Merging Fargesia dracocephala into Fargesia decurvata (Bambusoideae, Poaceae): implications from morphological and ITS sequence analyses.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Fargesia decurvata is closely allied with F. dracocephala and differs in 5 major characters (i.e. the culm sheath blade base shape, the width of the culm sheath blade base, the auricle shape, and the lower surface of leaf blade) in Fargesia. It is difficult to distinguish these two species because of existing of transitional statements of characters. The aims of this paper are to (i) investigate whether the variation of the characters is continuous or not; (ii) reveal whether the publishment of F. dracocephala was the result of discontinuous sampling of F. decurvata or not.

Methods

Ten populations of F. decurvata and F. dracocephala were investigated in their entire distribution (including type localities). The statements of 5 major characters were measured from 693 ann

SUBMITTER: Zhang YQ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4079244 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature