Phylogenetic analysis of ITS has been useful in identifying the major lineages in the group, and unraveling many inconsistencies in the sectional classification. However, most recent groups in the eastern Mediterranean clade are not resolved and reticulation in the western Mediterranean group of sections makes phylogenetic relationships within these two groups somewhat obscure.

The limits of the genera that compose the Onopordum group of the Cardueae–Carduinae are difficult to establish. There are two main life forms; one is exemplified in the genus Onopordum, which includes only biennial colonisers in the Mediterranean region and temperate Eurasia; the second life form is exemplified in the group of perennial herbs of the genera Alfredia, Ancathia, Lamyropappus, Olgaea, Synurus, Syreitschikovia and Xanthopappus, all of them growing in the mountains of central Asia. We explored relationships among the genera of the complex by using Bayesian and parsimony analyses of a combined dataset of nuclear and plastid DNA sequences. Our results confirmed that the group is natural and the two life forms correspond to well defined entities. Generic limits within the eight central Asian genera are, however, very difficult to establish. Our results suggested that the present genus circumscription is artificial, especially for the largest genus, Olgaea, which appears paraphyletic. Some solutions are suggested. The most preferable might be lumping all small genera together in a broadly redefined genus Alfredia, and assigning sectional rank to the natural groups that result from correlating morphology with our molecular results. However, none of the possible solutions is free of problems because morphological characters and molecular phylogeny are not fully congruent. Some considerations on the origin and peculiar adaptations for becoming a successful coloniser shown by Onopordum are also offered, finding parallels to these adaptations in other examples of biennial colonisers within subtribe Carduinae.

The genus Myopordon, with six perennial species from Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey, had until recently been placed in the Carduinae subtribe. Oligochaeta, composed of four annual species from the Caucasus, India, the Near East and Pakistan, was considered related to the genus Rhaponticum in the Centaureinae subtribe. The two genera have apparently not much in common; however, evidence that both are closely related within the Rhaponticum group was provided by recent molecular phylogenetic reconstructions. New and previously published cytogenetical (fluorescent in situ hybridization of rDNA genes, fluorochrome banding of AT‐ and GC‐rich regions, silver nitrate staining of active ribosomal genes, genome size assessment), karyological, molecular phylogenetic and palynological data are evaluated in the light of the recent evidence concerning the relationships of Myopordon and Oligochaeta. Myopordon presents a constant chromosome number and a homogeneous pattern in physical mapping of rDNA genes, contrasting with a strong variability in chromosome banding, genome size and pollen‐type. Such tendencies could be related to the environmental pressures in the high mountains where species of Myopordon occur. This also accords well with the phylogeny and the geographic distribution of the genus. Phylogenetic reconstructions resolve Oligochaeta as being nested in the clade of Myopordon species. The exceptional cytogenetical, karyological, as well as palynological characters of Oligochaeta are apparently derived from a Myopordon‐like ancestor.

Stages in the evolution of the genus Stipa and formation of steppes.