The Phylogenetic Relationships Between Mytilarioideae and the Other Subfamilies of Hamamelidaceae Inferred from the ITS Sequences of Nuclear Ribosomal DNA

The phylogenetic relationships between Mytilarioideae and the other subfamilies of Hamamelidaceae based on internal transcribed spacers(ITS) and 5 8S coding region of nuclear ribosomal DNA were shown in this study. The monophyly of Mytilarioideae including Mytilaria and Chunia was strongly supported, which suggests that Mytilarioideae is an independent subfamily. The ITS data indicated that there was a sister relationship between Exbucklandioideae and Rhodoleioideae (with 95% bootstrap value supporting), and Hamamelidioideae and Disanthoideae (with 58% bootstrap value supporting) respectively. All taxa of Hamamelidaceae sampled in this study formed a monophletic group and Liquidambar formosana was cladistically basal within the family, which supported the result of our last study in 1997.