Format: ORAL

Alexandre R. Zuntini1, the PAFTOL community

1Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, United Kingdom *Corresponding author: a.zuntini@kew.org

Nearly ten percent of angiosperm diversity is included in Lamiales, making it one of the largest of all orders. Representatives of this order can be found in nearly all ecosystems around the world and many are well-known for their economic value. This group presents wide morphological and ecological diversity, from aquatic herbs to large trees, and even specialised strategies like parasitism and carnivory. This variation alongside convergent evolution has led to a turbulent taxonomic history, with familial circumscriptions being constantly redrawn even until the present day. Understanding the affinities among lineages of Lamiales has also been challenging, with many inter- and intrafamilial relationships still unknown. In light of these issues, there is a need to undertake deeper research on the phylogenetics of Lamiales not only to understand plant evolution but also to answer questions in related fields such as biogeography and ecology. Understanding of relationships in the order has been impaired by (1) incomplete sampling (at least at generic level); and (2) the abundance of evolutionary processes that affect phylogenetic reconstructions, like rapid radiation, incomplete lineage sorting, reticulation and whole genome duplication. These barriers are now being overcome with the help of modern high-throughput sequencing strategies, large-scale nuclear data and more robust phylogenetic methods. Using the most up-to-date phylogenomic tree of Lamiales, underpinned by the data produced by the Plant & Fungal Trees of Life (PAFTOL) project at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, we establish a new phylogenomic baseline for Lamiales and reassess the boundaries of families and infra-familial taxa, with the aim of produce a synthetic and stable classification of the order.