Molecular systematics and biogeography ofWisteriainferred from nucleotide sequences of nuclear and plastid genes

Previous molecular phylogenetic studies of Fabaceae indicated that species of Wisteria, an intercontinental disjunct genus between eastern Asia and eastern North America, formed a clade derived from within Callerya. However, interspecific relationships were not well resolved or supported. In this study, we used sequences of the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region and the chloroplast gene matK to examine interspecific relationships and explore implications of the phylogeny for the systematics and biogeography of Wisteria. Our results showed that Wisteria with deciduous leaves and racemose inflorescences formed a strongly supported clade derived from within the paraphyletic Callerya. Afgekia was also found to be included within Callerya. Therefore, our data support the merger of Afgekia, Callerya, and Wisteria. The phylogenetic pattern suggested that the deciduousness in Wisteria may be a derived trait likely in response to temperate climate, and the racemose inflorescences in the Afgekia–Callerya–Wisteria clade may have evolved from panicles. Our study also provided strong support for the sister relationship of the North American and eastern Asian species of Wisteria. In the Asian clade, Wisteria brachybotrys Siebold & Zucc. of Japan was sister to the clade containing W. floribunda (Willd.) DC of Japan and Korea, and W. sinensis (Sims) Sweet of China. However, our data offered weak support for the sister relationship of W. floribunda and W. sinensis. Our divergence time and biogeographic analyses suggested that the eastern Asian–North American disjunction in Wisteria may have occurred through a dispersal event in the middle Miocene (13.4 Mya) from the Old World to the New World across the Bering land bridge followed by vicariance in the late Miocene (6.8 Mya). This study added another example to the “out of Asia” migration for the eastern Asian–eastern North American disjunction.