J Syst Evol ›› 2016, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (4): 349-362.DOI: 10.1111/jse.12187

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A molecular phylogeny of Chinese orchids

Ming-He Li1,2,3†, Guo-Qiang Zhang1,2,3†, Si-Ren Lan1,3*, Zhong-Jian Liu1,2*, and China Phylogeny Consortium   

  1. 1College of Landscape, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
    2Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Orchid Conservation and Utilization, The National Orchid Conservation Center of China and The Orchid Conservation and Research Center of Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518114, China
    3Orchid Conservation and Research Center of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China These authors contributed equally to this work. Members of the China Phylogeny Consortium are listed in the Appendix.
  • Received:2015-07-28 Published:2016-07-25

Abstract: We estimated the molecular phylogenetic relationships of the Chinese members of the family Orchidaceae. Within the Tree of Life for the Genera of Chinese Vascular Plants using atpB, rbcL, matK, ndhF, and matR, the currently delimited subfamilies, tribes, and subtribes are highly supported as monophyletic except for the perplexing Epidendroideae. Five genes (rbcL, matK, psaB, ycf1, and Xdh), which are more universally used in Orchidaceae, were further analyzed to reconstruct the phylogeny of Epidendroideae. The reconstructed trees were in strong agreement and showed significant support for the tribal and subtribal clades. Based on the highly supported circumscription and arrangement of the suprageneric levels in the Tree of Life and reconstructed trees, we have proposed a new phylogenetic classification of Chinese Orchidaceae that includes five subfamilies, 17 tribes, and 21 subtribes.

Key words: Anthogoniinae, Arundina, China, Epidendroideae, orchid phylogenetics