Revision of Passiflora Subgenus Decaloba ... - Passion Flowers

164
Summary
Passiflora supersection Cieca consists of 19 species of climbers possessing
small, apetalous flowers that lack floral bracts or have only one or two such
bracts. The species are primarily distributed in the southern United States,
Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The two most
widespread taxa in the supersection, P. pallida and P. suberosa, are also found
in various regions of the Old World, likely as a result of naturalization. Five new
species, P. megacoriacea, P. pallida, P. sexocellata, P. tacana, and P.
tridactylites, were recognized as part of this project.
Phenetic and cladistic analyses of the supersection based on morphological
and molecular characters were utilized to generate hypotheses of species
phylogenetic relationships and redefine specific entities, especially within the two
species complexes. The phylogenetic analyses presented here confirm the
monophyly of the supersection. In the molecular and morphological analyses
each of the species of the supersection, with the exception of P. suberosa, is
monophyletic and diagnosible by a unique combination of character states.
There is support in the molecular and morphological analyses for the monophyly
of a clade containing P. itzensis and P. xiikzodz and a clade composed of P.
juliana and P. viridiflora. In addition, there is strong support in the molecular
analysis for a clade comprising P. coriacea and P. sexocellata.
Four taxa that were formerly included in the P. suberosa complex are
recognized here: P. pallida, P. suberosa ssp. suberosa, P. suberosa ssp. litoralis,
and P. tridactylites. Both the molecular and morphological analyses show that
Passiflora suberosa is not monophyletic, a situation that may be quite common in