PHYLOGENETIC-RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PUCCINELLIA AND ALLIED GENERA OF POACEAE AS INFERRED FROM CHLOROPLAST DNA RESTRICTION SITE VARIATION

A cladistic analysis of chloroplast DNA restriction site variation among accessions of Catabrosa P. Beauv., Phippsia (Trin.) R. Br., Sclerochloa P. Beauv., and Puccinellia Parl. resolved a monophyletic Puccinellia, with Sclerochloa as its sister group, Phippsia the sister of the Puccinellia + Sclerochloa clade, and Catabrosa situated more distantly. These results suggest that the taxonomic fusion of Phippsia and Puccinellia, which has been proposed in light of the existence of natural hybrids between them (currently recognized as the nothogenus x Pucciphippsia Tsvelev), would yield a grouping that would not be monophyletic unless Sclerochloa also was included. The set of restriction site characters that resolve these relationships provides minimal support for species groupings within Puccinellia, and the groupings that are resolved are inconsistent in some cases with species boundaries as determined by morphology and isozymes.