Phylogeny of the Lamiales and Origin of the Labiatae

唇形科（唇形科）是开花植物中最大的科之一，由于许多物种的叶子中存在芳香油（萜类化合物）而具有相当大的医学和商业重要性。通过了解物种之间的进化关系，极大地促进了对本科和其他相关科中有用植物产品的持续搜索。反映进化（即系谱）历史的分类学分类可能有助于研究人员根据家族中其他地方相似属性的已知分布来预测属性（包括有用的化合物）的出现。目前薄荷科的分类主要基于世纪前的工作，并建立在假设该科是一个自然类群，可能是从马鞭草科（柚木）的单一来源进化而来的。这一长期存在的前提与俄亥俄州大学的菲利普·坎蒂诺博士最近的研究相矛盾，他认为薄荷是从热带马鞭草科联盟的几个不同亚群进化而来的。拟议的研究的一个主要目标是测试这一假设，使用计算机分析的分布在两个家庭的各种形态特征，特别强调新的花粉数据来自光和扫描电子显微镜。整合花粉数据与叶，茎，花和果实形态学的证据，将有可能解决唇形科和马鞭草科的主要属群之间的进化关系。这将是一个重要的一步，更具有预测性和有用的两个家庭的分类，这反过来又将有利于寻找新的，萜类化合物的字符。

The Labiatae (mint family), one of the largest families of flowering plants, is of considerable medical and commercial importance because of the aromatic oils (terpenoids) that occur in the foliage of many species. The ongoing search for useful plant products in this and other related families is greatly facilitated by an understanding of evolutionary relationships among the species. A taxonomic classification that reflects evolutionary (that is, genealogical) history is likely to help researchers predict the occurrence of attributes (including useful chemical compounds) on the basis of the known distribution of similar attributes elsewhere in the family. The current classification of the mint family is based heavily on work done over a century ago and is founded on the assumption that the family is a natural group that likely evolved from a single source in the Verbenaceae (teak) family. This long-standing premise is contradicted by recent research by Dr. Philip Cantino at Ohio University, which suggests that the mints have evolved from several different subgroups of the tropical Verbenaceae alliance. A primary objective of the proposed research is to test this hypothesis using a computer analysis of the distribution of a wide variety of morphological characteristics in both families, with special emphasis on new pollen data derived from light- and scanning electron microscopy. Integration of the pollen data with evidence from leaf, stem, flower, and fruit morphology will make it possible to resolve the evolutionary relationships among the major groups of genera of Labiatae and Verbenaceae. This will represent a major step toward a more predictive and useful classification of both families, which in turn will facilitate the search for new, terpenoid characters.