Spikelet morphology of 250 specimens of 47 species of Schoeneae was examined using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. We confirmed that spikelet structure in Schoeneae is cymose with a sympodial "rachilla." Monopodial spikelets, as described by most current literature, were not found in Schoeneae. Prophylls are not always present in sympodial spikelets and cannot be used to dete...

Phylogenetic relationships of Juncaceae and related families of Cyperales were investigated using DNA sequence data from the plastid rps16 intron, trnL intron, and trnL–F intergenic spacer. Results using parsimony analysis of the aligned matrices find Juncaceae and Cyperaceae to be monophyletic families, which form a clade sister to a monophyletic Thurniaceae that includes Prionium (Prioniaceae...

Holocentric chromosomes-chromosomes that lack localized centromeres-occur in numerous unrelated clades of insects, flatworms, and angiosperms. Chromosome number changes in such organisms often result from fission and fusion events rather than polyploidy. In this study, I test the hypothesis that chromosome number evolves according to a uniform process in Carex section Ovales (Cyperaceae), the l...