A preliminary analysis of phylogenetic relationships of Arundinaria and related genera based on nucleotide sequences of nrDNA （ITS region） and cpDNA （trnL-F intergenic spacer）

Phylogenetic relationships of Arundinaria and related genera (Pleioblastus, Pseudosasa, Oligostachyum, Bashania, Clavinodum.etc.) were assessed by analyzing the sequences of the nrDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and the cpDNA trnL-F intergenic spacer (IGS). Comparison with trnL-F IGS sequence, the ITS region provided the higher number of parsimony informative characters, and the interspecific variation of the ITS sequence was higher than that of the trnL-F IGS sequence.The tree obtained by combining both sets of data showed that the species sampled in Arundinaria and the related genera were monophyletic and divided into two clades. The relationships and positioning of all the taxa surveryed (including A. oleosa, A. hsienchuensis, A. chino, A. amara, A. yixingensis, A. amabilis, A. fortunei,A. pygmaea, A. gramineus, A. fargesii, A. faberi, A. hupehense, Pseudosasa japonica cv. Tsutsumiana, P. japonica and Brachystachyum densiflorum) were also discussed. The results from the sequences were broadly consistent with morphological characters, appearing all these taxa sampled belong to the genus of Arundinaria. The topologies of the trees generated from individual data and the combined data were similar.