We propose in this paper to use three regions of plastid DNA as a standard protocol for barcoding all land plants. We review the other markers that have been proposed and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. The low levels of variation in plastid DNA make three regions necessary; there are no plastid regions, coding or non‐coding, that evolve as rapidly as mitochondrial DNA generally does in animals. We outline two, three‐region options, (1) rpoC1, rpoB and 1matK or (2) rpoC1, matK and psbA‐trnH as viable markers for land plant barcoding.

Full plastome sequences for land plants have become readily accessible thanks to the development of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques and powerful bioinformatic tools. Despite this vast amount of genomic data, some lineages remain understudied. Full plastome sequences from the highly diverse (>1,500 spp.) subfamily Tillandsioideae (Bromeliaceae, Poales) have been published for only three (i.e., Guzmania, Tillandsia, and Vriesea) out of 22 currently recognized genera. Here, we focus on core Tillandsioideae, a clade within subfamily Tillandsioideae, and explore the contribution of individual plastid markers and data categories to inform deep divergences of a plastome phylogeny. We generated 37 high quality plastome assemblies and performed a comparative analysis in terms of plastome structure, size, gene content and order, GC content, as well as number and type of repeat motifs. Using the obtained phylogenetic context, we reconstructed the evolution of these plastome attributes and assessed if significant shifts on the evolutionary traits’ rates have occurred in the evolution of the core Tillandsioideae. Our results agree with previously published phylogenetic hypotheses based on plastid data, providing stronger statistical support for some recalcitrant nodes. However, phylogenetic discordance with previously published nuclear marker-based hypotheses was found. Several plastid markers that have been consistently used to address phylogenetic relationships within Tillandsioideae were highly informative for the retrieved plastome phylogeny and further loci are here identified as promising additional markers for future studies. New lineage-specific plastome rearrangements were found to support recently adopted taxonomic groups, including large inversions, as well as expansions and contractions of the inverted repeats. Evolutionary trait rate shifts associated with changes in size and GC content of the plastome regions were found across the phylogeny of core Tillandsioideae.

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A pesar de notables similitudes en características no florales, tales como su desusado hábito epífito y su morfología vegetativa, Eurystyles y Lankesterella han sido considerados como sólo distantemente relacionados entre sí por los taxónomos que valoran los atributos florales por encima de cualquier otra fuente de información. En este trabajo evaluamos las relaciones filogenéticas de estos géneros analizando más de 4500 caracteres de secuencias de ADN nuclear (nrITS) y de plástidos (matK-trnK, trnL-trnF) de 29 especies/22 géneros de Spiranthinae (y grupos externos apropiados); tres especies de Eurystyles estructuralmente distintas entre sí y dos de Lankesterella fueron incluidas. Tanto nuestro análisis de parsimonia como el de inferencia bayesiana recobran a Eurystyles y Lankesterella como taxones hermanos con fuerte apoyo interno. El clado Eurystyles/ Lankesterella a su vez está apoyado como hermano del “clado Spiranthes.” Nuestros resultados concuerdan con interpretaciones previas de una relación cercana entre Eurystyles y Lankesterella basadas en el hábito epífito que comparten y su similar morfología vegetativa, indicando que la morfología floral es evolutivamente lábil en estos grupos y por lo tanto menos confiable como indicador de relaciones filogenéticas que la morfología vegetativa, más conservadora.

Dichromanthus yucundaa, a new orchid species from the Mixteca Alta region of the Sierra Madre del Sur in Oaxaca, Mexico, is described and illustrated. It is distinguished from D. cinnabarinus, the most similar species, by the more compact plants, glabrous infl orescence, prominent, broadly ovate, glabrous fl oral bracts which are abaxially glaucous, sparsely and minutely glandular-pubescent sepals (merely papillose near the apex), short column foot, viscidium sheathing the apex of the rostellum and without a retrorse prominence, and rostellum remnant stiff and pointed.