TL;DR: These data provide greatly increased support for the recent additions of Aneulophus, Bhesa, Centroplacus, Ploiarium, and Rafflesiaceae to Malpighiales; sister relations of Phyllanthaceae + Picrodendraceae, monophyly of Hypericaceae, and polyphyly of Clusiaceae.
Abstract: The eudicot order Malpighiales contains ∼16000 species and is the most poorly resolved large rosid clade. To clarify phylogenetic relationships in the order, we used maximum likelihood, Bayesian, and parsimony analyses of DNA sequence data from 13 gene regions, totaling 15604 bp, and representing all three genomic compartments (i.e., plastid: atpB, matK, ndhF, and rbcL; mitochondrial: ccmB, cob, matR, nad1B-C, nad6, and rps3; and nuclear: 18S rDNA, PHYC, and newly developed low-copy EMB2765). Our sampling of 190 taxa includes representatives from all families of Malpighiales. These data provide greatly increased support for the recent additions of Aneulophus, Bhesa, Centroplacus, Ploiarium, and Rafflesiaceae to Malpighiales; sister relations of Phyllanthaceae + Picrodendraceae, monophyly of Hypericaceae, and polyphyly of Clusiaceae. Oxalidales + Huaceae, followed by Celastrales are successive sisters to Malpighiales. Parasitic Rafflesiaceae, which produce the world's largest flowers, are confirmed as embedded within a paraphyletic Euphorbiaceae. Novel findings show a well-supported placement of Ctenolophonaceae with Erythroxylaceae + Rhizophoraceae, sister-group relationships of Bhesa + Centroplacus, and the exclusion of Medusandra from Malpighiales. New taxonomic circumscriptions include the addition of Bhesa to Centroplacaceae, Medusandra to Peridiscaceae (Saxifragales), Calophyllaceae applied to Clusiaceae subfamily Kielmeyeroideae, Peraceae applied to Euphorbiaceae subfamily Peroideae, and Huaceae included in Oxalidales.
TL;DR: The wood anatomy of Bhesa sinica (Chang ' Liang) Chang ' Liang, the only species of the genus occurring in China, is described in detail and compared with other Celastraceae.
Abstract: The wood anatomy of Bhesa sinica (Chang ' Liang) Chang ' Liang, the only species of the genus occurring in China, is described in detail and compared with other Celastraceae. Bhesa sinica closely resembles other species of the genus, in e. g. vessels mainly in radial multiples, exclusively scalariform perforations, large and (almost) simple vessel-ray pits; parenchyma in fine irregular bands, in long (over 8-celled) strands; thick-walled, non septate libriform fibres; 1-5-seriate heterocellular rays, and prismatic crystals in chambered axial and ray parenchyma cells. This combination of characters is not known to occur in any of the other genera of the Celastraceae, and most individual wood anatomical character states of Bhesa are also unusual within the family. The isolated position of the genus in the Celastraceae is discussed.
TL;DR: A phylogenetic analysis of the Celastrales was performed using nuclear and plastid genes, and the results help delimit the Celastsrales and Celastraceae as morphologically more homogeneous taxa.
Abstract: A phylogenetic analysis of the Celastrales was performed using nuclear (18S, ITS 1, 26S rDNA) and plastid (atpB, matK, rbcL, trnL-F spacer) genes. In contrast to most previous studies, Celastrales and Malpighiales are resolved as being more closely related to one another than either are to Oxalidales. The Huaceae are well supported as the sister group to Oxalidales, not Celastrales, as had been previously proposed. The Lepidobotryaceae are unambiguously supported as sister to the clade consisting of Celastraceae and Parnassiaceae. The Parnassiaceae are well supported as members of an early branching lineage within Celastraceae, rather than as its sister group. Likewise, Pottingeria appears to be part of an early derived lineage of Celastraceae. Empleuridium is unambiguously supported as a derived member of Celastraceae, as are Brexia, Canotia, Siphonodon, Stackhousia, and Tripterococcus. Bhesa is unambiguously supported as a member of Malpighiales, though its relationships within the order remain...