What is the Working Group?
A group of professional plant systematists with research interests in the Commelinid Monocots.* The working group was initiated with the "Commelinales Workshop," which took place at the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, 17-18 December 1999.

*Commelinids are equated here with "Commelinoids," a term used to describe an apparently natural assemblage of monocots (see below). The name "Commelinid" is preferred, as use of "Commelinoid" may cause confusion with the Commelinoideae, a subfamily of the Commelinaceae.

What are the Commelinids?
A monophyletic group of monocotyledonous angiosperms that are united by DNA sequence data as well as the general chemical apomorphy of cell-wall bound, UV-fluorescent ferulates (e.g., ferulic, coumaric, dicoumaric acids).
The Commelinids include the Arecaceae (palm family), Zingiberales (bananas, gingers), Commelinales (defined here as consisting of 4 families), Poales, sensu lato, and an assemblage of other groups of currently uncertain affinities.

Purposes of the Working Group
To enhance knowledge of and collaboration between plant systematists working on the Commelinid monocots.

Working Group Topics of Interest
a. Phylogenetic relationships of Commelinids and included families
b. Vegetative morphology and anatomy
     i. Overall plant morphology, branching pattern, habit
    ii. Stem and root anatomy
   iii. Leaf anatomy
   iv. Seedling morphology and anatomy
c. Reproductive morphology and anatomy
     i. Inflorescence morphology
    ii. Floral morphology
   iii. Floral anatomy
   iv. Fruit morphology and anatomy
    v. Seed morphology and anatomy
   vi. Floral development
  vii. Embryology
 viii. Palynology
   ix. Microsporogenesis
    x. Karyology
d. Reproductive biology and pollination
     i. Floral attractants
    ii. Flower sex(es)/dimorphism and flowering patterns
   iii. Incompatibility systems
   iv. Pollination
    e. Ecology and phytogeography
    f. Fossil record
    g. Phytochemistry
    h. Genes, DNA sequence data, and phylogenetic methodologies

Working Group Participants-listed alphabetically

Working Group Participants-listed by taxonomic group

Requests for Research Material

Images of Representative Commelinid Taxa

Literature on Commelinid Monocots

Links of Interest
      American Society of Plant Taxonomists
      Commelinoid section of the Flowering Plant Gateway of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group
      Commelinidae section of NCBI (GenBank) taxonomy homepage
      Commelinaceae Web Page
      Restionaceae Web Page
      Juncaceae Phylogeny Group
      Plant Micromorphology Bibliographic Database - KEW
      Monocots IV
            The 4th International Conference on the Comparative Biology of the Monocotyledons and
            5th International Symposium on Grass Systematics and Evolution will be hosted by
            H.C. Oersted Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark - 11-15 August 2008.

Want to be a participant or have additions, comments, questions?
    Contact: Michael Simpson <msimpson@sunstroke.sdsu.edu>