A Study of Correlation between Morphology and Evolution of Euphorbiaceae s.l. using Taxonomic Congruence and Total Evidence

Abstract

Euphorbiaceae is one of the largest family of flowering plants, in our study different species were collected from different localities of Mizoram, the collected specimens were studied and their morphological features noted. 34 genera of Euphorbiaceae s.l were used in the study. Cladistic analysis was performed in Mesquite software and Phenetic analysis was done in NTsys software. Both analyses produce a pictorial representation in a form of a tree; cladistic analysis produce phylogenetic tree (evolutionary relationship) while phenetic analysis produce phenogram (morphological relationship). The results of the aforementioned analyses were further analysed by total evidence technique and taxonomic congruence, a phylogenetic software PAUP is used for this purpose. The resultant trees were very different and comparison was done to find correlation between evolution and morphological characters. The research finds various correlation among characters like the number of locule in ovule, phyllanthoid branching and support the inclusion of genus like Breynia, Sauropus into Phyllanthus.