Molecular phylogeny in the Lardizabalaceae

Eleven species belonging to seven genera in the Lardizabalaceae were analyzed in terms of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of chloroplast DNA and the sequence of the chloroplast gene,rbcL, of Lardizabalaceae and its related families. Phylogenetic trees inferred from parsimony, neighbor joining and maximum likelihood methods based on RFLP data showed that two South American genera,Boquila andLardizabala, and three East Asian genera,Akebia, Holboellia andStauntonia are closely related to each other, respectively. On the other hand, the parsimony, neighbor joining and maximum likelihood trees constructed using sequence data of therbcL gene showed thatAkebia, Stauntonia, Boquila andLardizabala clustered as(((Akebia, Stauntonia), Boquila), Lardizabala). This difference may be attributable to fewer informative sites inrbcL genes than in RFLP in this family.Decaisnea diverges at the very base of the Lardizabalaceae.