Resurrection of the genus Staphisagria J. Hill, sister to all the other Delphinieae (Ranunculaceae)

Molecular sequence data show that the three species of Delphinium subg. Staphisagria (J. Hill) Peterm. form the sister clade to Aconitum L., Aconitella Spach, Consolida (DC.) S.F. Gray, and all remaining species of Delphinium L. To account for this finding we resurrect Staphisagria J. Hill (1756). Names in Staphisagria are available for two of the species. We here make the required new combination for the third species, Staphisagria picta (Willd.) F. Jabbour, provide a key to the species, and illustrate one of them

Biogeographic diversification of Eranthis (Ranunculaceae) reflects the geological history of the three great Asian plateaus

The evolutionary history of organisms with poor dispersal abilities usually parallels geological events. Collisions of the Indian and Arabian plates with Eurasia greatly changed Asian topography and affected regional and global climates as well as biotic evolution. However, the geological evolution of Asia related to these two collisions remains debated. Here, we used Eranthis, an angiosperm genus with poor seed dispersal ability and a discontinuous distribution across Eurasia, to shed light on the orogenesis of the Qinghai-Tibetan, Iranian and Mongolian Plateaus. Our phylogenetic analyses show that Eranthis comprises four major geographical clades: east Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau clade (I-1), North Asian clade (I-2), west Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau clade (II-1) and Mediterranean clade (II-2). Our molecular dating and biogeographic analyses indicate that within Eranthis, four vicariance events correlate well with the two early uplifts of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the Late Eocene and the Oligocene-Miocene boundary and the two uplifts of the Iranian Plateau during the Middle and Late Miocene. The origin and divergence of the Mongolian Plateau taxa are related to the two uplifts of the Mongolian Plateau during the Middle and Late Miocene. Additionally, our results are in agreement with the hypothesis that the central part of Tibet only reached an altitude of less than 2.3 km at approximately 40 Ma. This study highlights that organismal evolution could be related to the formation of the three great Asian plateaus, hence contributing to the knowledge on the timing of the key tectonic events in Asia

Phylogenomics and morphological evolution of the mega-diverse genus Artemisia (Asteraceae: Anthemideae): implications for its circumscription and infrageneric taxonomy

Background and Aims Artemisia is a mega-diverse genus consisting of ~400 species. Despite its medicinal importance and ecological significance, a well-resolved phylogeny for global Artemisia, a natural generic delimitation and infrageneric taxonomy remain missing, owing to the obstructions from limited taxon sampling and insufficient information on DNA markers. Its morphological characters, such as capitulum, life form and leaf, show marked variations and are widely used in its infrageneric taxonomy. However, their evolution within Artemisia is poorly understood. Here, we aimed to reconstruct a well-resolved phylogeny for global Artemisia via a phylogenomic approach, to infer the evolutionary patterns of its key morphological characters and to update its circumscription and infrageneric taxonomy. Methods We sampled 228 species (258 samples) of Artemisia and its allies from both fresh and herbarium collections, covering all the subgenera and its main geographical areas, and conducted a phylogenomic analysis based on nuclear single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) obtained from genome skimming data. Based on the phylogenetic framework, we inferred the possible evolutionary patterns of six key morphological characters widely used in its previous taxonomy. Key Results The genus Kaschgaria was revealed to be nested in Artemisia with strong support. A well-resolved phylogeny of Artemisia consisting of eight highly supported clades was recovered, two of which were identified for the first time. Most of the previously recognized subgenera were not supported as monophyletic. Evolutionary inferences based on the six morphological characters showed that different states of these characters originated independently more than once. Conclusions The circumscription of Artemisia is enlarged to include the genus Kaschgaria. The morphological characters traditionally used for the infrageneric taxonomy of Artemisia do not match the new phylogenetic tree. They experienced a more complex evolutionary history than previously thought. We propose a revised infrageneric taxonomy of the newly circumscribed Artemisia, with eight recognized subgenera to accommodate the new results.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 31870179, 31570204, 31270237 and J1310002), the International Partnership Program (grant no. 151853KYSB20190027), Sino-Africa Joint Research Center (grant no. SAJC201614), Key technology projects of Jiangxi Province's major scientific and technological research and development project (grant no. 20223AAF01007), Survey of Wildlife Resources in Key Areas of Tibet (grant no. ZL202203601) and National Plant Specimen Resource Center (grant no. E0117G1001) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Key Project at Central Government Level: The Ability Establishment of Sustainable Use of Valuable Chinese Medicine Resources (grant no. 2060302) and Project of the Central Siberian Botanical Garden of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (grant no. AAAA-A21-121011290024-5).Abstract INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION Conclusions SUPPLEMENTARY DATA FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CONFLICT OF INTEREST LITERATURE CITED Supplementary dat

A study of the anatomy and physiology of nectaries: a translation of Gaston Bonnier’s seminal work (1878, Bulletin de la Société Botanique de France)

International audienceTo fuel the research on nectar and nectaries, I propose here an English translation of a seminal article published 140 years ago in the Bulletin de la Société Botanique de France, which was one of the former titles of the current Botany Letters. The reference of the original publication is: Bonnier, G. 1878. “Etude sur l’anatomie et la physiologie des nectaires.” Bulletin de la Société Botanique de France 25 (8): 262–271. doi: 10.1080/00378941.1878.10827912. The translated article is preceded by an introduction clarifying the scientific context, and followed by a synthesis of subsequent and recent studies about nectar and nectaries

Development and Evolution of Unisexual Flowers: A Review

The development of unisexual flowers has been described in a large number of taxa, sampling the diversity of floral phenotypes and sexual systems observed in extant angiosperms, in studies focusing on floral ontogeny, on the evo-devo of unisexuality, or on the genetic and chromosomal bases of unisexuality. We review here such developmental studies, aiming at characterizing the diversity of ontogenic pathways leading to functionally unisexual flowers. In addition, we present for the first time and in a two-dimensional morphospace a quantitative description of the developmental rate of the sexual organs in functionally unisexual flowers, in a non-exhaustive sampling of angiosperms with contrasted floral morphologies. Eventually, recommendations are provided to help plant evo-devo researchers and botanists addressing macroevolutionary and ecological issues to more precisely select the taxa, the biological material, or the developmental stages to be investigated

L'explosion des formes de vie

International audienc