| Molecular phylogenetic analyses were conducted to investigate evolutionary relationships, morphological trends and biogeographical patterns in the genus Salvia. In total, over 500 samples representing more than 50 genera and over 200 species of Salvia are included in the project. Both nuclear and chloroplast DNA are sampled, with four molecular regions employed in the analyses of Salvia as-a-whole, and eight molecular regions used in subg. Audibertia. A monophyletic lineage within the Mentheae is characterized consisting of the genera Lepechinia, Melissa, Salvia, Dorystaechas, Meriandra, Zhumeria, Perovskia , and Rosmarinus. The work demonstrates the independent origin of the defining character of Salvia (an elongate connective separating the thecae of the two expressed stamens) on at least three occasions within the tribe Mentheae, each time with a distinct morphology. A first clade of Salvia consists of a large group of European, African, and western Asian Salvia (plus the New World members of sects. Heterosphace and Salviastrum) and is sister to the genera Perovskia and Rosmarinus. A second clade of Salvia is entirely New World, and includes the sister lineages subg. Audibertia and subg. Calosphace, which together are sister to the Asian genera Meriandra and Dorystaechas. A third clade of Salvia is a predominantly Asian group of Salvia and sister to, or paraphyletic with respect to, the genus Zhumeria. The trends in the elongation of the connective tissue we see in the New and Old World members of the genus are explored, as are the implications of the polyphyly of the genus Salvia.Current sectional delineations within Salvia subg. Calosphace are evaluated in a molecular analysis incorporating 170 species therein. Each of the 19 species in Salvia subg. Audibertia are sampled, and a total of 99 samples incorporated in a study of relationships within Salvia subg. Audibertia . Within this subgenus, section Echinosphace and section Audibertia are shown to ke monophyletic and sister to one another. Three examples of introgression are identified within subg. Audibertia. |
