PHYLOGENY OF THE EMPETRACEAE, WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON CHARACTER EVOLUTION IN THE GENUS EMPETRUM

The Empetraceae have been subject to cladistic analysis to evaluate their phylogenetic interrelationships, and to investigate character evolution in the genus Empetrum. The results indicate that all genera are monophyletic as presently circumscribed, and that red-fruited diploid Empetrum, today found in the Southern Hemisphere, are the sister-group of the black-fruited crowberries. Black-fruited, as well as purple-fruited, tetraploid crowberries are hypothesized to have evolved from diploid black-fruited ancestors in the Northern Hemisphere. The present investigation casts new light on the evolution and biogeography of the family and shows the fallacy of assuming that small disjunct populations must be derived from larger, more widespread ones.