Understanding Mediterranean‐Californian disjunctions: molecular evidence from Chenopodiaceae‐Betoideae

Chenopodiaceae subfam. Betoideae is distributed in both western Eurasia (four genera) and western North America (one genus). To understand the origin of this disjunction, the phylogeny of the subfamily was reconstructed and dated using ndhF, matK/trnK, tmL-trnF spacer, and ITS sequence variation, penalized likelihood and Langley-Fitch, and calibration with three different fossils. Maximum Parsimony and Maximum Likelihood analyses of the molecular data show that Betoideae are monophyletic, but that relationships of the Himalayan Acroglochin, traditionally included in Betoideae because of the shared possession of a circumscissile capsule, are uncertain. Among the betoidean genera, Beta (excl.…