Abstract
Balanophora japonica and B. yakushimensis are two putatively agamospermic taxa previously reported from southern Japan. Their inflorescences superficially represent those of B. laxiflora and B. fungosa. In this study we confirmed their presence in Taiwan by morphological and phylogenetic analysis using nuclear 18S rDNA and nrITS sequences with related taxa. B. japonica, B. yakushimensis, and B. laxiflora formed a well-supported clade that is distinct from other Balanophora. All three taxa also show considerable differences on morphological and nucleotide sequence differences, therefore the name of B. yakushimensis is retained. The results provide new insights on the intrageneric classification of Balanophora and suggest the positioning of female flowers should be down-weighted. We also successfully identify the hosts of B. japonica and B. yakushimensis by amplifying chloroplast matK sequences from the connected root tissues. The results showed that B. japonica parasitizes on Symplocos species, and that B. yakushimensis parasitizes on Distylium racemosum in Japan and Schima superba in Taiwan’s population.
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Acknowledgments
We deeply appreciate Dr. Shu-Chuan Hsiao, Mr. Tadashi Minamitani and Jiunn-Yih Huang for their help in specimen collections. We also thank the technical assistance of Technology Commons, College of Life Science, NTU with SEM, and also the staffs at the herbaria of Harvard University (A, GH) and Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica (HAST) for the help on literature survey and providing specimen samples. We thank David W. Taylor for helps on editing the manuscript. This study was partly supported by grants from National Science Council, Taiwan (NSC 96-2621-B-002-008-MY3 and 99-2918-I-002-020).
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10265_2011_447_MOESM3_ESM.tif
S3 Unrooted maximum likelihood tree of Balanophora species, including B. reflexa (EU598798), using nr18S/nrITS regions, but excluding non-alignable nrITS1 region (TIFF 789 kb)
10265_2011_447_MOESM4_ESM.tiff
S4 Bracts of B. japonica and B. yakushimensis and SEM photos of epidermal cells on the margin of bract apex. a, bracts of B. japonica, showing smooth margin; b, cells in B. japonica are uniform in morphology with equivalent of length and width; c, bracts of B. yakushimensis, showing irregular crenate margins; d, cells on the margin of B. yakushimensis are 1.5-2 times longer than wide (TIFF 3169 kb)
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Su, HJ., Murata, J. & Hu, JM. Morphology and phylogenetics of two holoparasitic plants, Balanophora japonica and Balanophora yakushimensis (Balanophoraceae), and their hosts in Taiwan and Japan. J Plant Res 125, 317–326 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-011-0447-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-011-0447-5