XVI International Botanical Congess

Evolutionary relationships in the wintergreen group (Gaultherieae, Ericaceae) are poorly understood and little studied. However, a recent analysis of phylogenetic relationships in the Ericaceae, using rbcL, matK, and morphology, showed that the wintergreens are monophyletic and that Gaultheria, Pernettya, Tepuia, and Diplycosia form a well-supported (bootstrap) natural group. In order to gain a better understanding of evolutionary relationships among these genera, phylogenetic relationships for approximately 30 taxa from this clade were reconstructed using a cladistic analysis based on nrITS and atpb-rbcL spacer DNA sequences. Results for nrITS suggest that Gaultheria as currently recognized is paraphyletic, with both a paraphyletic Pernettya and a monophyletic Diplycosia derived from within Gaultheria. In addition, the results suggest that the atpb-rbcL spacer lacks sufficient informative variation to resolve generic relationships in the wintergreen group and introduces noise in the combined analysis.