The nuclear encoded internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and the plastid encoded trn L-F region were sequenced for 41 species of the Aceraceae, representing both genera Acer and Dipteronia, to reconstruct phylogeny of this family, especially within Acer. The analyses were performed in separate and combined sequence data sets, with the Sapindaceae and Hippocastanaceae being selected as outgroups. It was indicated that the Aceraceae was monophyletic and D. sinensis was basal to the rest of the family but the two genera of it might be not monophyletic because Dipteronia dyerana was nested within Acer. The result inferred from the combined data showed greater resolution within Acer than that from the two separate data sets. The monophyly of most sections in Xu's system (1996) were supported with high bootstrap values, and some relationships between (or among) sections were also inferred, such as sect. Palmata and sect. Microcarpa; sect. Platanoidea, sect. Lithocarpa and sect. Macrophylla; sect. Integrifolia, sect. Trifoliata and sect. Pentaphylla; and sect. Acer, sect. Goniocarpa and sect. Saccharina (sensu Ogata). However, the sectional status and circumscriptions of some of the above-mentioned sections should be further adjusted. It seemed that the Xu's delimitations of sect. Rubra and sect. Saccharodendran should be revaluated.
