Numerical phenetics, based on indiscriminate choice of characters and equal weighting, does not directly reflect cladistic or lineage relationships in some taxa ofHaplopappus. However, the degree to which the lineage and phenetic relationships diverge may be used as an assay of the amount of parallel evolution that has occurred. Several numerical taxonomic methods were employed. For each method a change in the number of characters from 31 to 29, by deletion of two karyotypic characters, yielded a significant change in the results. Uses of numerical techniques for the study of character dines and adaptive character complexes are discussed.