Mammillaria Phylogeny

Traditional methods of attempting to classify Mammillaria species have typically used a number of physical characteristics of the plants, their flowers and their seeds. More recently genetic research has been conducted into the Genus (and others) which have attempted to use DNA analyses to determine the relationship between species, and indeed subgenera and related genera.

An article which will attempt to explain the approaches and significance of this research in simple language will be appearing in the Journal shortly. That will hopefully make the research papers below rather easier to understand.

But we wanted to provide you the main the main research papers to look at either before the article appears or subsequently to fill in more detail on specific areas.

The articles are:

Molecular Systematics of Tribe Cacteae (Cactaceae: Cactoideae): A Phylogeny Based on rpl16 Intron Sequence Variation by CHARLES A. BUTTERWORTH, J. HUGO COTA-SANCHEZ, and ROBERT S. WALLACE  LINK (opens in a new Window)

 and

PHYLOGENETIC STUDIES OF MAMMILLARIA (CACTACEAE) — INSIGHTS FROM CHLOROPLAST SEQUENCE VARIATION AND HYPOTHESIS TESTING USING THE PARAMETRIC BOOTSTRAP by CHARLES A. BUTTERWORTH AND ROBERT S. WALLACE LINK (opens in a new Window)

These documents are hosted by the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix where Dr. Butterworth is continuing his research work. If these links fail to work as a result of the host site re-organising itself, please inform the webmaster.

SYSTEMATICS OF CACTACEAE JUSS.: PHYLOGENY, CPDNA EVOLUTION, AND CLASSIFICATION, WITH EMPHASIS ON THE GENUS MAMMILLARIA HAW. by Bonnie Sue Crozier, B.A., M. Arch. May 2005. PhD Thesis at  the University of Texas at Austin.  LINK (opens in a new window)

This document is hosted at the University of Texas and should the link not work, please advise the Webmaster.