Hypopitys monotropa) is a member of the flowering seed plant family Ericaceae, which in turn belongs to the order Ericales splitting from the base of the clade
Asterids [1].
Ericales and Santalales, both members of the
asterids, are only very distantly related to Sapindales, which belong to the rosids.
But this prehistoric plant was also the ancestor of present day plants such as sunflowers, coffee, potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants - which belong to the same plant group known as
asterids.
Phylogenetics of
asterids based on 3 coding and 3 non-coding chloroplast DNA markers and the utility of non-coding DNA at higher taxonomic levels.
This test was carried out on very broad plant categories, namely colonizations or shifts from Rosid 1B to the three major plant groups "rosids" (other than Rosid 1B), "
asterids" and "other plants" (Chase et al.
All large (informal) groups in angiosperms such as magnoliids, monocots, basal eudicots, rosids and
asterids show a patchy image with both positive and negative observations.
Of these plants, 16 are members of the core
asterids flowering plant group.
In other
asterids (and many rosids) floral monosymmetry is commonly concentrated on or restricted to the perianth and less or not expressed in the androecium (e.g.
Despite its almost ubiquitous occurrence among angiosperms at order level, monosymmetry also shows special concentration in some suprafamilial clades: among rosids especially in Fabales of fabids and in malvids (Endress & Matthews, 2006), among
asterids especially in Lamiales, Asterales and Dipsacales, and among monocots especially in commelinids.
As the phylogenetic range of the plants shown to employ the NAM/CUC3-1ike genes for specifying interleaflet boundary extends from early branching eudicots to rosids and
asterids, it can be assumed that heteroblastic taxa that develop simple and dissected leaves during their lifetime (e.g.
Table 1 Geographical Distribution and Taxonomic Diversity of Genera With Endemic Species on Hainan Family, tree of life Number of endemic endemic Worldwide placement, and genus species in Hainan Island/ approximate approximate number of number of endemic species in China species (including Hainan) Acanthaceae,
Asterids Cosmianthemum 1/3 9 Bremekamp Peristrophe Nees 1/2 25 Staurogyne Wallich 4/8 110 Annonaceae, Magnoliales Artabotrys R.