Although the relationship of angiosperms to other seed plants remains controversial, great progress has been made in identifying the earliest extant splits in flowering-plant phylogeny, with the discovery that the New Caledonian shrub Amborella trichopoda, the water lilies (Nymphaeales), and the woody Austrobaileyales constitute a basal grade of lines that diverged before the main radiation in the clade. By focusing attention on these ancient lines, this finding has re-written our understanding of angiosperm structural and reproductive biology, physiology, ecology and taxonomy. The discovery of a new basal lineage would lead to further re-evaluation of the initial angiosperm radiation, but would also be unexpected, as nearly all of the approximately 460 flowering-plant families have been surveyed in molecular studies. Here we show that Hydatellaceae, a small family of dwarf aquatics that were formerly interpreted as monocots, are instead a highly modified and previously unrecognized ancient lineage of angiosperms. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of multiple plastid genes and associated noncoding regions from the two genera of Hydatellaceae identify this overlooked family as the sister group of Nymphaeales. This surprising result is further corroborated by evidence from the nuclear gene phytochrome C (PHYC), and by numerous morphological characters. This indicates that water lilies are part of a larger lineage that evolved more extreme and diverse modifications for life in an aquatic habitat than previously recognized.

Since the Monocots II meeting in 1998, significant new data have been published that enhance our systematic knowledge of Cyperaceae. Phylogenetic studies in the family have also progressed steadily. For this study, a parsimony analysis was carried out using all rbcL sequences currently available for Cyperaceae, including data for two new genera. One of the four subfamilies (Caricoideae) and seven of the 14 tribes (Bisboeckelereae, Cariceae, Cryptangieae, Dulichieae, Eleocharideae, Sclerieae, Trilepideae) are monophyletic. Subfamily Mapanioideae and tribe Chrysitricheae are monophyletic if, as the evidence suggests, Hellmuthia is considered a member of Cypereae. Some other features of our analysis include: well-supported Trilepideae and Sclerieae-Bisboeckelereae clades; a possible close relationship between Cryptangieae and Schoeneae; polyphyletic tribes Schoeneae and Scirpeae; the occurrence of Cariceae within the Dulichieae-Scirpeae clade, and a strongly supported clade, representing Cyperus and allied genera in Cypereae, sister to a poorly supported Ficinia-HellmuthiaIsolepis-Scirpoides clade. Such patterns are consistent with other studies based on DNA sequence data. One outcome may be that only two subfamilies, Mapanioideae and Cyperoideae, are recognized. Much further work is needed, with efforts carefully coordinated among researchers. The work should focus on obtaining morphological and molecular data for all genera in the family.

The genus Pinguicula is one of the three genera of the carnivorous Lentibulariaceae, comprising approximately 80 species. Phylogeny inference using nucleotide sequences of the chloroplast gene matK and the trnK group II intron, as well as a set of 32 morphological characters revealed five well-supported, major lineages within the genus. These lineages largely reflect radiations in clearly defined geographic regions, whereas most previously recognized sections of the genus are shown to be para- or polyphyletic. A species-rich Mexican-Central American-Caribbean clade has the Eurasian P. alpina and an East Asian clade as successive sisters. All three are characterized by a production of flower buds on winter-resting plants, a specific corolla hair structure and a very large corolla lower central lobe. Another diverse clade is composed of species with primarily European distribution including the widespread type species P. vulgaris. For this clade, vegetative reproduction during dormancy is synapomorphic. Species native to SE North America and the South American Andes and a group of Mediterranean and NE Atlantic coast species together appear in a fifth well-supported clade, that is characterized by a tropical-type growth habit. It is the only clade that has reached temperate zones of the southern hemisphere.

Three families, Anarthriaceae, Restionaceae and Centrolepidaceae, are generally recognised in the restiid clade of Poales. A new phylogeny is presented, with fuller sampling of Australian taxa, based on analyses of trnL‐F, trnK and rbcL data from the chloroplast genome. The findings agree with the major groups shown in previous molecular studies but provide a more substantial basis for reviewing the classification at family and generic levels. Anarthriaceae is sister to Restionaceae, with Anarthria sister to Lyginia+Hopkinsia. Centrolepidaceae, on an extremely long branch, appears embedded in Restionaceae in Bayesian trees; although it appears as sister to Restionaceae in analyses that are more subject to long‐branch attraction (in parsimony analyses and those of data from the less‐conserved trnL‐F cpDNA region). Accepting the embedded position, which would make this a subfamily of Restionaceae, the basal division in the Restionaceae separates the African subfamily Restionoideae from the Australasian clade (Sporadanthoideae, Centrolepidoideae, Leptocarpoideae). In subfamily Leptocarpoideae, Eurychorda forms the basal branch. At the next dichotomy the Leptocarpus clade, together with the Winifredia clade, is separated from a diverse assemblage including Loxocarya, Chordifex, Baloskion, Desmocladus, Lepidobolus and allied genera. The phylogeny indicates that several currently recognised genera are not monophyletic and that changes to the generic classification are required. A matrix of morphological characters was prepared and these were mapped onto the Bayesian consensus DNA tree to identify synapomorphies of the clades and genera. Observations on leaf laminae indicate that fully or partially unifacial leaf laminae are a synapomorphy of the restiid clade. The morphological characterisation of the following are considered: the restiid clade, Anarthriaceae, Restionaceae enlarged to include subfamily Centrolepidoideae, Leptocarpus s.l. (including as potential synonyms Meeboldina and Stenotalis) and Desmocladus s.l. (including potentially Harperia, Onychosepalum and Kulinia).

Within the Caledia captiva grasshopper species-complex, the "Torresian" and "Moreton" taxa show extensive karyotypic and genic differences. They are parapatric, and form a narrow hybrid zone which has been shown to be stable and to be maintained by hybrid breakdown largely attributable to the chromosomal differences. The Moreton, "South East Australian" (SEA) and "Lake's Entrance" (LE) taxa, however, have similar genic characteristics and represent segments of a gradual continuous dine in the frequencies of chromosome morphs. A study of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation in these taxa, using fragment-length patterns generated by four restriction enzymes, has shown that Moreton, SEA and LE form one polythetic taxon, and that insects from certain sites within the Torresian range fall into a separate taxon. There is an area, however, within the range of the chromosomally and allozymically defined Torresian taxon, in which the mtDNA is found to be exclusively of the Moreton/SEA/LE type. This area of apparent introgression extends much further into the range of the Torresian taxon than any reported introgression of either chromosome or allozyme markers from the Moreton taxon. It is suggested that the hybrid zone (as defined by nuclear characters) has migrated southwards, somehow leaving Moreton-type mtDNA behind. If this is the case, then the absence of Moreton nuclear genes in these insects, whose mtDNA shows that they are descended from Torresian/Moreton hybrids, gives additional suppport to the concept of a "co-adapted genome" as a characteristic of a biological species.