The infrageneric relationships and taxonomy of the largest fern genus, Asplenium (Aspleniaceae), have remained poorly understood. Previous studies have focused mainly on specific species complexes involving a few or dozens of species only, or have achieved a large taxon sampling but only one plastid marker was used. In the present study, DNA sequences from six plastid markers (atpB, rbcL, rps4, rps4‐trnS, trnL and trnL‐F) of 1030 accessions (616 of them newly sequenced here) representing c. 420 species of Asplenium (60% of estimated species diversity), 16 species of Hymenasplenium, three Diplaziopsidaceae, and four Rhachidosoraceae were used to produce the largest genus‐level phylogeny yet for ferns. Our major results include: (i) Asplenium as broadly circumscribed is monophyletic based on our inclusion of representatives of 32 of 38 named segregate genera; (ii) 11 major clades in Asplenium are identified, and their relationships are mostly well‐resolved and strongly supported; (iii) numerous species, unsampled in previous studies, suggest new relationships and numerous cryptic species and species complexes in Asplenium; and (iv) the accrued molecular evidence provides an essential foundation for further investigations of complex patterns of geographical diversification, speciation and reticulate evolution in this family.

中文翻译：

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蕨属 Asplenium (Aspleniaceae) 的全球质体系统发育

最大的蕨类植物 Asplenium (Aspleniaceae) 的属下关系和分类学仍然知之甚少。以前的研究主要集中在仅涉及几个或几十个物种的特定物种复合体上，或者已经实现了大量的分类单元采样但只使用了一个质体标记。在本研究中，来自六个质体标记（atpB、rbcL、rps4、rps4-trnS、trnL 和 trnL-F）的 DNA 序列代表 c. 420 种 Asplenium（估计物种多样性的 60%）、16 种 Hymenasplenium、3 种 Diplaziopsidaceae 和 4 Rhachidosoraceae 被用于产生迄今为止最大的蕨类植物属级系统发育。我们的主要成果包括：(i) 基于我们包含 38 个命名分离属中的 32 个的代表，广义上的 Asplenium 是单系的；(ii) 确定了 Asplenium 中的 11 个主要进化枝，它们之间的关系大多得到了很好的解决和强有力的支持；(iii) 许多物种，在之前的研究中未采样，表明 Asplenium 中存在新的关系和众多神秘物种和物种复合体；(iv) 积累的分子证据为进一步研究该家族中地理多样化、物种形成和网状进化的复杂模式提供了必要的基础。提出了 Asplenium 中的新关系和众多神秘物种和物种复合体；(iv) 积累的分子证据为进一步研究该家族中地理多样化、物种形成和网状进化的复杂模式提供了必要的基础。提出了 Asplenium 中的新关系和众多神秘物种和物种复合体；(iv) 积累的分子证据为进一步研究该家族中地理多样化、物种形成和网状进化的复杂模式提供了必要的基础。