Relationships in the stringybarks, Eucalyptus L’Hérit informal subgenus Monocalyptus series Capitellatae and Olsenianae: Phylogenetic hypotheses, biogeography and classification

Abstract

The stringybark eucalypts form a monophyletic group characterised in Monocalyptus by hispid juvenile leaves. They have been analysed using a phenetic method, additive similarity trees and a cladistic parsimony method (Wagner trees). The shortest Wagner trees indicated that Eucalyptus muelleriana is the sister species to all other stringybarks. E. olsenii and a taxon from the Carnarvon Range (Queensland) are the next most plesiomorphic taxa in the phyletic sequence. The remaining taxa form a trichotomy: E. tindaliae, species with fruits > 8 mm in diameter and with the disc ascending, and species with fruits < 8 mm and with the disc level. Subclades are largely characterised by seedling morpho..