XVI International Botanical Congess

The eucalypts are a readily recognisable group that dominates much of the vegetation of Australia, but scarcely extends beyond. This taxonomically complex group now includes almost 900 species. A recent separation of a group of species as the genus Corymbia followed a morphological analysis that demonstrated that Corymbia was closer to Angophora than to the remainder of Eucalyptus. Subsequent molecular studies have clearly confirmed this association. However, on the evidence of both morphological and molecular studies to date, resolution of relationships remains unclear at many levels within the eucalypts in the broad sense. Different groups also show markedly different although sometimes seemingly interrelated biogeographic patterns, and resolution of relationships within each of these groups will be essential to understanding of these patterns and their significance in the Australian biota. Future studies will therefore take a variety of directions, with resolution of phylogenetic relationships one of the most critical needs at many levels: the base of the clade, including placement of the genera Arillastrum, Allosyncarpia and Eucalyptopsis, the basal Eucalyptus sensu stricto groups (subgenera), the base of the Angophora-Corymbia clade, within the subgenera, and within sections, series and species complexes.