0000000000328539
AUTHOR
Christian H. Uhink
Asian relationships of the flora of the European Alps
Background: It has long been recognised that the Alps have strong biogeographical links to Asia. Aims: We investigate here whether the two areas are connected either through southern (mountain chains between the Alps and the Himalayas) or through northern regions. Methods: We compiled the geographical distribution of plant genera growing both in the Alps and the Himalayas, and outside these two regions. This compilation was used to search for molecular phylogenetic literature which was screened for area relationships informative for our purposes. Results: Of 933 genera growing in the Alps, 653 were considered further. Of the 429 genera growing in the Alps and the Himalayas, 218 grow in both…
Phylogeny and Biogeography of <I>Epimedium</I>/<I>Vancouveria</I> (Berberidaceae): Western North American - East Asian Disjunctions, the Origin of European Mountain Plant Taxa, and East Asian Species Diversity
Using ITS and atpB-rbcL spacer sequences of 38 (of 55) species of the highly disjunct Eurasian/North African Epimedium and all three species of its western North American sister genus Vancouveria, we reconstructed the phylogeny of these two genera and dated major splits with a molecular clock approach. Epimedium was found to be monophyletic with a stem age dated to between 9.7 and 7.4 million years ago (My). Within Epimedium, almost all sections as recognized in the most recent classification of the genus were found to be monophyletic but subg. Epimedium was found to be paraphyletic in relation to subg. Rhizophyllum. Range formation in Eurasia proceeded as follows: in a first step, the west…