Phylogenetic and biogeographic aspects of Sophora sect. Edwardsia (Papilionaceae)

Abstract

Sophora comprises 45-50 species of worldwide distribution, but no general proposal as to the evolution of this group has been put forth. We used cladistic relationships of the quinolizidine alkaloids (matrine, sparteine, methylcytisine, anagyrine, and sophoranol) with morphological and palynological characters to suggest a hypothesis of evolutionary and biogeographic relationships. The mainland Chilean species of Sophora appear to have been derived from ancestors phylogenetically near the extant Argentinean species S. linearifolia and S. rhynchocarpa and the psammophyte S. tomentosa, growing at tropical coastal sites around the world. The Boreotropic hypothesis of Lavin and Luckow is incorporated in our model as the most parsimonious explanation of the evolution of the species of Edwardsia. Sophora is a taxonomic group that meets the following criteria: a center of diversity in North America, an early Tertiary record in North America, and a pantropical distribution. Styphnolobium and S