Phyletic and Cladistic Relationships in Lipochaeta (Compositae)

A recent computer technique, Character Compatibility, was used to examine cladistic relationships among the 27 taxa (two sections, Lipochcaeta and Aphanopappus) of the genus Lipochaeta. The results were compared with a previous, intuitively derived, concept of relationships within the genus. The computer analysis produced four possible evolutionary trees. One tree was constructed primarily from reproductive characters which were previously shown to be conservative evolution- arily. The latter was in closer agreement with the intuitive analysis than were the other three. The computer study was helpful in assessing the previously obscure relationships of two taxa, Lipochaeta bryanii and L. degeneri. The intuitive phylogram and the computer cladograms were in close agreement regarding the relationships of the two sections to each other. Character Compatibility promises to be quite useful in plant systematics, but it should be used only after the plant group is well under- stood, i.e., it should be used as a final step rather than in the initial phases of a revisionary study.