Resolving the Veratrum phylogeny in northern Fennoscandia by targeted sequencing

The genus Veratrum comprises approximately 24 species from temperate and arctic North America and Eurasia. In Europe, Veratrum is mainly distributed in mountainous areas of Central and Southern Europe but is also locally abundant in coastal areas of north-eastern Finnmark, Norway. The taxon name for the Veratrum in Finnmark has over the years been disputed. Several names have been applied, including V. album, V. lobelianum, and various subspecies of these. Previous phylogenetic analyses of Veratrum based on Sanger sequences of the ITS region have lacked sufficient resolution to resolve the relationships within the genus. Furthermore, the Veratrum in Finnmark has not been included in any molecular phylogenetic analysis, leaving its relationship to other populations of Veratrum unknown. The aims of this study were therefore to place the Veratrum in Finnmark in a molecular phylogenetic context, and assess if this group represents a separate taxon, and determine the appropriate nomenclature. We applied a target capture approach, using the Angiosperms-353 probe set, to obtain a multi-locus phylogenetic data set. Our phylogeny reveals that the Veratrum in Finnmark are closely related to Veratrum populations in Northern Finland and Russia. Northern European Veratrum resolves as a distinct clade and represents a distinct taxon separate from populations in Central Europe. We propose the name V. album subsp. misae for the Northern European Veratrum.