Phylogenetics of Orchidaceae
Flower of Lepanthes sp. (Orchidaceae)
The aim of this project is to work on the phylogenetics of various selected groups of orchids as well as the family as a whole. We are aiming to produce matrices that include members of every genus in the family (around 700) and use this to help re-classify the family into tribes and subtribes. Datasets are comprised mostly of plastid and nuclear ribosomal loci. Previous analyses have focused on four of the five subfamilies, Apostasioideae, Cypripedioideae, Orchidoideae and Vanilloideae, but current efforts are focusing on the largest subfamily, Epidendroideae. These results feed into the Genera Orchidacearum project.
The results of this highly collaborative phylogenetic project are of interest to many other biologists, including people studying evolutionary development, ecology and plant-animal and plant-fungal interactions.
Project Team
Project Leader: Chase, Mark
Herbarium
Phil Cribb, Dave Roberts
Jodrell Laboratory
Mark Chase, Michael Fay, Martyn Powell, Vincent Savolainen
Project Partners and Collaborators
Brazil
Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana
Universidade de Campinas
France
University of Toulouse
University of La Réunion
Mexico
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Mexico City
Sri Lanka
University of Peradeniya
UK
Natural History Museum
USA
New York Botanical Garden
Ohio State University
University of Florida
Funders
USA
National Science Foundation (USA)