Phylogenetic position of Parasyringa (=Ligustrum) sempervirens is evaluated using two noncoding region sequences (ca. 1,700bp) of chloroplast trnL-F and psaA-ycf3 regions. Taxon sampling includes all major lineages of Ligustrum and Syringa, and three out group genera from the subfamily Oleoideae. The aligned sequence data were analysed by maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analysis methods and all analyses showed the congruent tree topology. the monophyletic Ligustrum firmly nested within the paraphyletic Syringa. Within the monophyletic Ligustrum clade, Parasyringa sempervirens was the sister group to the rest of Ligustrum species. The results indicated that the capsules of Parasyringa sempervirens and Syringa species were the symplesiomorphic characters and the drupaceous fruits of Ligustrum derived once during the evolution of groups. Alternatively, the results indicated that the morphologically intermediate Parasyringa sempervirens may derive from the hybrid between Syringa and Ligustrum lineages during the early evolution of two groups.
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