Annals of Botany 90: 53-64, 2002
© 2002 Annals of Botany Company
Aluminium Accumulation in Leaves of 127 Species in Melastomataceae, with Comments on the Order Myrtales
1 Laboratory of Plant Systematics, Institute of Botany and Microbiology, K. U. Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 31, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium, 2 Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, 1-1 Ohwashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8686, Japan and 3 Japan Science and Technology Corporation, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan
* For correspondence. Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3DS, UK. Fax +44 20 8332 5310, e-mail steven.jansen{at}bio.kuleuven.ac.be
Received: 4 December 2001; Returned for revision: 15 February 2002; Accepted: 18 March 2002
The distribution and systematic significance of aluminium accumulation is surveyed based on semi-quantitative tests of 166 species, representing all tribes and subfamilies of the Melastomataceae as well as a few members of related families within the Myrtales. The character is strongly present in nearly all members of the Memecylaceae and in most primitive taxa of the Melastomataceae, while non-accumulating taxa are widespread in the more derived tribes of the Melastomataceae. The variable distribution of Al accumulation in advanced clades of the latter family is probably associated with the tendency to herbaceousness, although it is unclear whether the more herbaceous representatives have developed more specialized Al-response mechanisms that may exclude high Al levels from the shoot. It is hypothesized that Al accumulation is symplesiomorphic for Melastomataceae and Memecylaceae, and that the feature characterizes the most primitive families in the Myrtales. Indeed, Al accumulation is also characteristic of Crypteroniaceae, Rhynchocalycaceae and Vochysiaceae. Crypteroniaceae and Rhynchocalycaceae probably take a basal position in a sister clade of the Memecylaceae and Melastomataceae, while Al accumulation suggests a basal position for Vochysiaceae in the Myrtaceae clade.
Key words: Aluminium accumulation, systematics, phylogenetic relationships, Crypteroniaceae, Melastomataceae, Memecylaceae, Myrtales, Rhynchocalycaceae, Vochysiaceae.
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