

PhytoKeys

Volume

204

Pages

57--72

Subjects

dioecious , Emex , heteromorphic sex chromosome systems , monoecious , synoecious

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers [2010]-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.204.85256

 

Abstract

Rumexis one of about 50 genera in the knotweed family, Polygonaceae. The genus comprises about 200 species with bisexual, or more commonly, unisexual flowers, with the species displaying monoecious, dioecious, synoecious (hermaphroditic) or polygamous reproductive systems. Some of the dioecious species have heteromorphic sex chromosomes, which is rare amongst angiosperms. We here present a plastid phylogeny of 67 species, representing all four subgenera. For this study, we used three chloroplast markers,rbcL,trnH-psbA,trnL-Fand dense taxon sampling to reconstruct the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny ofRumexto date. The reconstructed phylogeny for this work resolves six major clades and one large grade in Rumex subg. Rumex. In addition, the species with known dioecious reproductive systems are resolved within a broader clade we term “the dioecious clade”. These results suggest that the species with divergent reproductive systems are more closely related to each other than to other species comprising the rest of theRumexgenus.