J Syst Evol ›› 2007, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (6): 783-795.DOI: 10.1360/aps06058

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Taxonomic study of Angelica from East Asia: Inferences from ITS sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA

1XUE Hua-Jie, 1YAN Mao-Hua, 1LU Chang-Mei*, 2WANG Nian-He, 1WU Guo-Rong
  

  1. 1(College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210097, China)

    2(Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China)
    luchangmei@njnu.edu.cn
  • Received:2006-03-29 Published:2007-11-18

Abstract: In order to resolve the relationships among species from Angelica s.s. and its allied genera in East Asia, ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacer) sequences of 44 taxa were used to analyze their sequence divergence and to construct three phylogenetic trees in this paper. Three taxa were used as the outgroup. Some conclusions could be achieved as follows. (1) Angelica s.s., Czernaevia, and Coelopleurum were closely related, but the relationship between Ostericum and them was ulterior. It was also supported by analyses on fruit anatomy and chemical constitutes. Ostericum was proposed as a relatively independent genus. (2) Results from ITS sequences supported the view that Angelica s.s. was monophyletic and could be divided into several sections. (3) Results from ITS sequences and chemical constitutes indicated that the relationship between Peucedanum and Angelica s.s. was very close. (4) Results from ITS sequences as well as from conformation and chemical constitutes showed that the divergence of A. sinensis from other taxa of Angelica s.s. was great. The taxonomic position of A. sinensis should be reconsidered. (5) Both analyses of ITS sequences and chemical constitutes revealed that Ligusticum was not a natural group.

Key words: East Asia, Angelica, ITS sequence, molecular phylogeny