The taxonomy of Flagellaria (Flagellariaceae)

Abstract

Flagellariaceae are grass relatives that climb using leaf-tip tendrils in palaeotropical rainforests. As the sister group to Joinvilleaceae, Ecdeiocoleaceae and Poaceae, they could be indicative of the ancestral habitat of the graminid clade. Although four species are usually accepted in this monogeneric family, Flagellaria has never been revised taxonomically and species delimitation is understood poorly, especially for the Pacific. Here, we document the morphological variation in the genus, and explore phylogenetic patterns by maximum likelihood analysis (GARLI) and Bayesian inference (MrBayes) of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the nuclear ribosomal repeat and the plastid matK, psbA–trnH and rps16 regions. Ecological variation was inferred from climatic factors evaluated by MaxEnt analysis. We show that Flagellaria is more diverse than previously thought, and describe one new species in Fiji (Flagellaria collaris Wepfer & H.P.Linder) and three new varieties in F. indica (vars. australiensis, bifurcata, borneensis). Flagellaria is most diverse in the Pacific islands, where Fiji harbours three of the five species.

Global grass (Poaceae) success underpinned by traits facilitating colonization, persistence and habitat transformation

“…The immediate sister families to Poaceae are very species poor: Ecdeiocoleaceae comprises just two species, Joinvilleaceae just four species, and the restiid clade (Restionaceae, Anarthriaceae) some 550 species. Sister to pooids (Poaceae, Ecdeiocoleae, Joinvilleaceae) and restiids (Restionaceae, Anarthriaceae) is Flagellariaceae with only five species (Wepfer & Linder, 2014). In the grasses, the basal lineages [Anomochlooideae, Pharoideae and Puellioideae (GPWG, 2001;Kellogg, 2015;Soreng et al, 2015)] are also species poor, and the major acceleration of the diversification in Poaceae only occurred in the Bambusoideae-Ehrhartoideae-Pooideae (BEP) and Panicoideae-Arundinoideae-Chloridoideae-Micrairoideae-Aristidoideae-Danthonioideae (PACMAD) clades (Linder & Rudall, 2005;Spriggs, Christin & Edwards, 2014).…”

Biomechanics and functional morphology of a climbing monocot

“…The longest aerial stems investigated had a length of 15 m, comparable with the stem length (15–20 m) recorded at natural sides ( Larsen 1972 ; Kubitzki et al . 1998 ; Wepfer and Linder 2014 ). Branches overgrew the surrounding vegetation reaching the greenhouse roof top (5 m).…”

“…1998 ; Rabenantoandro et al . 2007 ; Wepfer and Linder 2014 ). Flagellaria species occur mainly in coastal regions, in moist lowland forests and mangroves, often along forest margins and in secondary forests ( Larsen 1972 ; Linder 1987 ; Kubitzki et al .…”

“…The solid, cane-like, aerial stems, which originate from sympodial rhizomes, can reach a length of 20 m and lack axillary buds ( Kubitzki et al . 1998 ; Wepfer and Linder 2014 ). Dichotomizing apices have previously drawn attention to this species ( Tomlinson and Posluszny 1977 ).…”

The first complete plastome sequence from family Flagellariaceae (Flagellaria indica L., Poales)

“…Flagellaria indica is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, East Africa, Australia, and Pacific islands. Other species mainly distribute in Pacific islands (Wepfer and Linder 2014 ).…”