Format: ORAL

Napasorn Chuaychoowong1, Saroj Ruchisansakun1, Thaya Jenjittikul1, Nicha Thawara1, Nattapon Nopporncharoenkul2

1 Mahidol University, Rama VI Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok, Thailand 2 National Science Museum Thailand, Tambon Khlong Ha, Amphoe Khlong Luang, Chang Wat Pathum Thani, Thailand

The genus Kaempferia, is a member in the ginger family (Zingiberaceae). Its distribution stretches from India to various regions in Southeast Asia. Amongst these, Thailand notably stands out with a rich species diversity of this genus. In accordance with the Flora of Thailand, Thailand hosts approximately 32 accepted species. This perennial herb, renowned for its fascinating medicinal properties, extends beyond its species variety, its significance also permeates into the intricate world of its floral morphology, therefore being the core motivation of this study. Our focus will explore the subgenus Kaempferia, with a specific aim to the evolutionary reconstruction of five intriguing morphological characters: the labellum colour, floral markings of the labellum, the floral plane, the shapes of the anther crest, and the size of the lateral staminodes. Furthermore, our study also aims to reconstruct a phylogenetic tree including 18 Kaempferia species within the subgenus Kaempferia using ITS regions. The DNA was extracted and underwent sequencing from frozen leaf specimens and further underwent Bayesian inference and Maximum Likelihood analysis. Character evolution was then analysed via Mesquite to discover the ancestral states of the genus.