Timothée Le Péchon

• PhD
• Researcher at Meise Botanic Garden

Premise of research. The patterns of diversification of Mascarene taxa remain largely unknown in comparison to other insular systems. Traditional interpretations of insular radiations often assume that endemic taxa radiated after the origin of the insular habitats on which they were established. The Dombeyoideae (Malvaceae) sublineage endemic to Ma...

The orchid flora of southern Africa is taxonomically well‐known, although the phylogenetic relationships within and between several emblematic genera remain poorly understood. A case in point are the morphologically related genera Bartholina (2 spp.)—also known as spider orchids—and Holothrix (ca. 46 spp.) (Orchidaceae: Orchidoideae: Orchidinae). I...

Phylogenetic relationships within the Orchideae sensu Pridgeon et al, remain one of the biggest unresolved issues in our understanding of the taxonomy of the orchids. Members of the Orchideae are numerous and widespread in Africa but remain poorly represented in phylogenetic research. In this study we included a broad sampling of African taxa for w...

Dispersals have been shown to be critical to the evolution of the long isolated but megadiverse flora of Madagascar and the surrounding islands of the western Indian Ocean, but we are just beginning to understand the directionality of these dispersals. With more than half of its species occurring in the western Indian Ocean region (WIOR), the paleo...

To optimize genetic restoration, not only the amount of genetic diversity is important, but also genetic differentiation among populations. When genetic divergence is too high, maladaptation and outbreeding depression may compromise long-term population evolutionary potential. The declining, self-incompatible, clonally-propagating mountainous herb...

Island studies have been integral in the development of process-oriented biodiversity models such as the general dynamic model (GDM) of oceanic island biogeography. While empirical tests of the GDM primarily come from phylogeographic studies, tests incorporating comprehensive population-level sampling of island radiations are rare. In this study, w...

Here, we provide a list of all the legitimate names and synonyms of the species and infraspecific taxa in Dombeya sect. Dombeya. This autonymic section includes 11 species, 2 subspecies and 6 varieties showing a unique trait within Dombeyoideae: a biparous cyme with scorpioid term­inal units. These species were previously included in two sections:...

The fern genus Didymoglossum (Hymenophyllaceae) is not so diverse in Africa with seven species at most. However, its local taxonomy is surprisingly still strongly debated, in particular within the D. erosum complex interpreted either as a single polymorphic species or as a group of at least three distinct but morphologically very close taxa (D. ero...

The Hawaiian Islands are an emblematic field to study evolution, with their very high rates of endemism and spectacular cases of insular speciation. Nevertheless, many Hawaiian lineages still deserve investigation, such as in the fern lineage. In this study, we address the question of the origin of the fern genus Ctenitis, which is present in the a...

The Hawaiian Islands are an emblematic field to study evolution, with their very high rates of endemism and spectacular cases of insular speciation. Nevertheless, many Hawaiian lineages still deserve investigation, such as in the fern lineage. In this study, we address the question of the origin of the fern genus Ctenitis, which is present in the a...

Vandenboschia radicans (supposedly Neotropical and African), V. speciosa (supposedly European and Macaronesian) and V. gigantea (supposedly from western Indian Ocean) are morphologically close species and often confused in collections and in floras. Moreover, the status of African populations is still strongly debated. We undertook to combine morph...

As one of the earliest land plant lineages, Selaginella is important for studying land plant evolution. It is the largest genus of lycophytes containing 700–800 species. Some unique characters of Selaginella plastomes have been reported, but based only on 20 species. There have been no plastome phylogenies of Selaginella based on a relatively large...

The development of unisexual flowers has been described in a large number of taxa, sampling the diversity of floral phenotypes and sexual systems observed in extant angiosperms, in studies focusing on floral ontogeny, on the evo-devo of unisexuality, or on the genetic and chromosomal bases of unisexuality. We review here such developmental studies,...

Black nightshade, or the Solanum nigrum complex, includes a number of species that botanists consider problematic due to their morphological resemblance and the high rate of hybridization. As part of the revision of the family Solanaceae for the Flora central Africa,we realized a molecular study of the Solanum nigrum complex in the western part of...

The filmy fern genus Trichomanes mainly comprises Neotropical species and a few taxa in Africa and the western Indian Ocean. The aim of this study is to infer the phylogenetic placement of all five Afro-Malagasy taxa in the genus and to investigate their history via an expanded and dated phylogenetic analysis including 39 species representing over...

Le Péchon et al. (2019) found that Bartholina Brown in Aiton (1813: 194) is deeply embedded in Holothrix Richard in Lindley (1835: 257). Holothrix includes around 46 species with the highest diversity in southern and eastern Africa, whereas Bartholina includes only two species endemic to the Greater Cape Floristic Region (WCSP, 2021). Bartholina pr...

In this study, we used an integrative approach combining morphological and molecular data with ecology, in order to clarify the identity of a Dombeya newly recorded as occurring in Mayotte. Morphological and molecular evidence are in agreement and convincingly show that specimens of this newly recorded species can be confidently assigned to D. rosa...

We here explore the diversity and ecology, and update the taxonomy of the fern family hymenophyllaceae, which forms one of the most diverse and emblematic fern assemblages in rainforests of the Mascarene archipelago in western Indian Ocean. Since 1999, we extracted data from floras, literature, and field investigations conducted, and from an exhaus...

We here explore the diversity and ecology, and update the taxonomy of the fern family hymenophyllaceae, which forms one of the most diverse and emblematic fern assemblages in rainforests of the Mascarene archipelago in western Indian Ocean. Since 1999, we extracted data from floras, literature, and field investigations conducted, and from an exhaus...

The monophyly of Mystacidium and its relationships with other genera in Orchidaceae subtribe Angraecinae (particularly Angraecopsis) have been unresolved. To address this issue, we amplified one nuclear (ITS) and four plastid (matK, trnL-F, ycf1, trnQ-5′rps16) DNA regions for 33 species of Mystacidium, Angraecopsis, Sphyrarhynchus and allied genera...

Background: Polystichum (Dryopteridaceae) is probably the third largest fern genus in the world and contains ca. 500 species. Species of Polystichum occur on all continents except Antarctica, but its highest diversity is found in East Asia, especially Southwest China and adjacent regions. Previous studies typically had sparse taxon sampling and us...

Native floras of oceanic islands are among the most threatened on Earth. For example, only 1% of intact dry-forest ecosystems remain on Réunion, harbouring numerous endangered native species. Alien species invasion is one of the more important threats facing these ecosystems, as it has been hypothesized that, over time, the abundance of alien speci...

The lycophyte genus Selaginella alone constitutes the family Selaginellaceae, the largest of the lycophyte families. The genus is estimated to contain 700–800 species distributed on all continents except Antarctica, with highest species diversity in tropical and subtropical regions. The monophyly of Selaginella in this broad sense has rarely been d...

A global plastid phylogeny of the brake fern genus Pteris (Pteridaceae) and related genera in the Pteridoideae Abstract The brake fern genus Pteris belongs to the Pteridaceae subfamily Pteridoideae. It contains 200–250 species distributed on all continents except Antarctica, with its highest species diversity in tropical and subtropical regions. Th...

The brake fern genus Pteris belongs to the Pteridaceae subfamily Pteridoideae. It contains 200–250 species distributed on all continents except Antarctica, with its highest species diversity in tropical and subtropical regions. The monophyly of Pteris has long been in question because of its great morphological diversity and because of the controve...

In this article, we present an overview of changes to the taxonomy of Malvales. In traditional classifications, this order was variously circumscribed as including four main families (i.e., Malvaceae, Bombacaceae, Sterculiaceae, and Tiliaceae, also known now as “Core Malvales”), but major disagreements existed between different taxonomic treatments...

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The pollination ecology and breeding system of Trochetia granulata (Malvaceae), an endemic tree species from Réunion were studied. In 2010–2011, compatibility studies were conducted on a total of 154 flowers from 35 different individuals using three different hand pollination treatments: (a) autofertility, (b) self-pollination and (c) cross-pollina...

Dombeya formosa (Malvaceae s. l. or Dombeyaceae), a new species endemic to La Reunion, is described and illustrated. The species is distinguishable by its ovate leaves with round or slightly cordate bases, round to lightly acute apices and glabrescent abaxial surfaces, subulate and persistent stipules, umbellate inflorescences, and acute apices of...

Dombeya sevathianii, a new endemic species from Mauritius, is described and illustrated. Based on its morphology, D. sevathianiibelongs to the section Assonias defined by Arènes and is closely related to D. populnea, endemic to La Réunion and Mauritius. These affinities are confirmed by a previous molecular study. The morphological diagnostic featu...

The Dombeyoideae (Malvaceae) are one of the most diversified groups of plants in the Mascarene Islands. Species of Dombeya Cav., Ruizia Cav. and Trochetia DC. are distributed in almost all parts of the archipelago and show a wide diversity in their growth forms. This study provides the first wood anatomical descriptions of 17 out of the 22 Mascaren...

Background and Aims In the Mascarenes, a young oceanic archipelago composed of three main islands, the Dombeyoideae (Malvaceae) have diversified extensively with a high endemism rate. With the exception of the genus Trochetia, Mascarene Dombeyoideae are described as dioecious whereas Malagasy and African species are considered to be monocline, spec...

The Mascarene Archipelago is characterized by remarkable fauna and flora, mainly due to its high rate of endemism. The Dombeyoideae Beilschm. is one of the most diversified groups of angiosperms in the Mascarenes with 22 species, 21 of which are endemic. We used parsimony analysis of morphological characters to examine the relationships between the...

Bagils c a Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, UMR 5143 CNRS, « Paléobiodiversité et paléoenvironnements », département « Histoire de la Terre », laboratoire de « Paléobotanique et Paléoécologie », bâtiment de géologie, CP48, 43, rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France b Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie (Paris-6), UMR5143 CNRS « Paléobiodiversité et palé...