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Molecular Phylogenetics of Palms

Molecular phylogenetic collaborations at Kew have demonstrated that the extraordinary bipinnate-leaved palm genus Caryota (pictured here) and its relatives Wallichia and Arenga are embedded within the fan-leaved palm subfamily Coryphoideae, and are not part of subfamily Arecoideae as previously believed.  © Bill Baker

The phylogeny of the palm family has been a focus of collaborative research at Kew for more than a decade (see publication list below). This concentrated effort has resulted in a large number of scientific papers that now underpin the revised classification of the family that will be presented in the new edition of the family monograph Genera Palmarum to be published in 2007. The primary objectives of this research campaign have been 1) to generate fundamental phylogenetic hypotheses for the family for systematic purposes and 2) to exploit these hypotheses in analyses of character evolution, biogeography and evolutionary history. This ongoing programme of research is implemented via time-bound projects, mainly within postgraduate studentships, postdoctoral fellowships and sandwich course studentships.

We have targeted our research largely at the higher level, prioritising family-wide studies and those focusing on subfamily Calamoideae. Recently, however, as long-standing problems at the base of the palm family tree have been resolved, we have turned to subfamily Arecoideae and to lower level studies in the genera of tribe Areceae. Significant outcomes include the redefinition of palm subfamilies, studies of the origins of the climbing habit and of complex patterns in reproductive characters, research into speciation biology, new generic delimitations and the description of a new genus. Currently, we are finalising a phylogeny of all palm genera, using supertree approaches, and in future hope to expand this towards the species level. Increasingly, we are turning to dating methods to gain a deeper understanding of the temporal framework of palm evolution, from which we can also draw increasingly robust spatial inferences.

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