TAXON 69 (2) • April 2020: 337–368 Jafari & al. • Infrageneric classification of Silene SYSTEMATICS AND PHYLOGENY A new taxonomic backbone for the infrageneric classification of the species-rich genus Silene (Caryophyllaceae) Farzaneh Jafari,1,5 Shahin Zarre,1 Abbas Gholipour,2 Frida Eggens,3 Richard K. Rabeler4 & Bengt Oxelman5,6 1 Department of Plant Science, Centre of Excellence in Phylogeny of Living Organisms, School of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 14155-6455, Tehran, Iran 2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Payame Noor University (PNU), P.O. Box 19395-3697, Tehran, Iran 3 Department of Systematic Botany, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden 4 University of Michigan Herbarium-EEB, 3600 Varsity Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108-2228, U.S.A. 5 Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 461, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden 6 Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 461, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden Addresses for correspondence: Shahin Zarre,
[email protected]; Bengt Oxelman,
[email protected] DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.12230 Abstract The systematization of species in plant taxonomy based on the phylogenetic relationships among them are of utmost importance and also very challenging in large genera. In those, phylogenetic results often may suggest substantially different rela- tionships than previous classifications, and call for large-scale taxonomic revisions. Delimitation of the genus Silene has been and is still somewhat controversial, and recent molecular phylogenetic studies have settled several monophyletic groups that differ sub- stantially from previous taxonomies.