Format: ORAL

Margaret M. Hanes1, 13, Orland J. Blanchard Jr.2, Janice Valencia-D. 3,4, Todd McLay5,6,7, J. Richard Abbott8, Stuart F. McDaniel9, Russell L. Barrett10,11, Sarah Mathews6, 12, and Kurt M. Neubig3

1 Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA 2 Florida Museum of Natural History (FLAS), University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA 3 Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, USA 4 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá D.C., Colombia 5 Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Melbourne, Australia 6 Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, CSIRO, Canberra, Australia 7 The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia 8 University of Arkansas at Monticello, Monticello, Arkansas, USA 9 University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA 10 National Herbarium of New South Wales, Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Australia 11 University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia 12 Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Tribe Hibisceae represents a very iconic group of plants with extraordinary horticultural, agricultural and cultural significance. No studies, however, have broadly sampled across the dozens of taxa within the tribe, leading to uncertainty in the relationships among genera. The non-monophyly of the genus Hibiscus is infamous and challenging, whereas the monophyly of most other genera in the tribe has yet to be assessed, including the large genus Pavonia. We significantly increase taxon sampling and assess monophyly of most currently recognized genera in the tribe. We also include many newly sampled species and sections of Hibiscus and Pavonia. Our phylogenetic trees demonstrate that Hibiscus, as traditionally defined, encompasses at least 20 additional genera. The status of Pavonia emerges as comparable in complexity to Hibiscus. Our phylogeny offers clarity in the phylogenetic placement of several taxa of uncertain affinity (e.g., Helicteropsis, Hibiscadelphus, Jumelleanthus, and Wercklea). We introduce a new classification for the tribe and clarify the boundaries of Hibiscus and Pavonia.