Articles
CONVALLARIACEAE GROUND COVER PLANTS NATIVE TO ASIA
Article number
769_49
Pages
343 – 350
Language
English
Abstract
Ophiopogon and Liriope (Convallariaceae), which are native to Asia, are important ground cover plants.
Serious confusion exists in commercial names of cultivars in both Ophiopogon and Liriope. From commercial sources, 61 plants were collected and their flower, seed, leaf and root morphologies were then observed for five years.
Flower morphology was the most important criterion to discriminate genera Ophiopogon and Liriope. Micro-morphology of leaves using SEM was helpful to discriminate species, as were variations in nuclear DNA contents determined by flow cytometry.
Based on those investigations, most plants obtained from commercial sources are classifiable as six species (O. japonicus, O. planiscapus, O. jaburan, L. platyphylla, L. minor, and L. spicata) native to Japan.
The remaining cultivars are discussed.
Serious confusion exists in commercial names of cultivars in both Ophiopogon and Liriope. From commercial sources, 61 plants were collected and their flower, seed, leaf and root morphologies were then observed for five years.
Flower morphology was the most important criterion to discriminate genera Ophiopogon and Liriope. Micro-morphology of leaves using SEM was helpful to discriminate species, as were variations in nuclear DNA contents determined by flow cytometry.
Based on those investigations, most plants obtained from commercial sources are classifiable as six species (O. japonicus, O. planiscapus, O. jaburan, L. platyphylla, L. minor, and L. spicata) native to Japan.
The remaining cultivars are discussed.
Authors
S. Fukai, T. Shimomura, T. Kondo
Keywords
Liriope, Ophiopogon
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