Evidence for polyphyly in Hemigenia and Microcorys (Lamiaceae: Westringieae)

The phylogeny of tribe Westringieae (Lamiaceae: subfamily Prostantheroideae) was examined on the basis of combined morphological and molecular chloroplast trnT -trnF data. The analyses confirm that the tribe is monophyletic, with Prostanthera Labill. sister to the remaining genera. Both Hemigenia R. Br. and Microcorys R. Br. are shown to be polyphyletic, hence changes to generic delimitations are inevitable. Of note, the typical section of Hemigenia is polyphyletic with a large group of Western Australia species placed in a separate clade. A new section of Hemigenia is required to accommodate species currently placed in the typical section which do not belong with the type species, H. purpurea R. Br.