Morphological phylogenetic analysis of the genera Fragaria and Duchesnea in Iran

In this research phylogenetic relationships of the two genera Fragaria and Duchesnea, including four species ( Fragaria viridis, F. vesca, Duchesnea indica and D. chrysantha) and 2 of their closely related species (Potentilla reptans and P. micrantha) plus 2 Fillipendulla species ( representing outgroups) were carried out using morphological traits. Primarily, morphological evidences of 30 taxa were carefully examined. Then, phylogenetic analysis was conducted in two steps, 1) using 38 quantitative and qualitative characters 2) using 10 selected evidences. For this, all studied morphological characters were coded and analyzed by Maximum parsimony method (MP). Data analysis was carried out through the heuristic search embedded in the PAUP software. The result emphasizes the separation of the two subtribe Potentillinae and Fragariinae. It also shows monophyly of Fragaria and Duchesnea. Furthermore, based on the current findings, Potentilla is a closest relative of Duchesnea. Among the studied morphological characters14 (9 from the first and 5 from second analysis) isolates Fragaria from Duchesnea; and 6 (4 from the first analysis and 2 from the second analysis) separates Duchesnea from Potentilla. However, intraspecies relationships between the Fragaria species) except for 4 taxa) remained unresolved.