ON CLADISTIC RELATIONSHIPS IN GREEN PLANTS

Abstract

Summary Interrelationships of major groups of green algae and land plants are currently hypothesized in cladograms by various authors. A summary cladogram is given and controversial points such as the precise sister group of the land plants are indicated. Sequence data from 5S ribosomal RNA are more homoplasious than morphological data and hence less useful for inferring phylogeny. Traditional textbook classifications contain several paraphyletic taxa and are frequently uninformative with respect to interrelationships/phylogeny. A cladistic classification with monophyletic taxa is advocated. It is superior for teaching purposes and provides natural taxa that are meaningful for biology in general.