Our previous phylogenetic studies on the Hawaiian endemic mints (Haplostachys, Phyllostegia, and Stenogyne) suggested their close relationship to Gomphostemma, an Asian labiate bearing fleshy fruits. Phyllostegia and Stenogyne are also fleshy-fruited, but differences in pericarp structure cast doubt on the homology of fleshiness among the Hawaiian taxa and other lamioid mints. Further sequencing of rbcL and the 5S rDNA non-transcribed spacer region (5S-NTS) has identified a closer relative to the Hawaiian mints, Stachys coccinea. Stachys coccinea is not only representative of a distinct and mostly insect-pollinated North American group within Stachys, but it is also characterized by dry nutlets and bird-pollinated flowers. With rbcL, Stachys coccinea plus the Hawaiian mints form a monophyletic group separate from Eurasian Stachys species and Gomphostemma. These findings have implications for reproductive character evolution among the diverse Hawaiian mints, which, like the silverswords (Asteraceae), appear to have derived once from a North American lineage. Phylogenetic analysis of 5S-NTS reveals that Haplostachys, which bears dry nutlets, is the sister genus to all other Hawaiian taxa. Because Stachys coccinea shares the same nutlet state, the ancestral condition for the Hawaiian species could be dry rather than fleshy. Additionally, bird pollination in Stachys coccinea raises the possibility that the ancestral condition for Hawaiian taxa, many of which (especially Stenogyne spp.) have classic, bird-pollinated flowers, could be likewise. Haplostachys is enigmatic because its nutlets are dry but its flowers are insect-pollinated. Tendencies toward evolution of fruit fleshiness and bird pollination may exist among the lamioid mints, which could confound interpretation of ancestral states until more taxa can be studied phylogenetically. Such tendencies may in turn be manifest by narrow genetic differences between character states, as has been demonstrated for pollination syndromes in the scroph Mimulus.

Key words: 5S rDNA non-transcribed spacer, Hawaiian endemic mints, Lamiaceae, rbcL, Stachys coccinea