TAXON 64 (4) • August 2015: 741–753 De Smet & al. • T axonomy of tribe Hydrangeeae (Hydrangeaceae) Molecular phylogenetics and new (infra)generic classification to alleviate polyphyly in tribe Hydrangeeae (Cornales: Hydrangeaceae) Yannick De Smet,1 Carolina Granados Mendoza,1,2 Stefan Wanke,3 Paul Goetghebeur1 & Marie-Stéphanie Samain1,4 1 Ghent University, Department of Biology, Research Group Spermatophytes, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Gent, Belgium 2 Departamento de Botánica, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-367, 04510 Coyoacán, Distrito Federal, Mexico 3 Technische Universität Dresden, Institut für Botanik, Zellescher Weg 20b, 01062 Dresden, Germany 4 Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Centro Regional del Bajío, Avenida Lázaro Cárdenas 253, 61600 Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico Authors for correspondence: Yannick De Smet,
[email protected]; Marie-Stéphanie Samain,
[email protected] ORCID: CGM, http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4001-619X; MSS, http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7530-9024 DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12705/644.6 Abstract Tribe Hydrangeeae of Hydrangeaceae currently contains nine morphologically diverse genera, many of which are well- known garden ornamentals. Previous studies have shown eight of these genera to be phylogenetically nested within Hydrangea, rendering the latter polyphyletic. To clarify the phylogeny of tribe Hydrangeeae, the present study sequenced four chloroplast regions and ITS for an extensive set of taxa, including the type for all nine genera involved. The resulting phylogenetic hypoth- eses corroborate the polyphyly of Hydrangea. Since polyphyletic taxa are deemed unacceptable by both sides in the ongoing debate concerning the adherence to strict monophyly in biological classifications, a new (infra)generic classification for tribe Hydrangeeae is proposed.