The infrafamilial relationships of Podostemaceae were deduced from nucleotide sequences of the chloroplast matK gene. The matK phylogenetic analyses show that Podostemaceae are composed of two major clades that correspond to the subfamily Tristichoideae sensu stricto and Weddellina and the subfamily Podostemoideae. Weddellina, which has long been recognized as a member of the Tristichoideae, is sister to the Podostemoideae, supporting the classification that recognized a third subfamily Weddellinoideae. Malaccotristicha malayana and Terniopsis sessilis form a basal clade in Tristichoideae sensu stricto. Tristichoideae show a high morphological diversity and, surprisingly, a close relationship exists between Dalzellia zeylanica and Indotristicha ramosissima, which remarkably differ in their body plans. A few genera defined by particular characters, such as Synstylis and Torrenticola, merge into clades of other larger genera. The Podostemoideae taxa studied are composed of two American clades, an Asian‐Australian clade and a Madagascan clade, and may suggest that the subfamily perhaps originated in America and migrated to the Old World.

The river-weed family Podostemaceae (c. 300 species in c. 54 genera) shows a number of morphological innovations to be adapted to its unusual aquatic habitat, and its unique or rare bauplan features have been reflected in the traditional (i.e. non-molecular) classification recognizing numerous monotypic or oligospecific genera. The infrasubfamilial relationships of many genera remained unclear. The present study used molecular phylogenetic analysis of matK sequences for 657 samples (c. 132 species/c. 43 genera). The family was traditionally divided into three subfamilies (Podostemoideae, Tristichoideae and Weddellinoideae). American Podostemoideae were shown to be polyphyletic and divided into four clades, i.e. Ceratolacis, Diamantina, Podostemum and all other genera. Among the podostemoid clades, Diamantina was the first branching clade and a clade comprising Mourera and the Apinagia subclade was then sister to the remainder of the New World and Old World Podostemoideae with low statistic supports. The Old World Podostemoideae comprised four monophyletic clades, i.e. two African clades, one Madagascan clade and one Asian clade, although the relationships among these clades and American Ceratolacis and Podostemum were poorly resolved. African Podostemoideae were polyphyletic, with Saxicolella pro parte being weakly supported as sister to the remaining Old World Podostemoideae plus Ceratolacis and Podostemum. In contrast to the American and African clades, monophyly of four Asian subclades was well supported. Plants of Tristicha (Tristichoideae) and of Weddellina (Weddellinoideae), which are currently treated as monospecific, had great matK differentiation equivalent to at least interspecific variation.

ABSTRACT:The present study is aimed at investigating the molecular structure, crystallinity, and morphology of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) blends by using Raman mapping, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). In this study, three kinds of PEs, high-density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), and metallocene polyethylene (MEPE) were used. MEPE is one of the LLDPEs but its density is very low and its melt flow index (MFI) is very high. Blends of each PE and PP with a PP content ranging from 20 to 80 wt % with an increment of 20 wt % were prepared. Raman mapping images and SEM images show that the 80/20 blends of HDPE/PP and LLDPE/PP have similar dispersibility behavior and that only the 80/20 blend of MEPE/PP shows a different behavior in this respect. For the 20/80 blends, the differences are not so large. For the Raman mapping, the intensity ratio of the two bands at 1128 and 974 cm À1 was used. The former is due to a symmetric C-C stretching mode of all-trans -(CH 2 ) n -groups of PE while the latter is assigned to a CH 3 rocking mode of PP. MEPE/PP blends yield quite different X-ray diffraction patterns compared to HDPE/PP and LLDPE/PP blends; the MEPE/PP blends show that with increasing MEPE content the crystalline size of PP become smaller. DSC curves of MEPE/PP show that the peak area changes linearly with the blending ratio and that the crystallization temperature does not change for any blend. These results mean that the density and MFI of PE influences the blend properties.