| Abstract: | Phylogenetic relationships in the tribe Polygonateae s. l. of Liliaceae were investigatedwith an RFLP analysis of two PCR-amplified chloroplast genome DNA fragments. One fragment isthe transfer RNA gene for lysine( trnK gene) including the maturase-encoding gene matK, and theother is the rpl16 gene which codes for a chloroplast ribosomal protein in large subunit. The trnKgene is ca. 2600 bp in length in all the taxa, but the rpl16 gene ranges from ca. 1140 bp to ca.1320 bp in length among different genera and in Polygonatum. The results suggested that the tribePolygonateae s. str. consisting of Polygonatum, Disporopsis, Smilacina and Maianthemum isclosely related to Convallaria in Convallarieae, and supported the earlier results that Streptopus andDisporum should be removed out from the tribe Polygonateae s. l.. The results also showed that Polygonatum formed a clad with Disporopsis, while Smilacina lumped with Maianthemum in the tribePolygonateae s. str.. In addition, the present study supports the view that S. ginfoshanicumshould be transferred from Smilacina to Polygonatum. |
