| Phylogenetic relationships among 24 genera of Rosaceae subfam. Maloideae and Spiraeoideae are explored by means of a cladistic analysis; 16 morphological and anatomical characters were included in the analysis. Published suprageneric classifications and characters used in these classifications are briefly reviewed. Additionally, some new features are here reported, such as seed shape, presence or absence of endosperm, and number of cell layers in the seed coat and in the endosperm. Parsimony analyses indicate that Eriobotrya and Rhaphiolepis form a well-supported clade that is the sister to the remainder of the subfamily. This result is in agreement with published ITS sequence data. Other clades are not supported, with the exception of the group... |
