Abstract
Many plant species are miniaturized in the alpine region in Yakushima, Japan. To examine how these alpine dwarf plants are different from their related lowland ones of the same species, we analyzed two phylogenetically distinct species cytologically, genetically and morphologically: one is a fern species, Blechnum niponicum, and the other is an angiosperm species, Lysimachia japonica. The analysis shows that the alpine dwarf and the lowland plants in each of these species do not differ in chromosome number or genetic constitution. The organ-level comparison between the alpine dwarf and lowland plants of B. niponicum shows that the fertile leaf size correlates closely with the sterile one. By contrast, the flower size does not correlate with the leaf size in L. japonica. At the cell level, the leaf size of the alpine dwarf plants of B. niponicum consists of a smaller number of epidermal cells than that of the lowland plants of this species. On the other hand, the smaller leaf size of the alpine dwarf plants of L. japonica depends on both the smaller number and the smaller size of the epidermal cells. We conclude that plant dwarfism in Yakushima shows variation at both the organ and cell levels.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr. Akihiro Seo (Kyoto University, Japan), Ms. Keiko Iida, Mr. Masayuki Kojima, Ms. Sizuka Tsuneki and Ms. Yoshiko Nakajima for their kind help, especially in our field collection of the plant samples, and Dr. Hirokazu Tsukaya (National Institute for Basic Biology, Japan) for his valuable advice regarding the discussion part in the present study. This study was financially supported by Grant-in-Aid No. 15370037 and No. 16405014 provided by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to NM, and also by a Grant-in-Aid for the 21st Century COE Program (A2, Kyoto University).
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Shinohara, W., Murakami, N. How have the alpine dwarf plants in Yakushima been miniaturized? A comparative study of two alpine dwarf species in Yakushima, Blechnum niponicum (Blechnaceae) and Lysimachia japonica (Primulaceae). J Plant Res 119, 571–580 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-006-0016-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-006-0016-5