Embryo And Caryopsis Morphology Of Danthonioid Grasses (Arundinoideae: Poaceae): Important Characters For Their Systematics?

ABSTRACT

Embryo and/or caryopsis morphology in 27 species in 22 genera of danthonioid grasses is reinvestigated for use in a phylogenetic study. Embryo characters are too conservative to reveal phylogenetic relationships among the tribes of the Arundinoideae. However, data presented here and in the literature are used to show that embryo data are useful at subfamily and higher level and shown to be largely consistent with phylogenetic hypotheses generated with molecular data. Caryopsis morphology is shown to be far less conservative but may nevertheless be useful in conjunction with other characters. Anisopogon avenacea, at present included in the Arundinoideae by Clayton and Renvoize (1986), is shown to have embryo characters resembling those of the Pooideae and this was corroborated by its caryopsis morphology.