Phylogenetic relationships in the genus Primula L. (Primulaceae) inferred from the ITS region sequences of nuclear rDNA

The nucleotide sequences of the nuclear rDNA ITS regions were determined for 34 species of the genus Primula L. and one species of the genus Cortusa L., family Primulaceae Vent., and used to infer the phylogenetic relationships among these species. This analysis species of the Russian flora and the flora of adjacent territories were studied for the first time. The results clarified the taxomic structure of the genus Primula and confirmed the entity of some of its sections; but not the subgenera sensu J. Richards. Our data do not support an independent status of the genus Cortusa, placing it as one of the terminal lineages of the section Cortusoides Balf. f. in the genus Primula.