BOTANY 241 TROPICAL PLANT SYSTEMATICS FALL 2006

Instructor David S. Barrington: Work: 656-0431 Home: 338-0313

Email: dbarring@zoo.uvm.edu

241 Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~dbarring/bot241.html

Regular Class Meetings (Tuesday and Thursday at 2 PM, Torrey 303)

Text (to be ordered based on your opinion of needs):

Judd, W.S., C.S. Campbell, E.A. Kellogg, P.F. Stevens, and M.J. Donoghue. 2002. Plant systematics: a phylogenetic approach. 2^nd. edition. Sunderland, Massachisetts: Sinauer Press. . and/or

Zomlefer, W.B. 1994. Guide to Flowering-Plant Families. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press

also good to own:

Mabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant-Book. Cambridge, England. 2nd. ed. Cambridge Univ.

Press.

Course Abstract: This is the most exciting time in the history of plant systematics and evolution. Modern analytic tools (inferring phylogeny using cladistic methods) combined with DNA sequence characters have revolutionized the science. At the same time, the lure of the deep forests of the tropics remains irresistible, at least to some of us. My goal is to acquaint you with the diversity and biology of key tropical flowering-plant families, at the same time increasing your familiarity with techniques for understanding the phylogeny and biogeography of these great plants.

Approach: Al Gentry, one of the truly great tropical field botanists, provided insights into which flowering-plant families are the most common in the New World tropics. The 26 families that emerge from this analysis (see my separate handout) provide the backbone for the course. As we consider these families, all of the most interesting modern problems, methodologies, and ideas will come up for our consideration.

My central teaching goals

To teach the spot characters for the Gentry families.

To illustrate plant biology using the Gentry families.

To provide a working knowledge of current angiosperm phylogeny and its history.

To demonstrate current research through readings in the recent literature.

Things you need to know that I will end up reviewing or teaching in detail:

How phylogenetic inference works.

Basic biogeography.

Basic structure of flowering plants with knowledge of terminology.

Basic molecular biology.

How plants grow.

Evaluation: Evaluation of your work in this course is self-designed to a certain extent. There will be a midterm and a final. The final will be your oral presentation of a separate research project that you prepare on a group (usually one family) of tropical flowering plants. By the time of the midterm you need to decide on how you want to be graded - that is what each of your course components will be worth.

THE MOST PROMINENT FLOWERING-PLANT FAMILIES IN THE AMERICAN TROPICS

In 1988, the legendary Al Gentry listed the most common families of plants in three forests in tropical America (Annals Missouri Botanical Garden 75:1-34.). Here are his lists (order is from most to least important in each forest type:

low (hot), moist and wet low (hot), dry mid-elevation (cool), wet

(0-1000m, 0.5+m rain) (0-1000m, < 0.5m rain) (1000-2000m, >1m rain)

legumes legumes Lauraceae

Annonaceae Bignoniaceae Rubiaceae

Moraceae Rubiaceae Melastomataceae

Bignoniaceae Sapindaceae Euphorbiaceae

Lauraceae Capparaceae Moraceae

Rubiaceae Flacourtiaceae Guttiferae

Sapotaceae Euphorbiaceae legumes

Palmae Nyctaginaceae ferns

Euphorbiaceae Boraginaceae Araceae

Myristicaceae Cactaceae Palmae

Meliaceae Malpighiaceae

Sapindaceae

Combining these lists and adding four prominent non-woody plant families and Bombacaceae out of personal enthusiasm yields an arbitrary list of the 27 most important families in the American tropics. Three of these families have been lumped into larger families by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group starting in 1998, as indicated.

ALPHABETICAL APG CLASSIFICATION ORDER

Acanthaceae	LILIOPSIDA (Monocots)
Annonaceae	Alismatales
Araceae	1. Araceae
Arecaceae (Palmae)	Asparagales
Bignoniaceae	2. Orchidaceae
Bombacaceae (=Malvaceae)	COMMELINOIDS
Boraginaceae	Poales
Bromeliaceae	3. Bromeliaceae
Cactaceae	Arecales
Capparaceae (=Brassicaceae)	4. Arecaceae(Palmae)
Clusiaceae(Guttiferae)	MAGNOLIIDS
Euphorbiaceae	Laurales
Fabaceae (Leguminosae)	5. Lauraceae
Flacourtiaceae (=Salicaceae)	Magnoliales
Lauraceae	6. Annonaceae
Malpighiaceae	7. Myristicaceae
Melastomataceae	Piperales
Meliaceae	8. Piperaceae
Moraceae	EUDICOTS
Myristicaceae	Caryophyllales
Nyctaginaceae	9. Nyctaginaceae
Orchidaceae	10. Cactaceae
Piperaceae	Santalales
Rubiaceae	11. Loranthaceae
Sapindaceae	ROSIDS
Sapotaceae	12. Melastomataceae
	EUROSIDS I
	Malpighiales
	13. Clusiaceae
	14. Euphorbiaceae
	15. Salicaceae(Flacourtiaceae)
	16. Malpighiaceae
	Fabales
	17. Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
	Rosales
	18. Moraceae & Cecropiaceae
	EUROSIDS II
	Malvales
	19. Malvaceae(Bombacaceae)
	Myrtales
	Sapindales
	20. Meliaceae
	21. Sapindaceae
	ASTERIDS
	Ericales
	22. Sapotaceae
	EUASTERIDS I
	Gentianales
	23. Rubiaceae
	Lamiales
	24. Acanthaceae
	25, Bignoniaceae

CRITICAL CHARACTERS

Botany 241, Tropical Plant Systematics

This is a list of characters that are likely to be useful in identifying plant families in the tropics, in situations where you have fresh material and a hand lens. I have purposely chosen the characters that also relate to the discussions of the phylogeny of angiosperm families as a whole, so that as you look for characters you can start to think about relationships. There are many more characters, many of which we will mention; these are just the common ones.

1. latex presence and color

2. odor of crushed leaves

3. leaf position

4. leaf dissection

5. leaf edge especially glands

6. secondary vein layout

7. tertiary vein layout

8. stipules

9. perianth design

10. number of perianth parts per whorl

11. corolla estivation

12. corolla connation

13. corolla symmetry

14. stamen number relative to petal number

15. stamen dehiscence type

16. disc

17. hypanthium

18. pistil connation

19. placentation

20. ovary position

21. fruit type

KINDS OF INFORMATION AND QUESTIONS FOR BOTANY 241

(A definition of the intellectual landscape)

Systematists and other people interested in plant diversity are interested in a wide variety of information about plants, but the information all relates to a fairly defined set of questions. These form the substance of Botany 241. The most prominent questions we will address in the course relate to phylogeny, ecology, and biogeography – but the other questions always seem to crop up as well.

KIND OF INFORMATION	QUESTIONS RELATED TO THIS KIND OF INFORMATION	THINGS PEOPLE DO TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS
1. place in forest	What is this family’s ecological role in the forest (as canopy or understory tree, herb, epiphyte, liana, or parasite)?	Look at family members in their forest setting.
2. phytochemistry	What is the medicinal importance of these plants, and what do these plants use these compounds for, usually in defense?	Identify chemical constituents, look for patterns of utility and relationship to herbivores.
3. pollination and dispersal	How is pollen moved, how dedicated are the pollinators, how does the typical morphology of the family lend itself to pollination?	Watch the behavior of visitors to flowers, watch the behavior of fruit dispersers.
4. phylogeny and origins	What is this family related to and how can you tell in the forest? What is the most primitive flowering plant?	Score characteristics of the plant groups and compare them.
5. morphology	What are the typical features of members of this family?	Study the anatomy and morphology of family members, look for constant and varying features.
6. non-medical economics (food and fiber etc.)	What do people use these plants for besides medicinally?	Identify non-medicinal uses of the plants through observation and literature review.
7. spot characters	How do you tell members of this family when you are in the forest?	Figure out what characters are constant for the family that can be seen in the forest with a 10x lens or no help.
8. biogeography	What historical and ecological factors determine the current distribution of members of this family?	Chart the distributions of family members, especially genera, and infer history and ecological constraints.

THE ANGIOSPERM PHYLOGENY GROUP GENERAL TREE FOR FLOWERING PLANTS – AUGUST, 2006

http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/