CLADISTIC-ANALYSIS OF CHLOROPLAST DNA RESTRICTION SITE CHARACTERS IN ERYTHRINA (LEGUMINOSAE, PHASEOLEAE)

Chloroplast DNA restriction site variation was examined in 60 species of Erythrina (Leguminosae: Phaseoleae). This sample represents four of the five subgenera and most sections of this pantropical, woody, and ornithophilous genus of 112 species. Cladistic analysis of restriction site characters resulted in numerous most parsimonious trees, but the strict consensus tree was highly resolved. Low levels of resolution because of absence of characters were confined to a single clade representing plastomes sampled from a large group of closely related species. The groupings obtained from the chloroplast DNA characters were generally consistent with the traditional infrageneric classification scheme for the genus. Plastome lineages of only one of the four subgenera surveyed was monophyletic, but those of most sections or of groups of closely related sections were monophyletic. The gene tree suggests that members of the African subg. Chirocalyx and of the Paleotropical subg. Erythraster are closely related and sister to African and Asian members of subg. Erythrina. Chloroplast DNA relationships indicate that hummingbird pollination, considered derived relative to passerine pollination, evolved convergently in at least three distinct lineages and that reversals to passerine pollination also may have occurred.