XVI International Botanical Congess

Analyses of molecular data support the partitioning of the Marchantiophyta into two classes, the Marchantiopsida and Jungermanniopsida. The latter is subdivided into the Metzgeriidae (simple thalloids) and the Jungermanniidae (leafies). Schuster (1984) recognized 16 suborders of leafies that are somewhat similar in taxon inclusion and sequence to the 18 families recognized by Evans (1939). We have conducted a cladistic analysis of the morphological diversity across these suborders, coding exemplar species as OTU's. Phylogenetic hypotheses inferred from parsimony analysis will be compared with published hypotheses. The relative value of different characters in defining relationships will be evaluated, and the overall strength of the phylogenetic signal in the data set will be assessed.