TORRECILLA, PEDRO*, JOSE ANGEL LOPEZ-RODRIGUEZ, and PILAR CATALAN. Dpt. Agriculture, University of Zaragoza, Miguel Servet 177, 50013 Zaragoza (Spain). - Phylogenetic signal of structural characters on Festuca sensu lato (Poaceae, Poeae).
Cladistic analysis of Festuca s. lat. representatives based on
morphoanatomical characters separates major groups of taxa (Subgenera,
Sections) that are consistent with those obtained from the analysis of
nuclear and chloroplast molecules. Superimposed changes of structural
characters on a combined ITS/trnL-F topology demonstrate the
phylogenetic value of some sets of morphological characters for
particular groups of taxa. Vegetative characters are similarly
informative than floral characters on Festuca s. lat. and allied
genera. Increased resolution is obtained in most cases when the total
evidence principle is assumed under the simultaneous analysis of both
molecular and structural data. A higher level of homoplasy is
exhibited by the morphoanatomical traits when the evolutionary survey
is extended to other Poeae genera.
Key words: Festuca, phylogeny, Poeae, structural characters