The genus Malacothamnus (subfamily Malvoideae, Malvaceae) is composed of fire-following shrubs primarily found in the California Floristic Province and includes many taxa of conservation concern. The genus includes 21 species and 29 minimum-ranked taxa. Here I present a revised treatment of the genus incorporating data from recent morphological and phylogenetic studies (Volumes 1 and 2). This treatment includes information on life history, a discussion and illustrations of morphological characters useful for identification, and relevant conservation information. A key to all taxa recognized in this revision is presented and followed by morphological descriptions, synonymy, common names, distribution maps, blooming period, conservation status, additional notes, and photographs.
The taxonomy of the genus Malacothamnus (Malvaceae) has been controversial for many years due to conflicting treatments and the many taxa of conservation concern not recognized in some of these treatments. Purported intergradation and hybridization are the primary justifications for not recognizing these taxa. Two recent morphological studies examining small subsets of Malacothamnus taxa debunked the purported ambiguities between the taxa analyzed and provided evidence for a new species. This indicated a morphological assessment of the full genus would be highly beneficial to identify and clarify both morphological groupings and character states within the genus prior to testing taxon hypotheses within a phylogenetic framework. This study follows the previous two by examining the remaining subsets of Malacothamnus taxa that have been combined and/or confused in the past. These subsets are analyzed with principle component analysis (PCA), pairwise permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to answer (1) whether taxa relegated to synonymy by some authors are morphologically distinct or not, (2) whether there is morphological evidence to support purported intergradation between taxa, (3) whether previously defined morphological boundaries between taxa are justifiable or need refining, and (4)whether populations of hypothesized novel taxa are morphologically distinct from the taxathey have been included within. Twenty-nine previously named and nine unnamed morphological groupings were recovered in taxon subset analyses. These were then included in a global analysis of the genus followed by comparisons of morphological characters between all groupings. The 38 morphological groups recovered range in distinctness from clear taxa that are both morphologically and geographically distinct to intergrading forms needing further research to base taxonomic decisions upon. These 38 morphological groups are assessed as hypothetical lineages using phylogenetic analyses in Volume 2 of this monograph.
Past taxonomic treatments of the genus Malacothamnus (Malvaceae) are inconsistent with between 11 and 28 taxa recognized. Many taxa that are not recognized in recent treatments are narrowly endemic and of conservation concern, which makes resolving taxonomic questions in the genus a conservation priority. As a first step in resolving these questions, I used morphological analyses to assess specimens representing the full range of morphological variation in the genus throughout its entire geographic range, which is presented in Volume 1 of this monograph. These analyses resulted in 38 morphologically and geographically cohesive groups that have varying levels of distinctness. In Volume 2 of this monograph, 36 of the 38 morphological groups are further assessed in a phylogenetic framework using a restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) dataset. Samples were analyzed using maximum likelihood analysis, quartets-based species tree analysis, neighbor-net analysis, and multidimensional scaling. Resulting clades generally correspond with morphological groups and relationships between clades correspond as much to geographic patterns as morphological patterns. Sixteen of the 38 morphological groups formed well supported clades, with three additional well supported clades containing multiple morphological groups. Lower support and inconsistency between some clades and morphological groups indicates possible gene flow or incomplete lineage sorting between morphological groups in some regions and identifies focal areas for future research. Taxonomic changes with a discussion of evidence for such changes are made in this volume. Based on the combination of morphologic, phylogenetic, and geographic evidence, I recognize 29 minimum rank taxa within 21 Malacothamnus species. Of these, 15 are currently listed as taxa of conservation concern, nine of which were not recognized in the recent Flora of North America treatment. Three new species are described: Malacothamnus astrotentaculatus, Malacothamnus eastwoodiae, and Malacothamnus discombobulatus. Taxonomic changes include two new combinations and two changes of rank resulting in the following new names: Malacothamnus arcuatus var. elmeri, Malacothamnus fremontii var. exfibulosus, Malacothamnus jonesii var. gracilis, and Malacothamnus jonesii var. niveus. A new treatment of Malacothamnus following the resulting taxonomy of Volume 2 is presented in Volume 3.
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