Korean J. Pl. Taxon. 2001; 31(3): 283-309.
Published online 2001 September 30.
Reconsideration of Acer pictum complex in Korea
한국산 고로쇠분류군에 대한 재고
장진성
ABSTRACT
Acer pictum complex (A. pictum Thunb. ex Murray with varieties, A. okamotoanum Nakai, A. truncatum Bunge) in eastern Asia causes frequent difficulty in identification. One hundred twenty five specimens from A. pictum complex of China, Korea and Japan and A. cappadocicum var. sinicum of China were compared to investigate patterns of intra-and interspecific variation and to evaluate a recognition of several species as well as many varieties using 22 characters for morphometric analysis. The first three PCA accounted for 59% of the total variance. No strong discontinuities existed among taxa with respect to fruit and leaf characters. Much overlap among all taxa occurred the central region of the scatter diagram. Many characters appeared to show some clinal variation with changes from east of China to Japan through Korea. This was true not only when all species as considered as a single taxon, but when characters of individual taxa were compared with geography. As one considers a path from the western part of the ranges to areas to the east, the leaves become larger in most respects and become increasingly many lobed (five to seven or nine). In general, there was a tendency toward larger nutlet with smaller wing in the area toward northeast of China (=A. truncatum), while in the east of ranges (Island Ullung-do), plants were larger with respect to characters of fruit and leaves (A= okamotoanum). The morphological differentiation between A. okamotoanum and Japanese and Korean individuals of A. pictum was not considered sufficient to warrant recognition of either specific or varietal status and should be treated as conspecific under A. pictum var. mono. Since the
Keywords :
Acer pictum, Acer truncatum, Acer okamotoanum, morphological variation, clinal variation
