Abstract
BackgroundNatural hybridization in plants is a vital mechanism of speciation. Calanthe arisanensis and C. sieboldii occur in the same habitat in northern Taiwan, where there are a number of plants whose morphologically characters are similar in between of these two species. In this report, a new natural hybrid, Calanthe species – C. xhsinchuensis Y.I. Lee putatively derived from the natural hybridization of C. arisanensis and C. sieboldii was described and illustrated. Besides, somatic chromosome number was counted.ResultsThe morphological and histological data of flowers, capsules, roots and leaves of C. xhsinchuensis show an intermediate condition between its putative parents. The chromosome number, 2n = 40, is also congruent with its putative parents. Color plates and line drawings are provided to aid in identification.ConclusionBase on the morphological characteristics of reproductive and vegetative organs, and the distributions of putative parents, it is proposed that C. xhsinchuensis is a natural hybrid between C. arisanensis Hayata and C. sieboldii Decaisne ex Regel.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1999-3110-54-25) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Natural hybridization in plants is a vital mechanism of speciation
Calanthe sieboldii is closely related to Calanthe arisanensis with bright yellow flowers that could be found in the northern areas of Taiwan (Lin, 1988; Su, 2000)
In northern Taiwan, C. arisanensis and C. sieboldii occur in the same habitat, and they both bloom during March and April. Besides these two Calanthe species, there are a number of plants whose morphologically characters are similar in between of C. arisanensis and C. sieboldii that are considered to be their natural hybrid
Summary
Natural hybridization in plants is a vital mechanism of speciation. Calanthe arisanensis and C. sieboldii occur in the same habitat in northern Taiwan, where there are a number of plants whose morphologically characters are similar in between of these two species. The genus Calanthe comprises more than 170 species widely distributed from Africa, Asia, Pacific Islands and Australia (Jin and Li, 2007). This genus is characterized by pubescent roots, often clustered leaves, petals and sepals similar, spurred lip and eight pollinia. Calanthe sieboldii is closely related to Calanthe arisanensis with bright yellow flowers that could be found in the northern areas of Taiwan (Lin, 1988; Su, 2000).
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