XVI International Botanical Congess

A cladistic analysis of the 4 neotropical genera traditionally included in subtribe Pteleinae, Toddalioideae, Rutaceae, plus 12 other rutaceous taxa and 2 outgroups, was carried out using Hennig86 version 5.1. For the total of 26 terminal taxa, 74 morphological characters were selected and a simultaneous analysis for a global parsimony was made, with posterior rooting. The fundamental topologies of the 10 different trees obtained are very similar, bringing as main conclusions: Balfourodendron, Helietta, Ptelea and Taravalia are monophyletic genera, but the Pteleinae becomes monophyletic only if other genera than these are also included, and as a consequence, the Toddalioideae seems to be polyphyletic. Several hypotheses on the evolution of characters in Rutaceae that emerged from the analysis are discussed.