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Cleaning up the grasses dustbin: systematics of the Arundinoideae subfamily (Poaceae)

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Abstract

Among the 12 subfamilies currently considered in the systematics of Poaceae, the Arundinoideae have long been considered as a dustbin group, with a diversity of forms putatively hiding incertae sedis. Because this subfamily has been poorly investigated using molecular markers for the last two decades, the present study provides the first complete phylogeny of the Arundinoideae based on five plastid DNA loci sequenced for 12 genera, and analysed with and without plastome data from previous studies. The refined Arundinoideae appear to be a robust evolutionary lineage of Poaceae, divided into three tribes with some biogeographical patterns: (1) tribe Arundineae, the most heterogeneous tribe, including Eurasian Arundo, Australian Amphipogon and Monachather, and South African Dregeochloa; (2) tribe Crinipedeae (described here), including Crinipes, Elytrophorus, Styppeiochloa and Pratochloa (described here), with a South and East African distribution; and (3) tribe Molinieae, including Hakonechloa, Molinia and Phragmites, with a Eurasian distribution. Despite reduction in size, this small subfamily conserves a high diversity of morphological forms, with several small but highly differentiated genera. Finally, the molecular dating approach provides an evolutionary framework to understand the diversification of Arundinoideae, refuting Gondwanan vicariance between genera and suggesting capability for long distance dispersal.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank staffs from BM, CANB, ETH, K, MARS, P, PRE and STR Herbaria for loans and material removal. LH addresses a special thanks to Pascal-Antoine Christin (University of Sheffield) for data and support in the calibration of the molecular phylogeny, and to Jordan Teisher (Washington University in St. Louis) for useful and sporting exchange views about the systematics of Arundinoideae. The authors are also grateful to Marianick Juin (IMBE) for contribution in the lab work, to Heather Lindon (RBG Kew) for expertise in botanical Latin, and to Paul M. Peterson (US, Smithsonian Institution) for his conscientious review which greatly improved the readability of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Image Ville Environnement (LIVE), University of Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut de Botanique, 28 rue Goethe, 67000, Strasbourg, France

    Laurent Hardion

  2. Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Écologie (IMBE), UMR CNRS, IRD, Aix-Marseille University, Avignon University, Marseille, France

    Régine Verlaque & Bruno Vila

  3. Herbarium of the University of Strasbourg (STR), Faculty of Life Sciences, Strasbourg, France

    Gisèle Haan-Archipoff & Michel Hoff

  4. Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK

    Daniel Cahen

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  1. Laurent Hardion
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  2. Régine Verlaque
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Correspondence to Laurent Hardion.

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The authors comply will all rules of the journal following the COPE guidelines; all authors have contributed and approved the final manuscript.

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Handling editor: Frank Blattner.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Online Resource 1

Sampling information and GenBank accessions (PDF 114 kb)

Online Resource 2

Primers used in PCRs and developed for the present study (PDF 75 kb)

Online Resource 3

loci + plastome alignment used for phylogenetic analyses (NEX 6902 kb)

Information on Electronic Supplementary Material

Information on Electronic Supplementary Material

Online Resource 1. Sampling information and GenBank accessions.

Online Resource 2. Primers used in PCRs and developed for the present study.

Online Resource 3. Loci + plastome alignment used for phylogenetic analyses.

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Hardion, L., Verlaque, R., Haan-Archipoff, G. et al. Cleaning up the grasses dustbin: systematics of the Arundinoideae subfamily (Poaceae). Plant Syst Evol 303, 1331–1339 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-017-1451-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-017-1451-6

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