Systematics and phylogeny of the Ranunculaceae — a revised family concept on the basis of molecular data

Abstract

Phylogenetic trees for the Ranunculaceae based on four independent molecular data sets are compared and analyzed. This comparison includes chloroplast DNA restriction site variation; atpB (chloroplast), rbcL, nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences (analysed as a combined data set), nuclear adh sequences, and serological detected characters of the major seed protein, legumin. These trees are highly congruent in terminal branching patterns with high support. This congruency suggests a strong correlation between the evolution of the genes and proteins investigated and the taxa involved and further demonstrates the utility of molecular markers in plant phylogeny. The molecular results are often congruent with nonmolecular data as well and are used to develop more reliable systematic classification of the Ranunculaceae.