TY - JOUR T1 - Cuticular features of Cryptocarya (Lauraceae) from Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand and Indo-China and its taxonomic implications JF - Phytotaxa Y1 - 2016 DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.244.1.2 A1 - Sachiko Nishida A1 - Rogier P.J. de Kok A1 - Yang, Yong SP - 26 EP - 44 KW - cuticle KW - epidermis KW - Morphology AB -

Cuticular features potentially offer valuable information on phytotaxonomy, especially for plants that are difficult to classify or identify. Cryptocarya is one such difficult and poorly known genus, and we investigated its cuticular features to evaluate their taxonomic implications. We examined cutinized leaf epidermis and the stomatal complex for 21 species from Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand and Indo-China, as well as one species endemic to Borneo and one to Sumatra, and compared features among members of this group, between this group and congeners in the other countries, and between this group and the other genera of Lauraceae. Many of the Cryptocarya species studied have straight to slightly curved anticlinal epidermal walls and butterfly-shaped stomatal ledges, although some variation was seen in the ornamentation of the periclinal epidermal walls and the appearance of the stomatal complex. Based on these results, we recognized four groups and two subgroups among the South-east Asian species. Comparison with congeneric taxa in the other countries indicates that butterfly-shaped stomatal ledges are often shared among the species across the regions. However, no cuticular features occur exclusively in any of the species groups of Cryptocarya studied here, nor in the genus as a whole. We consider that cuticular features are useful in the recognition of infrageneric groups within Lauraceae, bearing in mind that they might have evolved in parallel in different genera.

VL - 244 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Floral structure and ontogeny of Syndiclis (Lauraceae) JF - PLoS ONE Y1 - 2017 DO - 10.1371/journal. pone.0186358 A1 - Zeng, Gang A1 - Liu, Bing A1 - David K. Ferguson A1 - Rohwer, Jens G. A1 - Yang, Yong SP - e0186358 AB -

Generic delimitation in the Beilschmiedia group of the Lauraceae remains ambiguous because flowering specimens of a few genera with confined distribution are poorly represented in herbaria, and a few floral characters important for taxonomy are still poorly known. Syndiclis is sporadically distributed in southwestern China, and is represented in the herbaria by only a few flowering specimens. We conducted field investigations to collect floral materials of four species and observed structures and ontogeny of the tiny flowers using both light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the genus Syndiclis possesses flowers with huge variation in both merosity and organ number. Flowers of the genus are dimerous, trimerous, or tetramerous, or have mixed merosity with monomerous and dimerous, or dimerous and trimerous, or trimerous and tetramerous whorls. The number of staminodes ranges from two to eight, depending on floral merosity, and on how many stamens of the third androecial whorl are reduced to staminodes. The staminodes of the fourth androecial whorl are comparable to the staminodes in Potameia, but the staminodes of the third androecial whorl of Syndiclis are relatively larger than the staminodes in Potameia. They are erect or curved inwards, covering the ovary. The anthers are usually two-locular, but rarely one-locular or three-locular. Each stamen of the third androecial whorl bears two conspicuous and enlarged glands at the base. The lability of floral merosity and organ number of Syndiclis may have been caused by changes of pollination system and loss of special selective pressures that are present in most Lauraceous plants with fixed floral organ number. This study furthers our understanding of variation and evolution of a few important characters of the Beilschmiedia group and provides essential data for a revised generic classification of the group.

VL - 12 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Species catalogue of Lauraceae in China: problems and perspectives JF - Biodiversity Science Y1 - 2015 DO - 10.17520/biods.2015027 A1 - Yang, Yong A1 - Liu, Bing SP - 232 EP - 236 VL - 23 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Origin and evolution of the unusual leaf epidermis of Caryodaphnopsis (Lauraceae) JF - Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics Y1 - 2014 A1 - Zeng, Gang A1 - Liu, Bing A1 - van der Werff, Henk A1 - David K. Ferguson A1 - Yang, Yong SP - 296 EP - 309 AB -

We studied leaf epidermal anatomy of Caryodaphnopsis Airy Shaw, a genus disjunct between tropical Asia and tropical America, using light microscope and scanning electron microscope. We sampled 10 species of Caryodaphnopsis and 52 species of other Lauraceous genera. Our observations suggest that this genus possesses a unique lower leaf epidermis. Compared with other leaves of Lauraceae, this genus has an additional layer covering the lower leaf epidermis and the stomatal apparatus. The additional layer is either closed or poriferous/reticulate. The outer periclinal walls of the lower leaf epidermis protrude outside forming hollow domes or columns, and the distal endings of these domes or columns are expanded and fused, which forms the additional covering layer. Three different types are recognized in the genus: (1) the middle portion of the protuberances is not contracted and the distal endings are free or adnate to each other, with only limited space between the two layers; (2) the middle portion is slightly contracted in the outer part, the distal endings are fused, with more space between the two layers; (3) the middle portion is conspicuously contracted and elongated into columns, the distal endings are fused and it is roomy between the two layers. The structure of the leaf lower epidermis is reconstructed and illustrated for the first time. This unusual leaf lower epidermis of Caryodaphnopsis is derived in Lauraceae and is an autapomorphic character. Outward protrusions of the outer periclinal walls forming papillate protuberances surrounding the stomatal apparatus are also found in a few other genera including Neocinnamomum, a genus closely related to Caryodaphnopsis, but the distal endings of these protrusions are not expanded and connected. We hypothesize that the periclinal wall of the lower leaf epidermis has been gradually modified in Lauraceae, from a smooth pattern in most genera, to papillate pattern (e.g. Neocinnamomum), and to the double layered lower leaf epidermis in Caryodaphnopsis. The origin and evolution of this unique lower epidermis might have been related to the climatic cooling and aridification since the late Eocene.

VL - 16 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Leaf cuticular anatomy and taxonomy of Syndiclis (Lauraceae) and its allies JF - Systematic Botany Y1 - 2012 DO - 10.1600/036364412X656518 A1 - Yang, Yong A1 - Zhang, Li-yan A1 - Liu, Bing A1 - van der Werff, Henk SP - 861 EP - 878 VL - 37 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Beilschmiedia turbinata: A newly recognized but dying species of Lauraceae from tropical Asia based on morphological and molecular data JF - PLoS ONE Y1 - 2013 DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0067636 A1 - Liu, Bing A1 - Yang, Yong A1 - Lei, Xie A1 - Zeng, Gang A1 - Ma, Keping SP - 1 EP - 10 VL - 8 IS - 6 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A new species of Caryodaphnopsis Airy Shaw (Lauraceae) from southeastern Yunnan, China JF - Phytotaxa Y1 - 2013 DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.118.1.1 A1 - Liu, Bing A1 - Yang, Yong A1 - Ma, Keping SP - 1 EP - 8 KW - conservation KW - field investigation KW - flora KW - taxonomy VL - 118 ER -