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A taxonomic study of the genus Lotononis (DC.) Eckl. & Zeyh. (Fabzceae, Crotalarieae)

The approach and methods used in a taxonomic study of the genus Lotononis (DC.) Eckl. & Zeyh. and related genera of the tribe Crotalarieae (Benth.) Hutch. are briefly introduced in Part 1. Morphological, cytological and chemical data was analyzed by cladistic methods to provide a sound basis for the...

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Main Author: Van Wyk, Ben-Erik
Other Authors: Linder, H Peter
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Biological Sciences 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Van Wyk, Ben-Erik
author2 Linder, H Peter
author_browse Linder, H Peter
Van Wyk, Ben-Erik
author_facet Linder, H Peter
Van Wyk, Ben-Erik
author_sort Van Wyk, Ben-Erik
collection Thesis
description The approach and methods used in a taxonomic study of the genus Lotononis (DC.) Eckl. & Zeyh. and related genera of the tribe Crotalarieae (Benth.) Hutch. are briefly introduced in Part 1. Morphological, cytological and chemical data was analyzed by cladistic methods to provide a sound basis for the generic delimitation of Lotononis and to formulate a natural infrageneric classification. The generic limits of Lotononis and its relationships with 14 other genera of the Crotalarieae are discussed in Part 2. Detailed morphological studies by Polhill (1976) has shown the widespread occurrence of convergence and conflicting character information in the tribe. Only a few of the genera are monothetic taxa and very few characters are available for cladistic analyses. This is not so much due to a lack of data but rather to ambiguity as to how morphological characters should be interpreted. It was therefore decided to concentrate on a study of alkaloids to test the predictivity of the present generic delimitations in the Crotalarieae. With the exception of Crotalaria L., virtually nothing was known about the alkaloids of the tribe (Mears & Mabry 1971, Kinghorn & Smolenski 1981). In the tribe Genisteae, alkaloid patterns show a high degree of conformity with evolutionary patterns based on morphological evidence (Polhill 1976) and the value of alkaloids as a generic character in the Leguminosae is well known (Kinghorn & Smolenski 1981). It seemed that more insight into generic relations in the Crotalarieae could be gained by concentrating on a hitherto much neglected field rather than to duplicate the detailed morphological studies of Polhill (1976). It was also clear that meaningful conclusions could be made about generic relationships, because the biogenetic pathways along which quinolizidine and pyrrolizidine alkaloids are formed are rather well known. The survey of major alkaloids (Appendices 1 to 11) indeed led to a much better understanding of the intricate relationships in the Crotalarieae, and made it possible to present a well supported and almost fully resolved cladogram for the tribe as a whole.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/22402 A taxonomic study of the genus Lotononis (DC.) Eckl. & Zeyh. (Fabzceae, Crotalarieae) Van Wyk, Ben-Erik Linder, H Peter Botany The approach and methods used in a taxonomic study of the genus Lotononis (DC.) Eckl. & Zeyh. and related genera of the tribe Crotalarieae (Benth.) Hutch. are briefly introduced in Part 1. Morphological, cytological and chemical data was analyzed by cladistic methods to provide a sound basis for the generic delimitation of Lotononis and to formulate a natural infrageneric classification. The generic limits of Lotononis and its relationships with 14 other genera of the Crotalarieae are discussed in Part 2. Detailed morphological studies by Polhill (1976) has shown the widespread occurrence of convergence and conflicting character information in the tribe. Only a few of the genera are monothetic taxa and very few characters are available for cladistic analyses. This is not so much due to a lack of data but rather to ambiguity as to how morphological characters should be interpreted. It was therefore decided to concentrate on a study of alkaloids to test the predictivity of the present generic delimitations in the Crotalarieae. With the exception of Crotalaria L., virtually nothing was known about the alkaloids of the tribe (Mears & Mabry 1971, Kinghorn & Smolenski 1981). In the tribe Genisteae, alkaloid patterns show a high degree of conformity with evolutionary patterns based on morphological evidence (Polhill 1976) and the value of alkaloids as a generic character in the Leguminosae is well known (Kinghorn & Smolenski 1981). It seemed that more insight into generic relations in the Crotalarieae could be gained by concentrating on a hitherto much neglected field rather than to duplicate the detailed morphological studies of Polhill (1976). It was also clear that meaningful conclusions could be made about generic relationships, because the biogenetic pathways along which quinolizidine and pyrrolizidine alkaloids are formed are rather well known. The survey of major alkaloids (Appendices 1 to 11) indeed led to a much better understanding of the intricate relationships in the Crotalarieae, and made it possible to present a well supported and almost fully resolved cladogram for the tribe as a whole. 2016-11-01T10:35:45Z 2016-11-01T10:35:45Z 1989 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22402 eng application/pdf application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Botany
Van Wyk, Ben-Erik
A taxonomic study of the genus Lotononis (DC.) Eckl. & Zeyh. (Fabzceae, Crotalarieae)
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title A taxonomic study of the genus Lotononis (DC.) Eckl. & Zeyh. (Fabzceae, Crotalarieae)
title_full A taxonomic study of the genus Lotononis (DC.) Eckl. & Zeyh. (Fabzceae, Crotalarieae)
title_fullStr A taxonomic study of the genus Lotononis (DC.) Eckl. & Zeyh. (Fabzceae, Crotalarieae)
title_full_unstemmed A taxonomic study of the genus Lotononis (DC.) Eckl. & Zeyh. (Fabzceae, Crotalarieae)
title_short A taxonomic study of the genus Lotononis (DC.) Eckl. & Zeyh. (Fabzceae, Crotalarieae)
title_sort taxonomic study of the genus lotononis dc eckl zeyh fabzceae crotalarieae
topic Botany
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22402
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AT vanwykbenerik taxonomicstudyofthegenuslotononisdcecklzeyhfabzceaecrotalarieae