XVI International Botanical Congess

The Hawaiian mints are markedly diverse in reproductive features. Dry-fruited Haplostachys has one extant species, and fleshy-fruited Phyllostegia and Stenogyne have 27 and 20 species. The floral morphologies of Phyllostegia, like most mints, are associated with insect pollination, whereas those of Stenogyne are typical of bird pollination. rbcL data indicate that these plants radiated from a single introduction. We used 5S-NTS sequence data to examine relationships among taxa. Despite their eco-morphological radiation, the mints revealed low sequence divergence but surprisingly high nucleotide polymorphism within individuals. These polymorphisms decisively supported the monophyly and internal hierarchy of Stenogyne, while in Phyllostegia, only negligible phylogenetic structure was retrieved. Supported by the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Foundation.