A Cladistic Analysis of Banksia (Proteaceae)

Abstract

Banksia is a genus of more than 90 taxa, many of which are common and characteristic in sclerophyll communities in eastern and south-western Australia. Cladistic analyses based on morphological and anatomical characters were used to resolve relationships in the genus. An initial analysis of 35 terminal taxa, including 9 infrageneric taxa assumed to be monophyletic on the basis of one or more synapomorphies, allowed resolution of basal nodes. Subsequent analyses of the putatively monophyletic infrageneric taxa allowed resolution of distal nodes. Some of these lower-level analyses used a mixture of qualitative characters and coded morphometric characters. Together, the analyses afforded a high..