XVI International Botanical Congess

Field and greenhouse observations and measurements, herbarium specimen analyses and reproductive biology studies were done in order to understand the phylogenetic and evolutionary patterns of the genus Witheringia. Observations in situ showed bees to be the dominant floral visitors. Reciprocal and self crossing experiments confirmed that self incompatibility characterizes all species of Witheringia except two accessions of W. solanacea. The only hybridization yielding viable seeds involved W. solanacea and W. asterotricha. A phylogenetic analysis rearranged the generic boundaries of Witheringia and drew it closer to Physalis and its allies than to Capsicum. Brachistus, another tropical American genus proved its sister taxon.