Resurrection and New Species of the Neotropical Genus Adelonema(Araceae: Philodendron Clade)

Previous studies have shown Homalomena as traditionally defined to be polyphyletic, with Neotropical species phylogenetically distinct from Asian species. This study of 29 accessions of 10 Neotropical taxa, and a total of 135 accessions representing 92 taxa of Homalomena, Furtadoa, and Philodendron for nuclear ITS and plastid matK regions, supports resurrection of the genus Adelonema for Neotropical species currently assigned to Homalomena. Adelonema is here delimited as a Neotropical genus of 16 species divided into two new sections: sect. Adelonema and sect. Curmeria, based on morphologically supported molecular results. The genus Adelonema is distinguished by a hypogeal rhizome, crushed vegetative tissues smelling of anise, an extensively sheathing, sometimes prickly petiole, chartaceous often variegated leaf blades, a spadix either obliquely inserted on the spathe/peduncle (sect. Adelonema), or stipitate (sect. Curmeria), ovaries with 2–4-pluriovulate locules, and anatropous ovules on an axile placenta. Four new species are described: Adelonema orientalis, A. palidinervia, A. panamensis, and A. yanamonoensis. Eleven new combinations are made: Adelo

Resurrection and New Species of the Neotropical Genus Adelonema(Araceae: Philodendron Clade)

Previous studies have shown Homalomena as traditionally defined to be polyphyletic, with Neotropical species phylogenetically distinct from Asian species. This study of 29 accessions of 10 Neotropical taxa, and a total of 135 accessions representing 92 taxa of Homalomena, Furtadoa, and Philodendron for nuclear ITS and plastid matK regions, supports resurrection of the genus Adelonema for Neotropical species currently assigned to Homalomena. Adelonema is here delimited as a Neotropical genus of 16 species divided into two new sections: sect. Adelonema and sect. Curmeria, based on morphologically supported molecular results. The genus Adelonema is distinguished by a hypogeal rhizome, crushed vegetative tissues smelling of anise, an extensively sheathing, sometimes prickly petiole, chartaceous often variegated leaf blades, a spadix either obliquely inserted on the spathe/peduncle (sect. Adelonema), or stipitate (sect. Curmeria), ovaries with 2–4-pluriovulate locules, and anatropous ovules on an axile placenta. Four new species are described: Adelonema orientalis, A. palidinervia, A. panamensis, and A. yanamonoensis. Eleven new combinations are made: Adelo

Los géneros de Araceas del municipio de Florencia (Caquetá – Colombia)

La familia Araceae es una de las más diversas dentro de las monocotiledóneas, cuyo centro de diversidad es el Neotrópico. En total hay 105 géneros y cerca de 3300 especies a nivel mundial, de los cuales 23 géneros y 447 especies han sido registradas para Colombia. Dado que muchas áreas de Colombia son escasamente muestreadas, en el presente trabajo se contribuye al conocimiento de la diversidad local de este grupo en el municipio de Florencia (Caquetá). Para este trabajo se realizo trabajo de campo y revisión de ejemplares depositados en los herbarios HUAZ de la Universidad de la Amazonia, COAH del Instituto Sinchi y COL de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia. La familia Araceae se encuentra representada en el municipio de Florencia por 16 géneros nativos: Anthurium, Caladium, Dieffenbachia, Dracontium, Heteropsis, Homalomena, Monstera, Montrichardia, Philodendron, Pistia, Rhodospatha, Spathiphyllum, Stenospermation, Syngonium, Urospatha y Xanthosoma, y 3 géneros introducidos a la región Neotrópical (Aglaonema, Alocasia y Colocasia), esto corresponde a un 82 % de los géneros para Colombia. Los géneros Alocasia y Colocasia se han naturalizado, encontrándose grandes poblaciones creciendo espontáneamente en áreas abiertas. El total de morfoespecies encontradas hasta el momento es de 114, aunque todavía se requieren estudios taxonómicos para determinar la identidad de estas especies

Comparison of Chloroplast Genomes among Species of Unisexual and Bisexual Clades of the Monocot Family Araceae

The chloroplast genome provides insight into the evolution of plant species. We de novo assembled and annotated chloroplast genomes of four genera representing three subfamilies of Araceae: Lasia spinosa (Lasioideae), Stylochaeton bogneri, Zamioculcas zamiifolia (Zamioculcadoideae), and Orontium aquaticum (Orontioideae), and performed comparative genomics using these chloroplast genomes. The sizes of the chloroplast genomes ranged from 163,770 bp to 169,982 bp. These genomes comprise 113 unique genes, including 79 protein-coding, 4 rRNA, and 30 tRNA genes. Among these genes, 17–18 genes are duplicated in the inverted repeat (IR) regions, comprising 6–7 protein-coding (including trans-splicing gene rps12), 4 rRNA, and 7 tRNA genes. The total number of genes ranged between 130 and 131. The infA gene was found to be a pseudogene in all four genomes reported here. These genomes exhibited high similarities in codon usage, amino acid frequency, RNA editing sites, and microsatellites. The oligonucleotide repeats and junctions JSB (IRb/SSC) and JSA (SSC/IRa) were highly variable among the genomes. The patterns of IR contraction and expansion were shown to be homoplasious, and therefore unsuitable for phylogenetic analyses. Signatures of positive selection were seen in three genes in S. bogneri, including ycf2, clpP, and rpl36. This study is a valuable addition to the evolutionary history of chloroplast genome structure in Araceae

Complete Chloroplast Genomes of Anthurium huixtlense and Pothos scandens (Pothoideae, Araceae) : Unique Inverted Repeat Expansion and Contraction Affect Rate of Evolution

The subfamily Pothoideae belongs to the ecologically important plant family Araceae. Here, we report the chloroplast genomes of two species of the subfamily Pothoideae:Anthurium huixtlense(size: 163,116 bp) andPothos scandens(size: 164,719 bp). The chloroplast genome ofP. scandensshowed unique contraction and expansion of inverted repeats (IRs), thereby increasing the size of the large single-copy region (LSC: 102,956 bp) and decreasing the size of the small single-copy region (SSC: 6779 bp). This led to duplication of many single-copy genes due to transfer to IR regions from the small single-copy (SSC) region, whereas some duplicate genes became single copy due to transfer to large single-copy regions. The rate of evolution of protein-coding genes was affected by the contraction and expansion of IRs; we found higher mutation rates for genes that exist in single-copy regions as compared to those in IRs. We found a 2.3-fold increase of oligonucleotide repeats inP. scandenswhen compared withA. huixtlense, whereas amino acid frequency and codon usage revealed similarities. The ratio of transition to transversion mutations was 2.26 inP. scandensand 2.12 inA. huixtlense. Transversion mutations mostly translated in non-synonymous substitutions. The phylogenetic inference of the limited species showed the monophyly of the Araceae subfamilies. Our study provides insight into the molecular evolution of chloroplast genomes in the subfamily Pothoideae and family Araceae.Peer reviewe

FLORISTIC AND PHYTOGEOGRAPHIC ASPECTS OFARACEAE IN CERRO PIRRE (DARIEN, PANAMA)

The aroid flora in Panama includes 436 described species in 26 genera, representing the richest country of Araceae in Central America. Much of the existing knowledge of the Panamanian aroids has been generated in the last 50 years, mainly due to extensive taxonomic studies and, to a lesser extent, by floristic studies. Floristic studies generated valuable information to better understand biodiversity, especially in the poorly-explored areas. For this reason, the main objective of this work is to study the floristic composition of the aroids of a botanically important region: Cerro Pirre (Darién Province). As a result, 430 specimens were studied, comprising 94 species in 12 genera. The Aroid flora of Cerro Pirre is formed by species of wide geographic distribution (53%) and, to a lesser extent, endemic species (27%). Of the total species, approximately 43% are nomadic vines, 33% epiphytes, 23% terrestrial and a single species epilithic (1%). Ten new records for the flora of Cerro Pirre were recorded and one new record for Panama. Nine species new to science were discovered. The surprisingly high number of new records and new species emphasizes the need for complementary inventories, through field work in unexplored areas and herbarium work through the comprehensive review of botanical material

Chloroplast genome evolution in the Dracunculus clade (Aroideae, Araceae)

Chloroplast (cp) genomes are considered important for the study of lineage-specific molecular evolution, population genetics, and phylogenetics. Our aim here was to elucidate the molecular evolution in cp genomes of species in the Dracunculus clade (Aroideae, Araceae). We report de novo assembled cp genomes for eight species from eight genera and also retrieved cp genomes of four species from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The cp genomes varied in size from 162,424 bp to 176,835 bp. Large Single Copy (LSC) region ranged in size from 87,141 bp to 95,475 bp; Small Single Copy (SSC) from 14,338 bp to 23,981 bp; and Inverted Repeats (IRa and IRb) from 25,131 bp to 32,708 bp. The expansion in inverted repeats led to duplication of ycf1 genes in four species. The genera showed high similarity in gene content and yielded 113 unique genes (79 protein-coding, 4 rRNA, and 30 tRNA genes). Codon usage, amino acid frequency, RNA editing sites, microsatellites repeats, transition and transversion substitutions, and synonymous and non-synonymous substitutions were also similar across the clade. A previous study reported deletion of ycf1, accD, psbE, trnL-CAA, and trnG-GCC genes in four Amorphophallus species. Our study supports conservative structure of cp genomes in the Dracunculus clade including Amorphophallus species and does not support gene deletion mentioned above. We also report suitable polymorphic loci based on comparative analyses of Dracunculus clade species, which could be useful for phylogenetic inference. Overall, the current study broad our knowledge about the molecular evolution of chloroplast genome in aroids.Peer reviewe