<p>This thesis concerns the history and the intrafamilial delimitations of the plant family Colchicaceae. A phylogeny of 73 taxa representing all genera of Colchicaceae, except the monotypic <i>Kuntheria</i>, is presented. The molecular analysis based on three plastid regions—the <i>rps16</i> intron, the <i>atpB-rbcL</i> intergenic spacer, and the <i>trnL-F</i> region—reveal the intrafamilial classification to be in need of revision. The two tribes Iphigenieae and Uvularieae are demon-strated to be paraphyletic. The well-known genus <i>Colchicum</i> is shown to be nested within <i>Androcymbium</i>, <i>Onixotis</i> constitutes a grade between <i>Neodregea</i> and <i>Wurmbea</i>, and <i>Gloriosa</i> is intermixed with species of <i>Littonia</i>. Two new tribes are described, Burchardieae and Tripladenieae, and the two tribes Colchiceae and Uvularieae are emended, leaving four tribes in the family. At generic level new combinations are made in <i>Wurmbea</i> and <i>Gloriosa</i> in order to render them monophyletic. The genus <i>Androcymbium</i> is paraphyletic in relation to <i>Colchicum</i> and the latter genus is therefore expanded. An investigation of the distribution of colchicine within the expanded Colchicaceae is conducted to evaluate the potential of colchicine as a synapomorphy of the re-circumscribed family. The results demonstrate presence of colchicine in all genera previously not examined in Colchicaceae and in the genus <i>Burchardia</i>, earlier reported to lack colchicine. Hence, demonstrating colchicine to be a synapomorphy for the family. An attempt to date the phylogeny of the order Liliales together with a dispersal-vicariance (DIVA) analysis indicates that the split between Colchicaceae and Alstromeriaceae-Luzuriagaceae represents a vicariance event following the disintegration of the Australian-Antarctican-South American link, ~34 million years ago. Further, the DIVA analysis indicates that Colchicaceae originated in Australia, first reached Asia and North America, and later Africa, from where they expanded to Europe and also dispersed back to Australia. </p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:uu-3793 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Vinnersten, Annika |
| Publisher | Uppsala University, Department of Systematic Botany, Uppsala : Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary, text |
| Relation | Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology, 1104-232X ; 911 |
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