Table of Contents
  • Volume 46 Issue 4

      
      Research Articles
    • 2008, 46 (4): 439–440
      谨以此期献给中国植物学会成立75周年, 对中国一代又一代的植物分类学家们艰苦创业和不知疲倦的科学奉献精神表达敬意; 祝愿具有光荣历史传统的中国系统与进化植物学研究有更加光明和美好的前途; 祝愿《植物分类学报》为学科的繁荣和世界进化生物学的发展做出更大的贡献。
    • Le-Xuan GAO, Jia-Kuan CHEN, Ji YANG
      2008, 46 (4): 441–451
      Phenotypic plasticity refers to the ability of an organism to alter its physiology/morphology/behavior in response to changes in environmental conditions. Although encompassing various phenomena spanning multi-ple levels of organization, most plastic responses seem to take place by altering gene expression and eventually altering ontogenetic trajectory in response to environmental variation. Epigenetic modifications provide a plausi-ble link between the environment and alterations in gene expression, and the alterations in phenotype based on environmentally induced epigenetic modifications can be inherited transgenerationally. Even closely related species and populations with different genotypes may exhibit differences in the patterns and the extents of plastic responses, indicating the wide existence of plasticity genes which are independent of trait means and directly respond to environmental stimuli by triggering phenotypic changes. The ability of plasticity is not only able to affect the adaptive evolution of species significantly, but is also an outcome of evolutionary processes. Therefore, phenotypic plasticity is a potentially important molder of adaptation and evolution.
    • Ming-Xun REN
      2008, 46 (4): 452–466
      Stamen fusion in plants is defined and classified in this paper. Stamen fusion includes both coales-cence and cohesion of any part of stamens or the fusion of whole stamens into one or more units. The structure formed by stamen fusion can be further fused with style and a gynostemium is always formed, such as in Aris-tolochiaceae and Stylidiaceae. Three main types of stamen fusion are identified: filament fusion, anther fusion, and fusion with both filament and anther. Stamen fusion can be found in about 70 families of seed plants and the complex distributions of these types in the different families indicate they had evolved for several times inde-pendently in angiosperms. The filament fusion is always found in primitive angiosperms with polypetalous flower, while the anther fusion and fusion with both filament and anther are usually correlated with advanced groups with sympetalous flower (long and narrow floral tube is always presented), which indicates that the different type of stamen fusion may be of adaptive significance with the floral syndrome to promote the plant’s fitness through either female or male avenues (pollen receipt or pollen dispersal). The structures and functions of the various types of stamen fusion received little, if any, attentions in experimental studies at present. Theoretically, filament fusion can fix the stamens at the relatively stable positions and make the stamens steady to support the moving pollina-tors and protect the ovary. Anther fusion can assemble the anthers to the same position and facilitate all the anthers touching the same part of pollinator’s body, which can greatly enhance the precision of outcrossing pollination. Fusion with both filament and anther can greatly change the morphology of stamens and level of herkogamy besides the effects caused by filament fusion and anther fusion. In conclusion, the morphology and position of stamens can be changed when the stamens are fused, and the level of herkogamy, interference between female and male organs can be altered greatly, consequently the mating patterns in plant population can be affected. However, the adaptive significances of different types of stamen fusion are still in need of further experimental studies to illuminate the possible functional differences of varied types of stamen fusion. The types of fusions and degrees of fusions could be used as an important character for taxonomic classifications since the structure and morphology of stamen are relatively stable.
    • Liang-Cheng ZHAO, Zhi-Yi WU
      2008, 46 (4): 467–478
      Ruppia is a genus of submerged monocots that exhibits a nearly worldwide distribution and inhabits mainly brackish and saline waters. This genus has important ecological values and is significant for environment monitoring and plant systematic study. Since Linnaeus’s time, there existed confusion at both specific and family level about Ruppia. The number of taxa within Ruppia, whether there is a single cosmopolitan species or more than one species, has caused much disagreement among taxonomists. At present, five species, R. maritima, R. cirrhosa, R. tuberose, R. megacarpa and R. polycarpa are generally accepted. As to the systematic position of the genus, there are two main opinions: including Ruppia in the family Potamogetonaceae or keeping it in its own family Ruppiaceae. Some systems of plant taxonomy accepted Ruppiaceae, but comparison of diagnostic charac-ters between Potamogeton and Ruppia tended to retain Ruppia within the Potamogetonaceae, although the mo-lecular analyses in recent years show that Ruppia has a close relationship with Cymodoceaceae and Posidoniaceae. In addition, the evolution of Ruppia is discussed based on fossil records and fruit characters of the related fossil taxa. The fossil genera Limnocarpus and Midravalva are regarded as the ancestors of Ruppia and it is suggested that its present brackish habitat developed from a fresh water ancestor. Finally, some questions which should be paid much attention on further study of this genus are discussed.
    • Xing LIU, Hong LIU, Qing-Feng WANG
      2008, 46 (4): 479–489
      Micromorphological characters of mega- and microspores of five Isoëtes species from China were observed under scanning electron microscope (SEM). Megaspores of I. hypsophila have a levigate ornamentation, and are 358 µm in diameter (mean, n=30), microspores of this species have a gyrus ornamentation, and are 22 µm in length (mean, n=30); megaspores of I. yunguiensis have a cristate-reticulate ornamentation, with a size of 390 µm in diameter (mean, n=30), while microspores nearly smooth with some fine granulates, and with a size of 22 µm in length (mean, n=30); megaspores of I. taiwanensis are tuberculate and 312 µm in diameter (mean, n=30), echinate microspores are 24 µm in length (mean, n=30); cristate megaspores of I. sinensis are 409 µm in diameter (mean, n=30), and echinate microspores are 28 µm in length (mean, n=30); megaspores of I. orientalis have a cristate-reticulate ornamentation, with diameter of 420 µm (mean, n=30), microspores of this species have an echinate-tuberculate ornamentation with a size of 34 µm in length (mean, n=30). Based on the morphological characters of spores and chromosome numbers among taxa, it was found that mean spore size in each species of Isoëtes generally reflected the ploidy level. I. hypsophila, I. yunguiensis and I. taiwanensis, with smaller mean spore size, are diploidy with 2n=22; I. sinensis (2n=44) and I. orientalis (2n=66), with larger mean spore size, are polyploidy. The spore morphology of Isoëtes still plays an important role in identification and classification of Isoëtes from China.
    • Shou-Zhou ZHANG, Zi-Can HE, Chen-Rui FAN, Bin YAN
      2008, 46 (4): 490–498
      In the present study, obervation was made on chromosome morphology and behavior during meiosis of spore mother cells (SMCs) for five species in the genus Osmunda: O. angustifolia Ching, O. japonica Thunb., O. vachellii Hook., O. banksiifolia (Presl) Kuhn., and O. mildei C. Chr. The chromosome number of root tip cells of the five species is uniformly 2n=44. Chromosome pairing and synapsis were normal during meiosis and the common configurations at metaphase I were circular bivalents in O. angustifolia, O. japonica, O. vachellii and O. banksiifolia. Trivalents and univalents were occasionally observed in O. banksiifolia, while univalents at meta-phase I, and chromosome bridges and fragments were observed at anaphase II in O. angustifolia. It is suggested that translocation and inversion are responsible for the phenomenon observed. No chromosome pairing and syn-apsis were observed in O. mildei from prophase I to metaphase I, and they resulted in abnormal chromosome behavior: more than 80% of the SMCs showing lagging chromosomes and unequal segregation of chromosomes. The spores produced were almost sterile because of abnormal chromosome constitution. Based on the departure from the normal homologous chromosome pairing and synapsis, it is suggested that Osmunda mildei might be an interspecific hybrid.
    • Ren-Xiang WANG, Shu-Gang LU
      2008, 46 (4): 499–504
      A cytotaxonomic study was made of 10 fern species belonging to 7 genera of Polypodiaceae from Yunnan, China. Seven new records (including one cytotype) were reported in this paper. The putative reproduc-tive manners were inferred from cytological characters and spore counting. The chromosome numbers were 2n=70 in Polypodiastrum mengtzeense, Lepisorus bicolor; 2n=72 in Polypodiode amoena, P. wattii, L. mac-rosphaerus, Lepidogrammitis rostrata, Drymotaenium miyoshianum, Tricholepidium maculosum, Phymatopteris oxyloba; and 2n=108 in P. trisecta. The reproductive type in P. trisecta is triploid apogamous while it is of the sexual diploid reproductive type in the other species of the genus Phymatopteris. Based on our study and previous data, the significance of chromosome number in phylogenetic study was discussed.
    • Xiao-Rong WANG, Hao-Ru TANG, Juan DUAN, Ling LI
      2008, 46 (4): 505–515
      Rubus is a taxonomically difficult group and cytological data are expected hopefully to gain insight into the relationships of the genus. In this study the chromosome numbers and karyotypes of 18 taxa from sect. Idaeobatus and 10 taxa from sect. Malachobatus were investigated. Among them, the chromosome numbers of 10 taxa and karyotypes of 26 taxa were reported for the first time and mixoploidy was observed new in the genus. The chromosomes are small in size with a length of less than 3 µm and metacentric (about 90%) or submetacentric. All taxa have karyotypes of “1A” except R. cockburnianus, R. innominatus and R. ellipticus var. obcordatus, which have karyotypes of “2A”. No aneuploids were found in all the 28 taxa studied. Plants of sect. Idaeobatus have diploids with 2n=2x=14, except R. idaeopsis (2n=3x=21) and R. parvifolius (A mixoploid of 2n=2x=14 and 2n=4x=28). However, plants of sect. Malachobatus have tetraploids with 2n=4x=28, except for R. buergeri with 2n=8x=56. In addition, conspicuous karyotype differences existed within the 18 taxa belonging to 11 of 7 subsections in sect. Idaeobatus, and the differences between some species within subsections are greater than that between subsections, while uniform karyotypes within subsections and variable karyotypes between subsections were observed in six of 13 subsections in sect. Malachobatus represented by 10 taxa. Systematic values of the cytological data were discussed for some cases when applicable to the two sections.
    • Jing-Chun GAO, Yong PENG, Meng-Su YANG, Pei-Gen XIAO
      2008, 46 (4): 516–536
      The phylogeny, ethnopharmacology, pharmacology and chemical composition of the tribe Cimici-fugeae attributed to the family of Ranunculaceae as used in the North America, Europe and Asia, were reviewed and compared. Furthermore, the pharmacophylogenetics of Cimicifugeae was investigated. A survey of the avail-able literature showed that the main chemical constituents of these species are 9,19-cycloartane triterpenoid gly-cosides and the cinnamic acid derivates. In ethnopharmacology, plants of tribe Cimicifugeae were commonly used as antipyretic, antitoxic, anti-inflammation agents and utilized for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. Recent pharmacology research demonstrated that some of these Cimicifugeae species showed antiosteoporosis, antivirus, anticancer, antiallergic and hormonal-like activities. According to our present research and the literature record for the chemical, pharmacological and phylogeny research of tribe Cimicifugeae, we proposed that Actaea and Cimi-cifuga have a close relationship because of their similarity in chemical constituents and medical use. Actaea and Cimicifuga together could be considered one clade of tribe Cimicifugeae, and Actaea is relatively advanced, considering its diagnostic and karyological characters. Beesia was independent in this tribe since beesioside type triterpenoids had never been found in Actaea and Cimicifuga species. Meanwhile, pentacyclic triterpenoids and beesioside type triterpenoids were both isolated from Beesia, as well as Souliea, but they have not been found in Cimicifuga and Actaea. Indolinone alkaloids were detected in either Souliea or Cimicifuga and Actaea. Therefore, Souliea should be intermediate between Beesia and Cimicifuga. There is a close relationship between the cycloar-tane triterpenoids constituents and the anti-toxic, anti-pyretic effect of tribe Cimicifugeae. Therefore, we proposed the cycloartane triterpenoids constituents to be a new resource of anti-tumor and anti-virus agents.
    • Jian-Wen SHAO, Xiao-Ping ZHANG, Zhong-Xin ZHANG, Guo-Ping ZHU
      2008, 46 (4): 537–544
      In order to make a scientific and practical plan for conservation of an endangered species, it is indis-pensable to identify the kind of insects effective in legitimate pollination and to clarify the main factors on their pollination behavior. Primula merrilliana, a small biennial rosette herb with distylous flowers, is an endangered and endemic species of China. In this study, the effective pollinators and the effects of flower density and popula-tion size on pollination efficiency were investigated. The results indicated that the primary effective pollinators of this distylous herb were two bee flies, Bombylius major and Anastoechus chinensis rather than Thrips sp., which was previously considered as an effective pollinator for the plant. The density of flowers and the population size were the two main factors that influenced pollination efficiency of P. merrilliana. Flowers with higher density attracted more pollinator visits, particularly in low dense populations. The number of pollinators and flowers visited per day and the average time of a flower visited per day were significantly positively correlated to the density of flowers in the samples. Legitimate pollination and its percentage of total stigmatic pollen loads were higher in larger populations. The biased ratio of short-styled and long-styled flowers and pollinator limitation might be responsible for pollination disadvantages in small populations.
    • You-Ai DUAN, Qing-Jun LI
      2008, 46 (4): 545–553
      Phrynium oliganthum (Marantaceae) is an understory perennial herb with strong clonal habit; it repre-sents an example of the sophisticated floral morphology and the unique pollination mechanism of Marantaceae. These traits involve protandry, secondary pollen presentation and explosive style movement. In the bud stage, the pollen grains have already deposited into the dorsal part of the stigma. The style is stretched under tension by the hooded staminode which has a trigger-like appendage. When the pollinator touches the trigger, the style springs forward, scrapes off the pollen from the pollinator’s body and deposits its own pollen into the same site. This explosive movement of style is suggested as a precise pollination mechanism. Meanwhile, the style movement is irreversible, so each flower has only a single chance to be pollinated. In this study, the pollination biology of P. oliganthum was investigated encompassing floral biology, pollination manipulation and flower visitor observa-tions in a tropical seasonal rain forest in Xishuangbanna, SW China. The sugar concentration in the pairwise flowers is significantly different, but which flower has higher sugar concentration is unpredictable. Pollination manipulation indicates that this species is self-compatible (SC) and pollinator dependent. Fruit sets of both hand pollination and natural pollination are low (<10%), this may be due to the resources limitation, and the serious damage of floral tissue rotting and florivorous insects parasiting. Phrynium oliganthum blooms about 11 flowers daily but opens one by one, lasting 4 h in the morning. This flowering pattern may fit for the traplining of solitary pollinators (Amegilla spp.), and promote crossing at a certain extent.
    • Qin-Zheng HOU, Li-Hua MENG, Hui-Ling YANG
      2008, 46 (4): 554–562
      In this study, we studied pollination ecology of Gentiana siphonantha (Gentianaceae), a late-autumn flowering alpine perennial in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau for two years for the first time. We also aimed to compare the pollination differentiation between this species and sympatrically distributed G. straminea that has a close phylogenetic origin but is flowering early. Flowers of G. siphonantha are characteristic of di-chogamy and herkogamy and this floral development prevents occurrence of autonomous self-pollination. This implication was confirmed by the breeding experiments, since no seed was produced when flowers were isolated. However, this gentian proved to be highly self-compatible when geitonogamous selfing was artificially induced. Each individual plant of this species has an average of 14.6 flowers ranging from 4 to 31, at both staminate and pistillate stages with a ratio of 1.2:1 in full anthesis. Both floral development and breeding experiments suggested that pollen vectors were indispensable for successful seed sets of this species. A great variety of insects were observed to visit this species, but the most common and only legitimate pollinator is Bumbus sushikini. A statistic observation suggested that this pollinator showed no preference to either staminate or pistillate flowers and visited them at random. We further calculated the frequency of their visits between and within individual plants. Among the pollinators’ bouts, the proportions of geitonogamous visits within an individual plant occupy about 87.8%. Such a case implied that geitonogamous selfing prevails in this species in spite of floral dichogamy and her-kogamy that were suggested to promote outcrossing. Compared with sympatric G. straminea, the total floral longevity and the male and female duration of this species are shorter. However, the number of flowers of each individual plant and branch increased when in full anthesis. It is interesting that both closely related species shared the same pollinator despite their distinct difference in flower morphology. This finding is inconsistent with the previous hypothesis that both flower color and corolla tube depth have coevolved with different pollinators during speciation and formation of reproductive isolation. Both visit frequencies of the individual flower and geitonoga-mous visits within the individual plant are higher in G. siphonantha than in G. straminea. This difference may result from their different inflorescence designs that actively act upon behaviors of pollinator. Although these two species differed in flowering phenology, their flowering stages overlapped for a few days, suggesting incomplete pollination isolation between them.
    • Xuan ZHAO, Zhi-Qin ZHOU, Qi-Bing LIN, Kai-Yu PAN, Ming-Yang LI
      2008, 46 (4): 563–572
      Tree peony, being crowned the title “King of Flowers” in China, is of great medicinal, ornamental, and economic values. In the present study, the phylogeny of the wild tree peony species (section Moutan, Paeonia, Paeoniaceae), represented by twelve accessions collected from all eight species in the section, was investigated based on the DNA sequence in five DNA fragments from both nuclear (Adh1A, Adh2 and GPAT) and chloroplast (trnS-trnG and rps16-trnQ) genomes, as well as morphological characters. Both maximum parsimony (MP) and Bayesian inference of phylogeny (BI) trees were reconstructed based on the combined data of the DNA sequences and morphological data, respectively. The MP and BI trees have the similar topology, and the sect. Moutan clearly branched into two clades. One clade consists of two species, P. delavayi and P. ludlowii, corresponding to the subsect. Delavayanae, and another clade is composed of other six species. Within the second clade, the six species can be divided into three subclades consisting of P. rockii and P. decomposita, P. jishanensis and P. qiui, P. suffruticosa and P. ostii, respectively. Among the three subclades, P. jishanensis/P. qiui is most closely related to P. suffruticosa/P. ostii. These results provide up to date the clearest picture of the phylogeny of wild tree peony species in the sect. Moutan.
    • Sheng-Yun CHEN, Gui-Li WU, De-Jun ZHANG, Qing-Bo GAO, Yi-Zhong DUAN, Fa-Qi ZHANG, Shi-Long CHEN
      2008, 46 (4): 573–585
      Herbaceous plants have a short life cycle and are sensitive to environmental changes. Thus, they may serve as good models to elucidate historical processes of plant populations since Quaternary glaciations. Molecular phylogeographic analysis is a powerful tool to reveal the population history of plants and animals. To understand the geographic history of alpine plants in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is still poorly known, we surveyed sequence variation of the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) noncoding fragment trnH (GUG)-psbA intergenic spacer throughout the range of Metagentiana striata (Maxim.) T. N. Ho, S. W. Liu & S. L. Chen, an annual and herba-ceous alpine plant in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and adjacent areas. Seven haplotypes were detected by analyzing 155 individuals from 13 populations of this species. One haplotype (A) was common and widespread, and three haplotypes (E, F and G) were unique in their populations. The center of haplotype diversity is located in the Hengduan Mountains of southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with 2-3 haplotypes present in each of four popula-tions. In populations from the northeastern and eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as well as from adjacent regions, however, only a single haplotype was found in each population, with different populations having different haplo-types. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) for populations of M. striata showed that the genetic varia-tion mainly resided among populations (73.05%), and the estimates of interpopulation differentiation were very high (GST=0.805, FST=0.731, NST=0.859). Further, a significant phylogeographic structure was present (NST > GST, P<0.05) whereas the value of average gene flow was low (Nm=0.184) in the entire geographical range. Along with the nested clade analysis (NCA), our results suggested that the Hengduan Mountains of southeastern Qing-hai-Tibet Plateau served as a possible refugium during the Quaternary glaciations, and the interglacial or post-glacial range expansion by plants from the refugium followed by allopatric and past fragmentation shaped the present distribution patterns of haplotypes and populations.
    • Yue-Zhi PAN, Xun GONG, Yang YANG
      2008, 46 (4): 586–594
      Dobinea Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don, a genus with two species endemic to east Asia, has been placed in three different families, the Podoaceae, tribe Acerineae of the Sapindaceae, and tribe Dobineeae of the Anacardiaceae. In this paper, phylogenetic relationships of the genus were examined based on DNA sequences of the chloroplast rbcL gene and the ITS region of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Our data support the monophyly of Dobinea and its placement in the Anacardiaceae.
    • Hong-Tao LI, De-Zhu LI
      2008, 46 (4): 595–599
      This paper assessed the systematic position of the genus Gomphogyne. The nuclear ITS, the chloro-plast rpl16, and trnS-trnR sequences were used to reconstruct the phylogeny of Gomphogyne and its related gen-era. Analyses of three separate and combined datasets provided a good amount of informative characters and re-solved the systematical relationships of Gomphogyne well. The maximum parsimony analyses revealed that: (1) Gomphogyne was a natural genus and was different from the genera Hemsleya and Gynostemma; (2) Hemsleya delavayi and H. macrocarpa did not belong to the genus Gomphogyne, but to the genus Hemsleya; and (3) Gomphogyne was sister to Hemsleya. It was assured that Gomphogyne was a monotypic genus. These results were largely in agreement with the systems of classification of the Cucurbitaceae of Jeffrey in 1990 and in 2005 and with that of Li for Hemsleya in 1993, but were different from the previous studies in which Gomphogyne and Gy-nostemma together were suggested to be sister to Hemsleya.
    • Xin HOU, Jun-E LIU, Yi-Zhi ZHAO
      2008, 46 (4): 600–607
      ITS, trnL-F and trnS-G regions of 20 species of Caragana in China were sequenced, and these sam-pled species covered all recognized subgenera and sections in this genus. Separate phylogenetic analyses of the above DNA fragments generated concordant topologies and a combined analysis of these three datasets signifi-cantly improved the statistical supports of all identified clades. Species of subgen. Caragana firstly diverged as a monophyletic group in the phylogenic tree, which was congruent with morphological study and geographical distribution of this taxon. Representative species of ser. Occidentales and ser. Bracteolatae formed one mono-phyletic clade, indicating that ser. Occidentales should be placed in sect. Longspina, which contains ser. Bracteo-latae, but not in sect. Spinosae or sect. Pruinosa. Previous conclusion based on morphology that two series should be defined in sect. Frutescentes according to the shape of leaves was well supported by molecular phylogenetic data in the present study. Because the species of ser. Dasyphyllae had close relationships with those of ser. Spino-sae, phylogenetic analysis did not merit the definition of two separate series in sect. Spinosae. Species of Subgen. Jubatae clustered together as a monophyletic clade, and thus should be put in one section, sect. Jubatae. In sect. Jubatae, species having legumina with smooth interior and those producing legumina with haired interior were respectively nested within two separate subclades, corresponding to two series in this section. In the phylogeny tree, sect. Tragacanthoides, defined by Sanczir, was shown to be polyphyletic, suggesting that species of sect. Longspina, sect. Spinosae and sect. Jubatae should be transferred out of this section. Caragana ordosica and C. tibetica had been treated as one species, yet in this study they were proved to be two different species, by genetic distance based on ITS sequences.
    • Wei-Ping LI, Ping ZHANG, Gen-Shen YIN
      2008, 46 (4): 608–613
      Sheareria S. Moore is a monotypic genus endemic to China, distributed from east to south and south-west China. This genus has been classified within the subtribe Milleriinae of the Heliantheae by the Chinese taxonomists, while Robinson and Nesom placed it in the Astereae. In the present study, we compared micromor-phology, anatomy and chromosome numbers of this genus and representative species from the two tribes. The adaxial surfaces of the ligules of the only species in this genus, S. nana, have linear epidermal cell with transverse stripes and a longitudinal median promontory-like protrusion, which are identical or similar to those of the repre-sentative species of the Astereae. However, in the representative species of the Heliantheae, these cells are sub-round and papillose. Interfascicular parts of the cross-section of ovary walls in five species of the Heliantheae comprise 3–4 layers, including epidermis, hypodermis, small cell region and/or parenchyma tissue, and the epi-dermal cells are identical in size, shape and orderly arrangement to the hypodermal cells. In contrast, only two layers (epidermis and parenchyma tissue) were recovered in S. nana and five species of the tribe Astereae. The karyotype of S. nana is 2n=2x=18sm with x=9, a common basic number in the Astereae, but different from x=10 of the Heliantheae. All of these results together support the tribal delimitation of Sheareria within the Astereae, rather than in the Heliantheae.
    • Piyada THEERAKULPISUT, Nantawan KANAWAPEE, Duangkamol MAENSIRI, Sumontip BUNNAG, Pranom CHANTARANOTHAI
      2008, 46 (4): 614–621
      Phyllanthus amarus Schum. & Thonn. has been widely used in traditional medicine in Thailand as an antipyretic, a diuretic, to treat liver diseases and viral infections. Two closely related species, P. debilis L. and P. urinaria Klein ex Willd., with different and less effective medicinal properties, are less commonly used. These three species are similar in morphology and often occur in overlapping populations in nature. The latter two species can easily be mistaken for P. amarus and collected for medicinal uses, which can lead to undesirable results. DNA fingerprints of these species were obtained using RAPD-PCR techniques. RAPD markers specific for each species were identified. Primers for highly specific sequence-characterized-amplified-regions (SCAR) were then designed from nucleotide sequences of specific RAPD markers. These primers efficiently amplified SCAR markers of 408, 501 and 319 bp unique to P. amarus, P. debilis and P. urinaria respectively. This method of plant identification was rapid and highly specific when tested against DNA of several closely related species and was able to amplify specific markers from mixed DNA samples.
    • Zhong-Jian LIU, Sing-Chi CHEN, Li-Jun CHEN
      2008, 46 (4): 622–627
      A new orchid genus, Ypsilorchis Z. J. Liu, S. C. Chen & L. J. Chen, is established based on Ypsilor-chis fissipetala (Finet) Z. J. Liu, S. C. Chen & L. J. Chen (basionym: Liparis fissipetala Finet). The new genus differs from Liparis and its allies by having two granular-waxy pollinia each with a somewhat elastic caudicle, deeply bilobed petals and strongly crisped-margined leaves with an apical awn to 1 mm long. These features are an indication of its distant relation to the members of the subtribe Liparidinae, and thus a new subtribe, Ypsilor-chidinae Z. J. Liu, S. C. Chen & L. J. Chen, is proposed.
    • Ming CAO, Dian-Xiang ZHANG
      2008, 46 (4): 628–640
      Leaf epidermis characters in 40 of ca. 250 species of Zanthoxylum (Rutaceae) were investigated using light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The stomata are anomocytic and exist only on the abaxial epidermis except in Z. nitidum, which also has stomata on the adaxial surface. The epidermal cells are usually polygonal or irregular in shape, with anticlinal walls straight, arched, repand, or sinuous. Under the SEM, the inner margin of the outer stomatal rim is nearly smooth, sinuolate or erose, and the cuticular membrane of the leaf epidermis is smooth, striate, or sometimes striate to wrinkled. These data of leaf epidermis of Zanthoxylum demonstrated that there exist many common characters between subgen. Fagara and subgen. Zanthoxylum, sug-gesting a close relationship between the two subgenera. The utility of some characters in identifying some species of Zanthoxylum was also discussed.
    • Jun-Yi ZHU, Jing-Mei LU
      2008, 46 (4): 641–650
      The developmental morphology of the inflorescence and floret of Alnus mandshurica and Alnus sibirica was investigated using scanning electron microscopy. Their female inflorescences all appeared multiple aments that consist of multiple spirally arranged cymelets. Each cymelet had one primary bract, two secondary bracts and two tertiary bracts. Each floret had a bicarpellate pistil with a dichotomous columnar style. Two pistils of a cymelet were orientated perpendicularly. During the winter, the female inflorescences of Alnus mandshurica were protected by bud scales, while those of Alnus sibirica naked. Their male inflorescences also appeared multi-ple aments. Cymelets were arranged spirally and each had one primary bract, two secondary bracts and two terti-ary bracts. The two secondary bracts developed earlier than the two tertiary ones but all were originated from cymelet primordia. Of the three floret primordia, the middle one was differentiated earlier than the lateral ones. A floret had four tepals and four stamens, and each stamen had four pollen sacs. The tepals were developed earlier than the stamens, but both were from the floret primordia. During the winter, the male inflorescences of Alnus mandshurica and Alnus sibirica were naked.
Editors-in-Chief
Song Ge
Jun Wen
Impact Factor
3.7
JCR 2022 IF ranking: 60/238 (Plant Sciences, top 25%, Q2 quartile)
Journal Abbreviation: J Syst Evol
ISSN: 1674-4918 (Print)
1759-6831 (Online)
CN: 11-5779/Q
Frequency: Bi-monthly

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