Symposium: Phylogeny of Asteridae, Richmond, VA, August 1990

对开花植物类群之间广泛的相互关系的分类学理解既可以促进也可以限制对植物的形态、生理和生态的比较研究。在对分类群进行了良好采样的地方，对它们的进化或谱系关系的深入了解导致了对同源结构、生化途径或生活史的富有成效的比较。当分类群不为人所知时，经常会在虚假的相关形式之间进行比较，而关于趋同或真正的进化关系是否解释了所研究的形式或功能上的相似之处的争论可能会永无止境。明尼苏达大学的拉里·赫福德博士为美国植物学会在弗吉尼亚州里士满举行的会议组织了一次大型研讨会，主题是菊科亚纲高度发达的双子叶的进化关系，包括向日葵、土豆和茜草科，它们是世界上物种数量最多的家族之一。14位发言者，包括4位来自欧洲的发言者，将依次讨论活植物和化石植物的形态数据，以及最近对这些植物的DNA分析得出的分子数据，以找出我们对Asteridae系统发育的理解中的一致和不同之处，并针对实现解决问题所需的项目。会议的讨论已经制定了出版计划，因此所有感兴趣的植物学家都将广泛了解会议的结果。

Taxonomic understanding of the broad interrelationships of groups of flowering plants can both facilitate and constrain comparative study of the morphology, physiology, and ecology of plants. Where taxa have been well sampled, deep knowledge of their evolutionary or genealogical relationships leads to fruitful comparisons of homologous structures or biochemical pathways or life-histories. When the taxa are not well known, comparisons are often made between spuriously related forms, and arguments may perpetuate endlessly over whether convergence or true evolutionary relationship accounts for the similarity in form or function under study. Dr. Larry Hufford of the University of Minnesota has organized a large-scale symposium for the Botanical Society of America meetings in Richmond, Virginia, on the topic of the evolutionary relationships of the highly advanced dicots of the subclass Asteridae, including the sunflower, potato, and madder families, among the largest in the world in numbers of species. Fourteen speakers, including four from Europe, will address in turn morphological data, from living and fossil plants, and molecular data, from recent DNA analyses of these plants, to identify areas of agreement and disagreement in our understanding of the phylogeny of Asteridae and to target projects necessary to achieve resolution. Plans have already been made for publication of the meeting's deliberations, so the results will become widely available to all interested botanists.