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Morphological and ecological diversity of Cyperaceae. A, Scleria boivinii Steud. B, Microdracoides squamosa Hua. C, Afrotrilepis pilosa (Boeckeler) J.Raynal. D, Carex lechleriana (Steud.) J.R.Starr formerly placed in the segregate genus Uncinia Pers. E, Gahnia tristis Nees. F, Rhynchospora alba (L.) Vahl. Photos A by Javier Galán Díaz; B by Charlotte Couch; C by Xander van der Burgt; D by Modesto Luceño; E by Russell Barrett; F by Juan Carlos Zamora.

Morphological and ecological diversity of Cyperaceae. A, Scleria boivinii Steud. B, Microdracoides squamosa Hua. C, Afrotrilepis pilosa (Boeckeler) J.Raynal. D, Carex lechleriana (Steud.) J.R.Starr formerly placed in the segregate genus Uncinia Pers. E, Gahnia tristis Nees. F, Rhynchospora alba (L.) Vahl. Photos A by Javier Galán Díaz; B by Charlotte Couch; C by Xander van der Burgt; D by Modesto Luceño; E by Russell Barrett; F by Juan Carlos Zamora.

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Cyperaceae (sedges) are the third largest monocot family and are of considerable economic and ecological importance. Sedges represent an ideal model family to study evolutionary biology because of their species richness, global distribution, large discrepancies in lineage diversity, broad range of ecological preferences, and adaptations including m...

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... diversity in Cyperaceae is represented among others by a wide range of growth forms, from tiny ephemerals less than 3 cm high such as Isolepis inconspicua (Levyns) J.Raynal to climbing herbs that may measure to more than 12 m long such as Scleria boivinii Steud. (Fig. 1A), and to the long-lived dwarf-tree-like Microdracoides squamosa Hua (Fig. 1B) and the similar looking species of the New Caledonian endemic genus Chamaedendron (Kük.) Larridon ( Larridon et al., 2018a). It is also ecologically diverse and occurs in a wide variety of habitats ranging from truly aquatic plants in rivers and lakes to ...
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... diversity in Cyperaceae is represented among others by a wide range of growth forms, from tiny ephemerals less than 3 cm high such as Isolepis inconspicua (Levyns) J.Raynal to climbing herbs that may measure to more than 12 m long such as Scleria boivinii Steud. (Fig. 1A), and to the long-lived dwarf-tree-like Microdracoides squamosa Hua (Fig. 1B) and the similar looking species of the New Caledonian endemic genus Chamaedendron (Kük.) Larridon ( Larridon et al., 2018a). It is also ecologically diverse and occurs in a wide variety of habitats ranging from truly aquatic plants in rivers and lakes to annuals and perennials in fireprone grasslands, forests and high-elevation ...
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... sands (Väre & Kukkonen, 2005;Reznicek et al., 2021). There are even species with a tendency for epiphytism (i.e., Coleochloa domensis Muasya & D.A.Simpson;. In some ecosystems, such as wetlands and inselbergs, Cyperaceae are true ecosystem builders providing habitats for many other species (e.g., mats of Afrotrilepis pilosa (Boeckeler) J.Raynal; Fig. 1C Barrett et al., 2021aBarrett et al., , 2021b). Furthermore, the family exhibits high diversity in reproductive and seed dispersal structures, and use of these morphological characters to define taxon limits has resulted in much of the observed taxonomic complexity of, for example, Cyperus ( Fig. 1D; Larridon et al., 2011a, 2013) and ...
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... of Afrotrilepis pilosa (Boeckeler) J.Raynal; Fig. 1C Barrett et al., 2021aBarrett et al., , 2021b). Furthermore, the family exhibits high diversity in reproductive and seed dispersal structures, and use of these morphological characters to define taxon limits has resulted in much of the observed taxonomic complexity of, for example, Cyperus ( Fig. 1D; Larridon et al., 2011a, 2013) and Carex (Global Carex Group, 2015Jiménez-Mejías et al. 2016b), and the wide range of dispersal vectors known for the family (Goetghebeur, 1998;Larridon et al., 2011bLarridon et al., , 2021a, for example, birds in species of Gahnia (Fig. 1E), and ants in selected species of Carex (Handel, 1976;Vellend et ...
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... in much of the observed taxonomic complexity of, for example, Cyperus ( Fig. 1D; Larridon et al., 2011a, 2013) and Carex (Global Carex Group, 2015Jiménez-Mejías et al. 2016b), and the wide range of dispersal vectors known for the family (Goetghebeur, 1998;Larridon et al., 2011bLarridon et al., , 2021a, for example, birds in species of Gahnia (Fig. 1E), and ants in selected species of Carex (Handel, 1976;Vellend et al., 2000) and Lepidosperma (Barrett, 2013). Long-distance dispersal has led to unusual disjunct distributions in genera such as Morelotia Gaudich. ( Barrett et al., 2021c) and Tetraria P.Beauv. ( Larridon et al., 2018b). Although predominantly wind-pollinated, there are ...
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... et al., 2000) and Lepidosperma (Barrett, 2013). Long-distance dispersal has led to unusual disjunct distributions in genera such as Morelotia Gaudich. ( Barrett et al., 2021c) and Tetraria P.Beauv. ( Larridon et al., 2018b). Although predominantly wind-pollinated, there are many transitions from wind to insect pollination in Cyperaceae ( Fig. 1F; Wragg & Johnson, 2011;Yano et al., 2015;Costa et al., 2018a;Villa-Machío et al., 2020). The sedge family is also physiologically diverse, with species using C 3 , C 4 , or C 3 -C 4 intermediate photosynthesis (Soros & Bruhl, 2000;Besnard et al., 2009). At least six independent origins of C 4 photosynthesis have been recorded in tribe ...
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... with other kits was significantly lower: for samples hybridized with the Angiosperms I kit for Anchored Phylogenomics, the recovery was 65 genes, on average, above 25% of target length and 17% of total potential length, whereas samples hybridized with Cyperaceae-specific probes yielded, on average, 45 genes and 18% of potential length (Table S2, Fig. ...
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... spp)., Chrysitrix L. (4 spp.), Diplasia Pers. (1 sp.), Exocarya Benth. (1 sp.), and Lepironia Pers. ...
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... sp.), Exocarya Benth. (1 sp.), and Lepironia Pers. (1 sp.). ...
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... summary statistics generated for the exons data set. Invariable columns were removed. Table S4. Overview of the main published classifications of the family Cyperaceae and the classification proposed in this study, clearly indicating which changes occurred as more data became available. See legend on the right of the table and the included notes. Fig. S1. Heatmap of recovery of the Angiosperms353 probes for the accessions included in this study. Fig. S2. Phylogenetic reconstruction of the relationships in Cyperaceae based on analysis of the exons data set. Concatenated IQ-TREE analysis. Values above branches represent UltraFast Bootstrap support; missing values indicate maximum ...

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The stylopodium is a reproductive feature found in the nutlet (fruit) of non-closely related Cyperoideae gen-era, with little known about its origin and function. We analyzed the stylopodium of Bulbostylis hirtella, Eleo-charis sellowiana, Rhynchospora albiceps and R. sparsiflora (with a persistent stylopodium), as well as Fimbristylis dichotoma (with a deciduous stylopodium) to investigate their development and anatomical structure, previous related to water supply. The role of this structure on seed germination was tested in E. sel-lowiana and F. dichotoma under varying water availability conditions. The results demonstrated that the origin of the stylopodium can be traced to the enlargement of the style base, composed of tracheoids with water-related characteristics. An abscission layer was identified in deciduous stylopodium. Eleocharis sellowi-ana exhibited significantly higher percentages and rates of seed germination in relation to F. dichotoma, even in challenging water conditions. These findings suggest a potential role of the stylopodium in promoting seed germination, particularly under low water supply. The study emphasizes the significance of considering both historical and current ecological contexts when discussing the function of the stylopodium. Moreover, it underscores the need for further research to fully understand the role of the stylopodium across diverse environments within Cyperoideae genera.