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| Inflorescences of Muscari species incorporated in this study. A–H, M. subg. Muscari: A, M. anatolicum; B, M. adilii; C, M. armeniacum; D, M. discolor; E, M. sivrihisardaghlarense; F, M. vuralii; G, M. neglectum; H, M. commutatum. I, M. subg. Muscarimia: M. macrocarpum. J–L, Muscari subg. Pulchella (subg. nov.): J, M. latifolium; K, M. pulchellum; L, M. bourgaei. — Names listed above follow the new classification here proposed. in Böhnert, Neumann, Quandt & Weigend, 2023. DOI: 10.1002/tax.12864 Images: T. Böhnert. twitter.com/TimBoeh |
Abstract
The grape hyacinth (Muscari) represents an important ornamental plant group in Asparagaceae subfamily Scilloideae, comprising some 80 species distributed mainly in the Mediterranean. However, genus delimitation has repeatedly shifted over the past two centuries and a general consensus has not been reached so far. The present study investigates the phylogeny of Muscari s.l. (i.e., including the disputed segregates Pseudomuscari and Leopoldia) with a broad sampling of about half the currently recognized species using both chloroplast markers (trnK(matK)-psbA, trnL-trnF, rpl16) and genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data generated by double-digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD). We perform concatenated maximum likelihood inference for both datasets as well as a coalescent-based approach and principal component analysis (PCA) on the ddRAD data. We find that the morphological characters traditionally used to distinguish different genera are not diagnostic for the clades here retrieved. Also, the segregates Pseudomuscari and Leopoldia are deeply nested in Muscari and we therefore propose a broadly defined Muscari with five subgenera. The subgenera roughly correspond to previously recognized entities, with the exception of the newly identified clade here proposed as M. subg. Pulchella subg. nov. We provide a provisional assignment of the 80 currently accepted taxa to these subgenera.
Keywords: ddRAD, geophyte, Leopoldia, Mediterranean, Pseudomuscari, Scilloideae
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| Inflorescences of 16 Muscari species incorporated in this study. A–H, M. subg. Muscari: A, M. anatolicum; B, M. adilii; C, M. armeniacum; D, M. discolor; E, M. sivrihisardaghlarense; F, M. vuralii; G, M. neglectum; H, M. commutatum. I, M. subg. Muscarimia: M. macrocarpum. J–L, M. subg. Pulchella (subg. nov.): J, M. latifolium; K, M. pulchellum; L, M. bourgaei. M–P, M. subg. Pseudomuscari: M, M. parviflorum; N, M. chalusicum; O, M. inconstrictum; P, M. coeruleum. — Names listed above follow the new classification here proposed. Images: T. Böhnert. |
CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK:
Muscari is a very natural group, best recognized as a single genus. The ddRAD data are able to reconstruct a highly resolved and highly supported phylogeny. Comprehensive sampling of the remaining ca. 45 species would be highly desirable to reach a comprehensive understanding of this important geophyte genus. Our data show evidence for lineage admixture and future analyses should be directed towards understanding the role of hybridization in the evolution of the genus by testing for introgression and possibly ongoing gene flow. It would also be expected that the evolution of Muscari is correlated to the geological and climatic history of the Mediterranean basin and this could be tested with a dated phylogeny of this genus. Beyond molecular data, additional and critical morphological analyses are required to hopefully provide a morphological characterization of the different subgenera.
Tim Böhnert, Michael Neumann, Dietmar Quandt and Maximilian Weigend. 2023. Phylogeny based Generic Reclassification of Muscari sensu lato (Asparagaceae) using Plastid and Genomic DNA. TAXON. DOI: 10.1002/tax.12864
