Cryptic taxa should have names: Reflections in the glasswort genusSalicornia(Amaranthaceae)

2012

Incongruence between morphology and molecules, i.e., genetic differentiation of lineages that are morphologically identical, or morphological variation among accessions sharing identical genotypes, has been increasingly reported and is most problematic in taxa with reduced morphologies. We here review and discuss these issues for plant taxonomy, taking Salicornia, one of the taxonomically most challenging genera of angiosperms, as a model. We argue in favour of a taxonomic system that remains as much 'workable' as possible for traditional morphology-based taxonomy, but avoids merging genetically widely divergent lineages despite their morphological similarity. Our revised classification of …