XVI International Botanical Congess
The goal of the study was to address the phylogeny of the Bouteloua curtipendula complex, wherein delimitation of taxa has been problematic. The ITS (nrDNA) and trnT-L-F (cpDNA) regions of individuals from throughout the morphological and geographical range of the group were sequenced and analyzed separately and in combination employing cladistic parsimony. Although trnT-L-F is less variable and the phylogeny less resolved than ITS, the phylogenies are not incongruent. Some 12 species have been recognized in the past, but B. curtipendula, B. media, B. reflexa, B. uniflora, and B. warnockii were not found to be monophyletic. These phylogenies also suggest homoplasy in morphological characters that have been historically important in species circumscription.