Cladistics and phenetics on some taxa of polygonaceae JUSS

Abstract

Polygonaceae is a large dicot family of approximately 48 genera and 1200 species worldwide. The main objective of the current investigation is to compare between the pathways of evolution and the degree of similarity among the present polygonaceous taxa. To achieve the intended target, two character data sets were tested; morphological and molecular traits. Winclada/Nona programs were used for cladistic analysis while NTSYS-PC software for phenetic analysis. The resulted cladogram supports the monophylly of Polygonaceae with its five lineages, while the obtained phenogram comprises five groups. It was concluded that there was a close concordance between the results of phylogentic and phenetic studies on Polygonaceae.