Reexamination of relationships, habital evolution, and phylogeography of checker mallows (Sidalcea; Malvaceae) based...

Phylogenetic analysis of nuclear ribosomal DNA external and internal transcribed spacer region (ETS and ITS) sequences for Sidalcea (Malvaceae) resolved five major, well-supported lineages, three of which represent species groups that have each been noted for complex patterns of morphological variation: the oregana, malviflora, and glaucescens clades. Very low variation within each of the three groups in the sequenced regions is consistent with recent radiation of each clade. We reject the previously suggested hypothesis of monophyly for the annual species of Sidalcea. Based on our findings, the annual habit in Sidalcea arose at least four times, probably as an adaptation to seasonally dry habitats. The hypothesis that the perennial species S. hickmanii and S. malachroides represent basally divergent groups within Sidalcea is supported, but the more recently discovered S. stipularis represents an additional basally divergent lineage. The previous suggestion that the genus spread northward from Mexico along two major routes (through the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada foothills), with the Rocky Mountain species S. candida and S. neomexicana representing basally divergent lineages, is not supported. Sidalcea neomexicana is nested within the malviflora clade and is likely a lineage of relatively recent descent that originated in California and subsequently spread to the Rocky Mountains.