Is morphology supporting a monophyletic Proustia Lag. (Nassauvieae, Asteraceae)?

SANCHO, G.; KATINAS, L.; PLOS, A.

PLANT SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION

SPRINGER WIEN

Lugar: Viena; Año: 2014 vol. 300 p. 2265 - 2276

0378-2697

Proustiais an Andean genus traditionally considered to have three species and teninfraspecific taxa, which has often been placed in tribes other thanNassauvieae mainly because of its distinctive style features. Currently, eachof the three species of Proustia isincluded in its own section denoting a consistent morphological variabilitywithin the genus. The heterogeneity among Proustiaspecies mainly relies on habit, spiny structures arrangement, capitulaarrangement, and pappus features. On the contrary, the forms or varietieswithin each species are apparently more homogeneous. The phylogenetic analysisperformed here is based on morphological features and includes all the species,and all but two varieties and forms of Proustia.We test the boundaries of Proustiaand the hypothesis that morphological discontinuities in the genus arephylogenetically uninformative. A total of 26 taxa and 29 morphological,anatomical, and palynological characters were studied. A maximum parsimonyanalysis resulted in six most parsimonious trees that showed almost identicaltopologies. Our results do not support the current generic concept of Proustia. Independently, each species ofProustia resulted monophyletic whentaxa at sub-specific level were considered. Proustiapyrifolia was retrieved sister to the genus Berylsimpsonia although this clade did not obtain significantsupport. The spiny structures usually referred as diagnostic for Proustia are not homologous for thegenus. Characteristics of habit, spiny structures, secondary inflorescences andpappus support clades representing each species of Proustia, which may in turn, represent different genera.