Phylogenetic Analysis and Taxonomy of Passiflora Species

The genus Passiflora comprises over 500 species of climbing vines and shrubs distributed predominantly in tropical and subtropical regions. Phylogenetic analysis has transformed our understanding of its evolutionary history, revealing deep splits among four major subgenera—Passiflora, Decaloba, Astrophea and Deidamioides—each distinguished by floral morphology, pollen characters and molecular signatures. Integrative approaches combining plastid and nuclear DNA markers, fossil calibrations and Bayesian inference have provided robust frameworks for divergence‐time estimation, often placing the crown age of Passiflora in the late Eocene to early Oligocene. Taxonomic revisions have followed these phylogenies, refining infrageneric classification and clarifying species boundaries. Palynological studies have supplied critical diagnostic features, especially in subgenera where vegetative characters are convergent. Beyond systematics, this research underpins conservation prioritisation, breeding programmes for agricultural species such as P. edulis, and the exploration of co‐evolutionary relationships with pollinators and herbivores. Global biogeographical reconstructions trace an African origin, successive dispersal via Eurasian land bridges and rapid diversification in South and Central America. Ongoing challenges include resolving reticulate evolution in hybrid taxa, integrating genomic‐scale data and bridging taxonomic gaps in underexplored regions.

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Phylogenetic Analysis and Taxonomy of Passiflora Species publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in phylogenetic analysis and taxonomy of passiflora species across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Phylogenetic analysis: A set of methods used to infer evolutionary relationships among organisms based on genetic or morphological data.

Monophyly: The condition of a taxonomic group containing an ancestor and all its descendants.

Internal transcribed spacer (ITS): A region of nuclear ribosomal DNA commonly used as a molecular marker in plant phylogenetics due to its high variation among species.

trnL–trnF spacer: A non-coding intergenic region of chloroplast DNA frequently employed in reconstructing plant phylogenies and biogeographical history.

Palynology: The study of pollen and spores, often used to derive taxonomically informative characters in plant systematics.

References

1. Phylogeny, biogeography and divergence times in Passiflora (Passifloraceae). Genetics and Molecular Biology (2012).
2. Taxonomy and evolutionary relationships of Passiflora subg. Decaloba supersect. Decaloba sect. Xerogona (Passifloraceae): contributions of palynological, morphological and molecular studies. Acta Botanica Brasilica (2014).