Celastraceae are a principally pantropical family of herbs, vines, shrubs, and trees with several subtropical and fewer temperate members. The 97 currently recognized genera and about 1,194 species in Celastraceae exhibit substantial variation in stamen, fruit, and seed characters that have been used as the main bases with which to classify the family. Recent sequence-based phylogenetic studies have helped to clarify the delimitation of the formerly heterogeneous Celastraceae and enable the investigators to perform a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis with which to establish the intergeneric relationships, and set forth a phylogenetic classification, of the family. The phylogenetic analysis, paired with anatomical studies of arils (the primary structures used for seed dispersal in many flowering-plant lineages), will determine the homology and pattern of diversification of arils within Celastraceae and help to refine our understanding of aril homology.
This project will be used to help train one graduate student and several undergraduate students. The graduate student will participate in all parts of the project, including refining the methodology, obtaining and analyzing data, and writing manuscripts. While being introduced to systematics research, undergraduates will learn general molecular lab techniques and how to analyze the DNA sequences that they generate. The inferred phylogeny of Celastraceae and information on the order, family, and each of the proposed subfamilies will be posted on the WWW for reference by the general public and application to floras from around the world.
