Cercis (L.) (Leguminosae) consists of approximately 8 species, disjunctly distributed in eastern and western Asia, southern Europe, and North America. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using sequences of the internal transcribed spacer ( ITS) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA. The two North American and one Southern European and Western Asian species consistently form a clade, nesting within the eastern Asian species, suggesting a slightly closer relationship between the North American and Southern Europe-Western Asian species than each with the Eastern Asian species of Cercis. A close relationship between the eastern and western North American species is furthermore demonstrated, although with weaker support. The possibilities of migration via either the Bering land bridges or the North Atlantic land bridges could not be precluded; it suggests that the biogeographic patterns in the Northern Hemisphere are complex.
The circumscriptions of sections Auganthus Pax ex Balf. f. and Ranunculoides Chen et C. M. Hu in the genus Primula L. have been controversial, due to the different treatments of P. filchnerae Knuth. We conducted a phylogenetic analysis using sequences from the ITS region of nuclear ribosomal DNA. All five species of these two sections and some representatives of other related sections were sampled. The ITS trees show that P. filchnerae could be convincingly placed in sect. Auganthus , together with P. sinensis Sabine ex Lindl. and P. rupestris Balf. f. et Farrer, whereas sect. Ranunculoides contains two species: P. cicutariifolia Pax and P. merrilliana Schltr. These two sections are distantly related and their association with other sections needs further studies. This study also demonstrated that ITS sequences would be a suitable marker for the reconstruction of Primula phylogeny.
The infrageneric classification currently in use for Cymbidium is based on gross morphology, with emphasis on the number of pollinia and state of fusion between lip and column. The sequences of nrDNA regions of 27 species and 3 cultivars of Cymbidium and 3 outgroup species ( Eulophia graminea, Geodorum densiflorum, Amitostigma pinguiculum) were analyzed using PCR amplification and direct DNA sequencing. The phylogenetic trees generated from maximum parsimony analysis, however, show that the existing division among three subgenera (subgen. Cymbidium , subgen. Cyperorchis and subgen. Jensoa ) should be evaluated with more data. Subgenus Cyperorchis was not a monophyletic group, with the unexpected nesting of C. dayanum (subgen. Cymbidium ) within it; subgenus Jensoa also appeared paraphyletic, with C. lancifolium being the sister group to the remainder of the genus; species of subgen. Cymbidium appeared polyphyletic, being split into several clades and intermixed with the main subgen. Cyperorchis and subgen. Jensoa clades, respectively. However, because of the insufficiency of informative characters of ITS sequences, some of the clades identified, especially the major lineages of Cymbidium , received relatively low support; sectional delimitations were also not clear within each subgenus. Further study is needed for achieving a robust phylogeny of Cymbidium .
