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In this study we characterize the chloroplast genome of an non-photosynthetic species of the Ericaceae family, Monotropastrum sciaphilum, a mycoheterotrophic species which has been listed in ‘China Biodiversity Red List—Higher Plants’ as critically endangered species. As expected for non-photosynthetic plants, this species has a small plastid genomes of about 74 kb that lacks most of the genes related to photosynthesis. The small single-copy region and inverted repeat regions were contracted into about 4 and 9 kb respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of a data set of five cp genomes indicated that M. sciaphilum is closely related to other species in the family Ericaceae.

Background and Aims: Tertiary relict and Arctic/circumboreal distributions are two major patterns of Northern Hemisphere intercontinental disjunctions with very different histories. Each has been well researched, but members of one biome have generally not been incorporated the biogeographic analyses of the other, and links or transitions between these twoΞ biomes have rarely been addressed. Methods: Phylogenies were generated based on cpDNA and nuclear ITS, using Bayesian and ML methods. A time-calibrated phylogeny was generated using BEAST. Ancestral Area Reconstruction (AAR) was inferred using both Statistical Dispersal-Vicariance Analysis (S-DIVA) and dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis (DEC) model. Key Results: The Chimaphila crown group was estimated to have originated in the early Miocene. The lineages of C. umbellata diverged early, but its present circumboreal distribution was not achieved until around the middle Pliocene or later. Sister to this is a clade of four species with Tertiary relict distribution. Among these, two expansions occurred from North America to Asia, probably via the Bering Land Bridge generating its current disjunctions. Conclusions: Our data concurs with a few other studies, indicating that the circumboreal woodland biome has an older origin than most true arctic–alpine taxa, having gradually recruited taxa since the early Oligocene. For the origin of Asia – North America disjunctions in Chimaphila, an ‘out-of-America’ migration was supported. It is not clear in which direction Pyroloideae lineages moved between Tertiary relict disjunctions and Arctic/circumboreal distributions; each biome might have recruited species from the other.

The perennial evergreen herb, Chimaphila japonica is found exclusively in East Asian temperate coniferous or sometimes in deciduous forests. By using the Fast Isolation by Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) of Sequences Containing repeats (FIASCO) protocol, 20 microsatellite primer sets were identified in two wild populations. Of these primers, 16 displayed polymorphisms and 4 were monomorphic. The number of alleles per locus ranged from one to six among populations, values for expected and observed heterozygosities ranged from 0.000 to 0.848 and from 0.000 to 1.000, respectively. The new SSR markers will be useful in obtaining estimates of population-level genetic diversity and in phylogeographic studies of C. japonica.

The members of the Morelloid clade of Solanum (the black nightshades sensu Särkinen & al. in Taxon 64: 945?958. 2015) have long been considered difficult, and with many European taxa at many ranks, are nomenclaturally complex (e.g., Edmonds in Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 89: 165?170. 1984). As part of a revision of the Old World taxa in this group, we have encountered two names that have priorityover names in current use, and whose uptake would cause considerable confusion in an already complex group. The actions proposed here will stabilise nomenclature for species of the Morelloid clade of Solanum, and prevent use of these destabilising names in the future. Fil: Knapp, Sandra. Natural History Museum; Reino Unido Fil: Barboza, Gloria Estela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Sarkinen, Tiina. University Of Edinburgh; Reino Unido

The northern temperate genus Pyrola L. is the largest and arguably the most taxonomically complex element in the tribe Pyroleae (Ericaceae). Here we present a molecular phylogenetic study with extensive sampling comprising 26 ingroup and 7 closely related taxa. The results, based on parsimony and Bayesian analyses of nuclear (ITS) and chloroplast (atpB-rbcL, trnS-trnG, trnL-trnF) DNA sequences, add substantially to our understanding of relationships within this diverse group and call for taxonomic changes. Pyrola is confirmed as a monophyletic group with two redefined sections and six series: P. sect. Pyrola (P. ser. Pyrola, ser. Ellipticae and ser. Rugosae) and P. sect. Scotophylla (P. ser. Japonicae, ser. Scotophyllae and ser. Chloranthae). Members of each respective section and series share similar morphological traits and/or geographical distributions. For the potential hybrids P. media and P. faurieana, the maternal donor was identified by their close affinity to P. minor in the chloroplast trees whereas the paternal donor remained unclear.

Pyroleae (Ericaceae) consist of four genera, all of which are distributed widely in temperate coniferous or sometimes deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere. To investigate the phylogenetic relationships among these genera and to explore the evolution of the characteristics of the subfamily, we conducted maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses with nrDNA ITS and three cpDNA intergenic spacers (atpB-rbcL, trnS-trnG and trnL-trnF). The results from cpDNA and combined cpDNA + ITS data sets strongly support the monophyly of Pyroleae as well as a sister relationship between Pyrola and Moneses-Chimaphila, with Orthilia as the basal lineage. The sister-group relationship between Moneses and Chimaphila is supported by a set of synapomorphies, e.g., single flower, colpate pollen, five bundles in the style, straight fruiting pedicel orientation, complete capsule dehiscence, and the basic chromosome number, x = 13. The Moneses-Chimaphila-Pyrola clade is supported by at least one homologous character of pollen in tetrads. Conflicts associated with the phylogenetic position of Orthilia may imply a hybrid origin for it, and therefore further study is needed.

In the Northern Hemisphere, Tertiary relict disjunctions involve older groups of warm affinity and wide disjunctions, whereas circumboreal distributions in Arctic-Alpine taxa tend to be younger. Arctic-Alpine species are occasionally derived from Tertiary relict groups, but Pyrola species, in particular, are exceptional and they might have occurred multiple times. The aim of this study was to reconstruct the biogeographic history of Pyrola based on a clear phylogenetic analysis and to explore how the genus attained its circumboreal distribution.Estimates of divergence times and ancestral geographical distributions based on neutrally evolving DNA sequence variation were used to develop a spatio-temporal model of colonization patterns for Pyrola.Pyrola originated and most diversification occurred in Asia; North America was reached first by series Scotophyllae in the late Miocene, then by sub-clades of series Pyrola and Ellipticae around the Pliocene. The three circumboreal taxa, P. minor, P. chlorantha and the P. rotundifolia complex, originated independently of one another, with the last two originating in Asia.Three circumboreal Pyrola lineages have arisen independently and at least two of these appear to have originated in Asia. The cool, high-altitude habitats of many Pyrola species and the fact that diversification in the genus coincided with global cooling from the late Miocene onwards fits a hypothesis of pre-adaptation to become circumboreal within this group.