Testing the monophyly and placement of Flourensia in the tribe Heliantheae (Asteraceae).

- J. C. OSPINA; S. E. FREIRE; M. A. SCATAGLINI; J. L. PANERO; C. M. CORREA & L. AAGESEN.

Encuentro; 35th Annual Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society and XII Reunión Argentina de Cladística y Biogeografia; 2016

The Neotropical genus Flourensia (Asteraceae, Heliantheae) comprises 32 species occurring in arid, elevated regions of North America (Mexico-southern USA) and Andean Cordillera of South America (Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru). Previous morphological studies have raised questions on the monophyly of the genus and its placement within the tribe Heliantheae; at the moment, there are no phylogenetic studies of the genus Flourensia confirming these issues. In this work, the phylogenetic position and monophyly of Flourensia are tested in the context of the tribe Heliantheae using ITS. We use traditional methods for DNA extraction and sequencing. The new sequences were analyzed using TNT in a matrix also including sequences obtained from Genebank for those genera of Heliantheae traditionally considered closely related to Flourensia. The analyzed species of Flourensia constituted a clade, placed in a trichotomy with other three genera of subtribe Enceliinae: Encelia and the clade Geraea + Enceliopsis.