Phylogeny of the Inuleae (Asteraceae) with special emphasis on the Inuleae-Plucheinae

Phylogenetic relationships in the tribe Inuleae (Asteraceae, sunflower family) are elucidated based on a concatenated set of nuclear (ETS, ITS), and chloroplast data (ndhF, trnL-F, trnH-psbA), analysed by Bayesian and parsimony methods. Extensive sampling of representatives from both subtribes Inuleae-Inulinae and Inuleae-Plucheinae establish their reciprocal monophyly, and result in the first-ever resolved molecular phylogeny of the Inuleae-Plucheinae with new insights into the relationships and morphological character distributions between genera and among species. Of the 31 accepted genera in the Inuleae-Plucheinae, only Pseudoblepharispermum is not represented in this study, 12 monotypic genera are placed in the phylogeny, 13 genera are shown to be monophyletic, and only 5 of the remaining 18 genera are revealed to be polyphyletic. The implications for the nomenclature status of the monotypic and polyphyletic genera are discussed, together with a descriptive review of morphological characters traditionally used to circumscribe the genera in this subtribe.