Molecular Phylogenetics of the genus Hexachlamys (Myrtaceae) using chloroplast and nuclear markers

Background Myrtaceae family includes more than 3,800 species of trees and shrubs, distributed mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Representatives of this family have great ecological significance for forest ecosystems, and are economically important species in the pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic and perfumery industry [1]. The genus Hexachlamys Berg. (Myrtaceae) has about 10 species distributed from the Southern to the Southeast of Brazil, and it also occurs in Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay [2,3]. Since 1968 it has been considered an independent genus. It is distinguished morphologically from the genus Eugenia by pentamerous or hexamerous flowers and exserta radicle, and as many genera and species of the Myrtaceae family, it has a complex taxonomic classification [2,4,5]. The goal of this study was to conduct a molecular phylogenetic analysis among species of the genus Hexachlamys (Myrtaceae) using chloroplast (cpDNA) and nuclear (nrDNA) markers, and to verify its phylogenetic relationships with the genus Eugenia in order to contribute to the systematics and taxonomy of it.