Molecular phylogenetics of Hymenocrater and allies (Lamiaceae): new insights from nrITS, plastid trnL intron and trnL‐F intergenic spacer DNA sequences

We analyzed the phylogenetic relationships of Hymenocrater and closely related genera using nrITS and plastid trnL intron and trnL‐F intergenic spacer DNA sequences. Here, we present a phylogenetic reconstruction based on 62 species belonging to Hymenocrater, Lophanthus, Marmoritis and Nepeta, along with representatives of the rest of Nepetinae, based on Maximum Parsimony and Bayesian inference. Our results confirm the monophyly of Nepetinae and the division of this subtribe into two main clades, one of which includes Drepanocaryum, Hymenocrater, Nepeta, Lophanthus and Marmoritis and the other Agastache, Glechoma, Meehania, Schizonepeta, Lallemantia, Cedronella and Dracocephalum. However, Nepeta is reconstructed as nonmonophyletic, with members of the genera Hymenocrater, Lophanthus, Marmoritis, Drepanocaryum and Nepeta all mixed in one clade. The symplesiomorphic morphological traits of these five genera taken together are: calyx tube 15‐nerved, two lipped, the throat oblique to straight, the corolla two lipped, the two upper stamens longer than the two lower and included or exerted from the corolla, and thecae divergent. In accordance with morphological evidence and considering the number of taxa included and the centers of diversity of these genera, we propose to include Hymenocrater, Lophanthus and Marmoritis in Nepeta, while Drepanocaryum may be recognized as a the sister to Nepeta. New combinations and synonyms are introduced to accommodate all these species in Nepeta.