Phylogeny of a hypothetical genus of plants with pollination states of either “bees”, “hummingbirds”, or “wind” denoted by pictues at the tips.

Abstract

<p>Pollination state nodes in the phylogenetic tree inferred under maximum parsimony are coloured on the branches leading into them (yellow represents “bee” pollination, red representing “hummingbird” pollination, and black representing “wind” pollination, dual coloured branches are equally parsimonious for the two states coloured). Assignment of “hummingbird” as the root state (because of prior knowledge from the fossil record) leads to the pattern of ancestral states represented by symbols at the nodes of the phylogeny, the state requiring the fewest number of changes to give rise to the pattern observed at the tips is circled at each node.</p