XVI International Botanical Congess

The Gnaphalieae are a group of sunflowers that have their greatest diversity in Southern Africa and Australia. The objective of this study was to reconstruct a phylogeny of the Gnaphalieae using sequence data from three chloroplast DNA sequences, the trnL intron, trnL/trnF intergenic spacer and matK. Results indicate that three genera, Callilepis, Isoetopsis, and Printzia, should be excluded from the Gnaphalieae. The subtribe Relhaniinae, which is restricted to Africa, is not a monophyletic group as presently circumscribed, nor are the South African members of Helichrysum, the Cassiniinae and Gnaphaliinae. The Australasian subtribe Angianthinae is also non-monophyletic.