Systematics of subtribes Athanasiinae and Phymasperminae (Anthemideae, Asteraceae)

Abstract

The tribe Anthemideae is a large tribe of the family Asteraceae comprising 111 genera and 1 800 species distributed in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Northern temperate region, with southern Africa as one of its main centers of diversity, together with Central Asia and the Mediterranean. Ongoing studies have focused on analysing relationships among the southern African subtribes of Anthemideae and the most recent classification recognised fourteen subtribes in which there is a clear biogeographical gradient, with the six southern African subtribes comprising the earliest diverging lineages. The present study focuses on two of these southern African-centred lineages (viz. subtribes Athanasiinae and Phymasperminae). Previous phylogenetic studies of the tribe were based on nuclear nrDNA ITS and plastid cpDNA ndhF sequence data and included only a single representative from each of the genera within the subtribes Athanasiinae and Phymasperminae.