论单穗升麻(毛茛科)的形态特征及其在我国的地理分布

On the Morphological Characteristics and Geographical Distribution in China of Actaea simplex (Ranunculaceae)

摘要:

由于对单穗升麻(毛茛科)的形态鉴别性状缺乏确切理解,我国学者长期以来对该种概念和界定的认识有误,常将其与传统定义的、概念过于宽泛的“升麻”相混。基于标本和野外居群观察,我们重估了单穗升麻一些过去被我国学者所忽略或不了解的性状如花序分枝开花顺序、花色、心皮柄长度等的变异式样和分类学价值,确定单穗升麻以顶生小叶披针形至椭圆形,通常三深裂且中裂片再三至五羽状浅裂,顶生总状花序伸长并先于明显较短的侧生总状花序开花,花白色,退化雄蕊亦白色,杯状,顶部二深裂,心皮柄较长且果期继续伸长,而与升麻属其他种类易于区别。我们所揭示的该种在我国的分布区较以前所记录者明显要广。安徽、重庆、甘肃、广东、贵州、河北、黑龙江、河南、湖北、江西、吉林、辽宁、内蒙古、陕西、山西、四川、云南、浙江皆有单穗升麻分布。

Abstract:

The concept and delimitation of Actaea simplex (= Cimicifuga simplex) in the Ranunculaceae have been previously widely misunderstood in China owing to incomplete knowledge of its diagnostic characters. It has often been confused with the traditionally broadly defined “C. foetida”. Based on observations of herbarium specimens and living plants in wild populations, here we re-evaluate the variation pattern and taxonomic value of some morphological characters of the species, such as the flowering sequence of racemes on the inflorescence, flower color, and carpel stipe length, etc., which have all been neglected or ignored by Chinese taxonomists. Our results demonstrate that A. simplex is very readily distinguishable from its congeners by the terminal leaflets lanceolate to elliptic, often deeply 3-partite with the central partition pinnately 3-5-lobate, the terminal racemes elongate, flowering earlier than the often much shorter lateral racemes, the flowers white, the staminodes also white, cup-shaped, apex deeply bifid, and the carpels long stipitate with the stipes more or less elongate after anthesis. The species is revealed to be much more widely distributed in China than documented before, occurring in Anhui, Chongqing, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Zhejiang.