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Studies in Aspidosperma Mart. & Zucc. (Apocynaceae): Integrating morphology and phylogeny

ABSTRACT

One of the most important genera of Apocynaceae, Aspidosperma presents challenges in species delimitation due to overlapping morphological characters and the large number of synonyms. Thus, we seek to understand the most relevant morphological characters in the delimitation of two sections of the genus (Aspidosperma sect. Aspidosperma and A. sect. Pungentia), confronting hypotheses of primary homology with a molecular phylogenetic study. Character data were obtained from the literature of the genus and confronted in a phylogenetic tree to verify the presence of diagnostic characteristics for sections and species. Our results showed: (1) confirmation of diagnostic characteristics for both sections; (2) the possibility of segregating the typical section into three new sections based on morphological characteristics; (3) the distinction of species traditionally treated as synonyms; (4) the importance of using wood characteristics for the delimitation of genera with wide morphological variation, as is the case of Aspidosperma.

Keywords:
Aspidospermateae; morphological characters; xylem

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