Cantino Article Sheds New Light on Subfamilial Classification of Lamiaceae

Dr. Philip Cantino

Dr. Philip Cantino, Professor Emeritus of Environmental & Plant Biology, co-authored an article on “A large-scale chloroplast phylogeny of the Lamiaceae sheds new light on its subfamilial classification” in Scientific Reports on Oct. 17.

His co-authors are Bo Li of Jiangxi Agricultural University; Richard G. Olmstead of the University of Washington: Gemma L. C. Bramley of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew; Chun-Lei Xiang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Zhong-Hui Ma of Guangxi University; Yun-Hong Tan and Dian-Xiang Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Abstract: Lamiaceae, the sixth largest angiosperm family, contains more than 7,000 species distributed all over the world. However, although considerable progress has been made in the last two decades, its phylogenetic backbone has never been well resolved. In the present study, a large-scale phylogenetic reconstruction of Lamiaceae using chloroplast sequences was carried out with the most comprehensive sampling of the family to date (288 species in 191 genera, representing approximately 78 percent of the genera of Lamiaceae). Twelve strongly supported primary clades were inferred, which form the phylogenetic backbone of Lamiaceae. Six of the primary clades correspond to the current recognized subfamilies Ajugoideae, Lamioideae, Nepetoideae, Prostantheroideae, Scutellarioideae, and Symphorematoideae, and one corresponds to a portion of Viticoideae. The other five clades comprise: 1) Acrymia and Cymaria; 2) Hymenopyramis, Petraeovitex, Peronema, and Garrettia; 3) Premna, Gmelina, and Cornutia; 4) Callicarpa; and 5) Tectona. Based on these results, three new subfamilies—Cymarioideae, Peronematoideae, and Premnoideae—are described, and the compositions of other subfamilies are updated based on new findings from the last decade. Furthermore, our analyses revealed five strongly supported, more inclusive clades that contain subfamilies, and we give them phylogenetically defined, unranked names: Cymalamiina, Scutelamiina, Perolamiina, Viticisymphorina, and Calliprostantherina.