Recently reconstructed molecular phylogenies of the orchid genus Coelogyne indicate that this large Asian orchid genus is polyphyletic. Several clades, however, appear to be monophyletic. Least-cost reconstructions of biogeographical scenarios for the closely related genera Pleione and Geesinkorchis (MsC project S.C. Hsu) are currently estimated using Vicariance (Hovenkamp, 2001) and Mean Path Length (Britton et al., 2002) methods.

Phylogenetic analyses of matK sequences of the cosmopolitan orchid genus Bulbophyllum suggest that the African/South American species are sister to a clade of Asian species. Preliminary molecular clock estimates suggest that divergence of the Asian species from their African and South American relatives coincides with Gondwana breakup, and that India served as a raft transporting Bulbophyllum to Asia, where it subsequently radiated on Papua New Guinea. Sequences of the nr ITS region indicate that the species radiation of Bulbophyllum on Madagascar (PhD-project G. Fischer) is monophyletic.

Molecular phylogenies of other plant groups are also reconstructed, for instance in the Asian Annonaceae genus Miliusa (PhD-project J.B. Mols) and Oxalidaceae. Sequences of the chloroplast rbcL, atpB, matK and trnL genes of species of these groups indicate that generic boundaries should be redefined.

Sequences of the chloroplast matK and rbcL genes and trnL intron and nuclear LEAFY second intron elucidate evolutionary relationships within the highly diverse Asian Araceae genus Amorphophallus (PhD-project G.B.J. Grob) and cosmopolitan Asteraceae genus Senecio (PhD-project P.B. Pelser). Several species of the first genus, noteworthy for their enormous leaves and inflorescences with eye-watering stench, seem to have originated in dry ecosystems, which might explain their (in tropical rainforest no longer needed) large tubers. Senecio jacobaea and allies contain large contents of poisonous alkaloids. Morphology alone cannot provide enough insight in the origin and development of different alkaloid types in Senecio, needed for other studies done within the Leiden Evolution of Chemical Defence Systems program.