Systematic Study on the Aconitum alboviolaceum Complex (Ranunculaceae) in Korea

Abstract

The Aconitum alboviolaceum Kom. complex includes four controversial species described from Korea; A. albouiolaceum, A. pseudolaeue, A. longecassidatum, and A. quelpaertense. The main objective of this study was to determine the taxonomic identities and systematic relationships among the species in the A. albouiolaceum complex based on morphology, numerical analyses and DNA sequence analysis. In the present study, variations in the principal morphological characters and chloroplast DNA noncoding region sequences (psbA-trnH IGS, trnL intron, and trnL-trnF IGS) were examined for 95 individuals from 20 populations. Also, neighbor-joining analysis was adopted to infer their relationships. Morphological variation appeared to be considerably high but not to be related to geographic distribution. These morphological results suggest that reevaluation of key morphological characters are needed for the proper taxonomic treatment of the complex. The length of psbA-trnH IGS region ranged from 241 to 250 bp, that of the trnL intron from 526 to 532 bp, and that of the trnL-trnF IGS region from 466 to 472 by in all taxa. Nine haplotypes were recognized from the analysis. Seven populations shared more than two haplotypes, while other thirteen populations shared only one haplotype. In the phylogenetic analysis, the nine haplotypes formed four groups, separated A. sibiricum, one of the sister groups of the complex. There also was no distinct grouping pattern supporting the species and populations observed. These results suggest that introgression or speciation might have been involved in the formation of taxa of A alboviolaceum complex.