Format: ORAL

Cassandra D. V. Bradshaw1, tienne Lveill-Bourret2, Isabel Larridon3,4, Robert F. C. Naczi5, Jeremy Bruhl6, Pedro Jimnez Mejas7, Karen Wilson8, Julian R. Starr1

1 University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada; 2 University of Montréal, Montréal, Canada; 3 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom; 4 Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; 5 New York Botanical Garden, New York, United States of America; 6 University of New England, Armidale, Australia; 7 Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain; 8 Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney, Australia

Considerable changes to the classification of the large (ca. 5500 spp.), cosmopolitan monocot family Cyperaceae (sedges) have been made over the past 20 years. This is largely due to the reconstruction of relationships using molecular data. Nonetheless, many groups remain poorly studied, such as tribe Fuireneae s.l., a collection of ca. 153 spp. common to humid and wet habitats worldwide. The group possesses numerous annuals and perennials, and holds ecological and economic importance, often dominating their natural habitats and acting as noxious crop weeds worldwide. Though a recent molecular study found support to divide Fuireneae s.l. into four tribes and six genera, only 30% of the tribes diversity was sampled, sampling was poor where the group is most diverse (Asia), species level-complexes remain unresolved, and tribes could only be divided using impractical microscopic characters. Interestingly, this preliminary data suggested transitions from an annual to a perennial life history strategy, for which few examples are known in angiosperms, especially in monocots. Using a complete taxonomic sample of Fuireneae s.l., and molecular (Hyb-Seq), morphological and embryo characters, we are testing whether current tribal, generic and infrageneric classifications of Fuireneae s.l. are natural, and if some perennials in the grade are derived from annuals as suggested by preliminary data.