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What reproductive traits tell us about the evolution and diversification of the tree-of-heaven family, Simaroubaceae

  • Structural Botany - Review Article
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Abstract

Floral features contribute with remarkable additions to morphological studies and are widely used to address questions about the evolution and diversification of several groups of plants. Even though Simaroubaceae are a small monophyletic family, the few detailed structural analyses of reproductive organs and the floral diversity and variations already described in their members stimulate novel structural studies. In this study, we investigate the evolution of reproductive features of Simaroubaceae by means of a combination of original data and a review of the literature, aiming to elucidate which floral characters are most informative for a better understanding of the evolutionary history of the group. We analyzed 21 out of the 23 genera of Simaroubaceae, plus six from Rutaceae and seven from Meliaceae as outgroups. We used a Bayesian method and the Parsimony optimality criterion to reconstruct ancestral reproductive character states using a re-analyzed phylogenetic tree of Sapindales. Here, we combined available molecular sequences to have the largest sample of Simaroubaceae genera. We found that the ancestral flowers of Simaroubaceae were probably polygamous or dioecious plants, with free carpels united only distally, with divergent, elongated stigmas, and with drupaceous, laterally flattened to lenticular fruits. The latter feature plus apocarpous carpels are putative synapomorphies of the family retrieved in this study. Imbricate petals and a diplostemonous androecium were recovered as conditions found in the ancestor of Simaroubaceae but also shared with the ancestors of Meliaceae and Rutaceae. Our findings were mostly in accordance with previous evolutionary studies on genera of Simaroubaceae and with other families of Sapindales.

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modified from Harms (1896), d Modified from Gama et al. (2021a), e–l Modified from Engler (1930b)

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Acknowledgements

This study is part of the PhD dissertation of the first author. We thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP; proc. #2014/18002‐2), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq; proc. #307655/2015‐6) and International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) for assistance in funding research. We are most grateful to Dr. Alexandra N. Muellner-Riehl for providing the calibrated tree of Sapindales, to Klei Rodrigo Sousa for flower illustrations, Allan Bruno Sendas for enlightenments in figure editing, Dr. J. Richard Abbott, Dr. W. Wayt Thomas and Dr. Pedro Acevedo-Rodriguez for sharing images of Simaroubaceae representatives.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 05508-090, Brazil

    Gisele Gomes Nogueira Alves, Luiz Henrique Martins Fonseca, Marcelo Fernando Devecchi, Juliana Hanna Leite El Ottra, Diego Demarco & José Rubens Pirani

  2. Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Luiz Henrique Martins Fonseca

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  1. Gisele Gomes Nogueira Alves
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  2. Luiz Henrique Martins Fonseca
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  3. Marcelo Fernando Devecchi
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  4. Juliana Hanna Leite El Ottra
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  5. Diego Demarco
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  6. José Rubens Pirani
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GGNA, LHMF, MFD, JHLO, DD and JRP conceived the study and performed writing—review and editing; GGNA, LHMF, DD and JRP contributed to methodology; GGNA, LHMF and JRP were involved in formal analysis and investigation; GGNA and JRP performed writing—original draft preparation and funding acquisition; DD and JRP supervised the study. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Gisele Gomes Nogueira Alves.

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Diego Demarco is the editor-in-chief of the Brazilian Journal of Botany, and this article was entirely handled by an Associate Editor.

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Supplementary Information

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SM. 1 Posterior tree of Sapindales (based on Muellner-Riehl et al. 2016) (TIF 11105 kb)

SM. 2 Nodes of reduced tree of Simaroubaceae, Meliaceae and Rutaceae (TIF 13599 kb)

SM. 3 Mcc reduced tree with PP values (TIF 6381 kb)

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SM. 4 Reconstruction analysis of ancestral character state based on Parsimony criterion. a Sepal number. b Sepal union. c Corolla aestivation. d Petal number (TIF 28089 kb)

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SM. 5 Reconstruction analysis of ancestral character state based on Parsimony criterion. a Androecium. b Stamen number. c Filament appendages. d Filament union (TIF 28033 kb)

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SM. 6 Reconstruction analysis of ancestral character state based on Parsimony criterion. a Staminodes. b Pistillodes. c Carpel union. d Style-stigma proportion (TIF 28175 kb)

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SM. 7 Reconstruction analysis of ancestral character state based on Parsimony criterion. a Style union. b Stigma union. c Stigma type. d Stalk-like elongations (TIF 27959 kb)

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SM. 8 Reconstruction analysis of ancestral character state based on Parsimony criterion. a Intrastaminal disk. b Fruit type (TIF 13590 kb)

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Alves, G.G.N., Fonseca, L.H.M., Devecchi, M.F. et al. What reproductive traits tell us about the evolution and diversification of the tree-of-heaven family, Simaroubaceae. Braz. J. Bot 45, 367–397 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-021-00768-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-021-00768-y

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