Subdivision and relationships of the Asiatic - Australian genera of Annonaceae

Abstract

Although the Annonaceae as a family is well characterized, its subdivision has always been problematic. Classifications are far from being comparable with each other, although all contain valuable elements. Some tribes, especially those containing genera from South America, are very distinct and represent clearcut and well-defined groups of taxa. Asiatic - Australian genera with their reticulate distribution of primitive and advanced characters and parallelism show difficulties f or a classification on tribal level. Nevertheless a number of phenetic classifications relying on flower, pollen, fruit and seed characters have been published recently which will help to make sound decisions after monographs of the big Asian general have been completed.