Malvaceae s.l., the most diverse family within Malvales, includes well-known species of great economic importance like cotton, cacao, and durian. Despite numerous phylogenetic analyses employing multiple markers, relationships between several of its nine subfamilies, particularly within the largest lineage /Malvadendrina, remain unclear. In this study, we attempted to resolve the relationships within the major clades of Malvaceae s.l. using plastid genomes of 48 accessions representing all subfamilies. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses recovered a fully resolved and well-supported topology confirming the split of the family into /Byttneriina (/Grewioideae +/Byttnerioideae) and /Malvadendrina. Within /Malvadendrina, /Helicteroideae occupied the earliest branching position, followed by /Sterculioideae, /Brownlowioideae, /Tiliodeae, and /Dombeyoideae formed a clade sister to /Malvatheca (/Malvoideae +/Bombacoideae), a grouping morphologically supported by the lack of androgynophore. Results from dating analyses suggest that all subfamilies originated during hot or warm phases in the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene. This study presents a well-supported phylogenetic framework for Malvaceae s.l. that will aid downstream revisions and evolutionary studies of this economically important plant family.

Alliance for Conservation Tree Genomics 06000 Luang Prabang Laos

Biodiversity Genomics Team Guangxi University Nanning Guangxi 530005 China

Herbarium UPRRP Department of Biology University of Puerto Rico San Juan PR 00925 2537 USA

Institute for Biodiversity and Environmental Research Universiti Brunei Darussalam BE1410 Brunei Darussalam

Institute of Parasitology Biology Centre CAS 37005 České Budějovice Czech Republic

National Parks Board Singapore Botanic Gardens Singapore 259569 Singapore

Naturalis Biodiversity Center 2333 CR Leiden The Netherlands

Université Paris Saclay INRAE Etude du Polymorphisme des Génomes Végétaux 91000 Evry France

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