Odontites

Odontites is a genus of flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae.

Odontites
Red bartsia (Odontites vernus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Orobanchaceae
Tribe:	Rhinantheae
Genus:	Odontites L.
Species
Odontites luteus Odontites granatensis Odontites vernus

Phylogeny

The phylogeny of the genera of Rhinantheae has been explored using molecular characters.^[1][2] Odontites belongs to the core Rhinantheae. It is the sister genus to Bellardia, and then to Tozzia and Hedbergia. These taxa are closely related to the genus Euphrasia. In turn, these five genera share phylogenetic affinities with Bartsia.

Genus-level cladogram of tribe Rhinantheae.

Rhinantheae               Melampyrum               Rhynchocorys               Lathraea   Rhinanthus   Core Rhinantheae               Bartsia sensu stricto (Bartsia alpina)             Euphrasia             Hedbergia   (including Bartsia decurva + B. longiflora)   Tozzia   Odontites sensu lato   (including Bartsiella   and Bornmuellerantha)             Bellardia             Neobartsia (New World Bartsia)   Parentucellia

The cladogram has been reconstructed from nuclear and plastid DNA molecular characters (ITS, rps16 intron and trnK region).[1][2]

Conservation

One of the Odontites species, O. granatensis, endemic to the Sierra Nevada in Spain, was so threatened that in 1993 only 1,500 plants survived in two locations. Due to conservation efforts the plant has made a comeback, numbering over 100,000 in 2006.^[3]