Molecular phylogeny ofAsian woody bamboos: Review for the Flora of China

Molecular data was reviewed for the woody bamboo account in the English language Flora of China. The implications for recognition of suprageneric taxa and genera, for macro-morphological characters used in classification systems, and for the inferred biogeographical history of Asian bamboos are discussed. Support was not found for large supertribes based on inflorescence structure. Instead a restricted number of suprageneric taxa was suggested, with only 3 subtribes for Asian woody bamboos. The presence of both iterauctant and semelauctant inflorescences within subtribes shows that bamboos with these contrasting forms can be closely related, suggesting that simpler evolutionary pathways are required to explain them. Differences in sequence divergence between tropical and temperate subtribes suggests different biogeographical histories. It is hypothesised that temperate bamboos diversified later in Asia, only after the collision of the Indian and African tectonic plates with the Eurasian plate, and that the poor resolution of temperate taxa from sequence data is largely the result of rapid diversification after this biotic interchange. Sequence data provided somewhat equivocal evidence for recognition of genera. It was useful in demonstrating the polyphyly of broad interpretations of genera Sinarundinaria, Thamnocalamus, Schizostachyum, Racemobambos, Drepanostachyum, Arundinaria and Bashania. However, in the temperate Arundinariinae, sequence data was not capable of refining boundaries between closely related genera, for which different molecular markers may prove more useful.