Abstract
Three new taxa, Rhododendron sohayakiense Y.Watan. & T.Yukawa (Ericaceae), and its two varieties, var. kiusianum Y.Watan., T.Yukawa & T.Minamitani and var. koreanum Y.Watan. & T.Yukawa are described and illustrated from Japan and South Korea. They can be distinguished from each other and from the other members of the R. tschonoskii alliance, i.e. R. tschonoskii, R. tetramerum, R. trinerve and R. tsusiophyllum, through their combination of leaf size, leaf morphologies including lateral nerves on abaxial leaf surface, corolla morphologies including number of corolla lobes, style length and anther form. Phylogenetic inferences based on chloroplast DNA and genome-wide sequences revealed that each of the three new taxa is monophyletic and they further form a clade. Distributions of the three taxa are also clearly separated from each other and also from the other members of the R. tschonoskii alliance.
Highlights
The genus Rhododendron L. (Ericaceae) is morphologically diverse, comprising about 1,000 woody species (Chamberlain et al 1996)
R. trinerve Franch. ex Boisser and R. tsusiophyllum Sugim. are closely related species placed within the subgenus Tsutsusi, which grow on exposed rocks or open sites in slopes and ridges on mountains
Samples for DNA analyses were collected from three individuals for Rhododendron tschonoskii, R. tetramerum, R. trinerve, R. tsusiophyllum and new entities, respectively
Summary
The genus Rhododendron L. (Ericaceae) is morphologically diverse, comprising about 1,000 woody species (Chamberlain et al 1996). Rhododendron tschonoskii Maxim., R. tetramerum (Makino) Nakai, R. trinerve Franch. Rhododendron tschonoskii sensu Takahashi (1975) is widely distributed across the Japanese Archipelago and extends to the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. As pointed out by Takahashi (1975) and Minamitani (1993), morphological characters of the species are distinct between eastern and western parts of the Japanese Archipelago. To evaluate these previous observations, we investigate morphological and macromolecular characters of R. tschonoskii and its related species by using the samples covering the entire species ranges
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