title: Phylogenetic relationships among morphotypes of Caesalpinia echinata Lam. (Caesalpinioideae: Leguminosae) evidenced by trnL intron sequences.
abstract: Caesalpinia echinata (brazilwood or Pernambuco wood) comprises a complex of three morphological leaf variants, characterized by differences in the number and size of the pinnae and leaflets, and occurring in allopatric and sympatric populations. The present study evaluates the utility of the chloroplast DNA trnL intron in a phylogenetic analysis of the three leaf variants along with other species of Caesalpinia and generic relatives. Our study supports the hypothesis that the name C. echinata designates a species complex and provides evidence that one of the forms, the highly divergent C. echinata large-leafleted variant, represents a distinct taxon.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Rodovia Ilhéus-Itabuna, km16, Salobrinho, CEP 45662-000, Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fabrício Sacramento
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Juchum
authors.forename: Marco Antônio
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: André Márcio
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Amorim
authors.forename: Ronan Xavier
authors.initials: RX
authors.lastname: Corrêa
mesh_terms: D029911:Caesalpinia / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D002965:Classification / Q000379:methods*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D007438:Introns; D010802:Phylogeny; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics; D014934:Wood