Phylogeny of Astragalus sect. Alopecuroidei based on the combined nrDNA ITS and morphology

A phylogenetic analysis of Astragalus sect. Alopecuroidei based on nrDNA ITS as well as morphological character data is presented. A total of fifty informative morphological characters were analyzed to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships for 23 taxa of the sect. Alopecuroidei and two species of sect. Laxiflori plus A. sieversianus and A. caryolobus as outgroups. The present analysis revealed that the Alopecuroidei with the inclusion of sect. Laxiflori is monophyletic. This is well consistent with the previous works even with the small taxon sampling. Astragalus alopecias was positioned at the base of the resulting trees. The present study indicates that all six/four informal species groups, except the Kirrindicus (=Obtusifolius) group and Turbinatus group, recognized within the Alopecuroidei were not monophyletic. nrDNA and morphology-based phylogenies were conflicting regarding the position of A. saetiger, A. turbinatus and A. neoassadianus.