19. ON THE EVOLUTION AND PHYLOGEOGRAPHY OF THE SOUTHEASTERN SPECIES OF THE GENUS DALEA (FABACEAE) USING A MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETIC APPROACH.

Dalea (Fabaceae) is a genus of small, herbaceous, perennial dicots that consists of approximately 160 species with a few species being geographically widespread, and most of the genus being endemic to restricted areas with calcareous substrates containing high levels of calcium carbonate. A previous study (McMahon and Hufford, 2004) looked at the phylogeny and genetic makeup of the tribe which Dalea belongs to, Amorpheae, and one other phylogenetic study (Diggs, 2013) has been conducted on the genus itself. This study focuses on the phylogeny and phylogeography of Dalea species from the Gulf Coastal Plain of Florida, including D. carnea, D. carthagenesis var. floridana, D. feayi, D. pinnata var. pinnata,D. pinnata var. trifoliata, D. adenopoda, D. mountjoyae, and D. albida. Phylogeny for Dalea will determined by DNA sequences amplified through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) of the chloroplast trnK/matK intron, and the nuclear ribosomal introns ITS1, 5.8S, and ITS2, and compared to sequences obtained from previous phylogenetic studies of Dalea. Currently, no results have been ascertained, but samples have been collected and the DNA extracted. Key words: Dalea; Amorpheae; Fabaceae; ITS; phylogeny; phylogeography; trnK/matK; Gulf Coastal Plain; calcareous substrate