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Background: This review offers a comprehensive overview of the importance of Bulbinella, a genus of the family Asphodelaceae. A total of 23 species of Bulbinella are known, of which 17 are found in South Africa, and six in New Zealand. The genus is native to the Northern, Western, and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa, and to the main North and South Islands of New Zealand including the subantarctic islands, Auckland and Campbell. Studied species: Bulbinella species Study site and years of study : South Africa and New Zealand, 2014-2017 Conclusion: Bulbinella has an interesting and unusual highly disjunct distribution between South Africa and New Zealand. All Bulbinella species are similar in their floral structures. However, there are differences in size, underground bulbs, swollen roots, and leaves that make species delimitation possible in this group. Through their secondary metabolites, the genus Bulbinella is extensively useful as herbal remedies for innumerable ailments and also vital as livestock feed. Data on conservation status show that all these species; except Bulbinella hookeri and Bulbinella anguistifolia are vulnerable with Bulbinella calcicola critically endangered. There is, therefore, an urgent need for studying the genetic resources of these Bulbinella species. Key words: geophytes, Bulbinella, phenylanthraquinones, economic importance. ResumenAntecedentes: Esta revisión ofrece una visión completa de la importancia de Bulbinella, un género de la familia Asphodelaceae. Se conocen un total de 23 especies de Bulbinella, de las cuales 17 se encuentran en Sudáfrica y seis en Nueva Zelanda. El género es nativo de las provincias septentrionales, occidentales y orientales del cabo de Suráfrica, ya las islas principales del norte y del sur de Nueva Zelandia incluyendo las islas subantarctic, Auckland y Campbell. Especies estudiadas: Especies de Bulbinella Sitio de estudio y años de estudio: Sudáfrica y Nueva Zelanda, 2014-2017 Conclusión: Bulbinella tiene una interesante y poco común distribución muy disjunta entre Sudáfrica y Nueva Zelanda. Todas las especies de Bulbinella son similares en sus estructuras florales. Sin embargo, existen diferencias en tamaño, bulbos subterráneos, raíces hinchadas y hojas que hacen posible la delimitación de especies en este grupo. A través de sus metabolitos secundarios, el género Bulbinella es extensivamente útil como remedios herbarios para dolencia innumerable y también vital como alimentación del ganado. Los datos sobre el estado de conservación muestran que todas estas especies; Excepto Bulbinella hookeri y Bulbinella anguistifolia son vulnerables con Bulbinella calcicola en peligro crítico. Por lo tanto, existe una necesidad urgente de estudiar los recursos genéticos de estas especies de Bulbinella.

Background: Clivia is a genus of the family Amaryllidaceae endemic to South Africa and Swaziland. Six species and one natural hybrid have been described. Some morphological traits overlap between some species, thus causing taxonomic confusion.Objectives: The discriminatory power of the core DNA barcodes (matK and rbcLa) was evaluated, and the current taxonomy of Clivia was assessed.Method: Seventy-four two-locus DNA barcodes from 4 to 18 specimens per species were generated.Results: The matK region had a higher mean intraspecific variation of 0.21 compared with the 0.02 of rbcLa. The two-locus barcodes have an aligned length of 1335 base pairs. Three species, Clivia mirabilis, Clivia nobilis and Clivia caulescens, are monophyletic in the Bayesian Inference (BI) cladogram. The remaining Clivia species (Clivia miniata, Clivia gardenii, Clivia robusta and their affinities) are paraphyletic. Clivia is divided into 17 haplogroups with those of C. mirabilis and C. nobilis being unique. Clivia caulescens has three haplotypes. The Clivia species from the north-eastern distribution range of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces have 11 haplogroups and no species-specific DNA barcodes. These groups have no correlation with the current taxonomy or geographical distribution.Conclusions: Only 37.33% of the species can be correctly identified with the ‘best match’ option in SpeciesIdentifier. Clivia mirabilis, C. nobilis and C. caulescens have unique DNA barcodes to identify them. Specimens from the Ngome area in KwaZulu-Natal have a unique DNA barcode, separating them from the rest of C. gardenii. A taxonomic revision is suggested.

An extraction, purification, PCR amplification and sequencing of DNA from five species of Phyllanthus in Nigeria namely P. amarus Schum and Thonn, P. urinaria Linn., P. odontadenius Mull-Arg., P. niruroides Mull-Arg. and P. muellerianus (O. Ktze) Excel belonging to the family of Phyllanthaceae were carried out using nuclear ribosomal Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS 4-5) genetic marker to identify unknown Phyllanthus species. The nuclear region revealed that the Phyllanthus species were able to be amplified optimally for sequencing. The results of the nucleotide sequences were further compared on Basic Local Alignment Sequence Tool (BLAST) on GenBank and BoldSystems for validation. Results revealed that the closely related species, P. niruroides Mull_Arg. and P. odontadenius Mull-Arg. had no DNA record to separate them on both GenBank and BoldSystems while P. amarus Schum and Thonn, P. muellerianus (O. Ktze) Excel and P. urinaria Linn. were clearly compatible with other works. The sequence data were analyzed and classified with tree-based analyses of Mr.Bayes 3.2.1. in order to reveal their phylogenetic relationship. Results of the nucleotide sequences and fragment analysis were published on BoldSystems for barcoding as non-coding marker translation matrix.

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