Lamiales sensu APG II (The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, 2003) constitute a major clade of flowering plants, with approximately 17,800 species (Judd & al., 2002) and 23 families, representing 12.3% of eudicot diversity (Stevens, 2001, onwards). They belong to a major asterid clade, the Lamiids (Bremer & al., 2002). The monophyly of Lamiales is comparatively uncontroversial and well supported by m...