Format: ORAL

Elliot M. Gardner1

1 Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

The Moraceae is an ecologically and economically important family with a worldwide distribution centered in the tropics. Notable species include species ofFicus(figs),Artocarpus(breadfruit and jackfruit),Morus(mulberries), and others. Classification within the family based on morphology has led to instability over the past century due in part to the difficulty in distinguishing preserved ancestral or convergent characters from truly plesiomorphic characters. Historical classification systems have particularly disagreed on the importance of stamen position, which may be straight or inflexed in bud, the latter a notable adaptation to wind pollination.Inflorescence architecture varies widely from spicate inflorescences in the Moreae to the closed syconium ofFicusor the flattened disc ofDorstenia, yet differences in the individual flowers may be more cryptic. Two decades of molecular phylogenetic analyses, the most recent incorporating hundreds of genes as well as analyses of introgression, have clarified evolutinoary relationships and transitions within this family. After reviewing the current state of phylogenetic reconstructions and the morphological traits that characterize the major clades, this paper will propose a comprehensive updated classification of Moraceae that is consistent phylogenetic reconstructions but morphologically tractable. The author hopes that this updated classification will provide stability for further work on Moraceae and bring formal taxonomic names in line with phylogenetic evidence.