Fagus multinervis
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Fagus multinervis is a species of beech ( Fagus ) within the beech family(Fagaceae). This endemic occurs exclusively on the small Korean island of Ulleungdo . The independence of this family of plants is controversial: some botanists alternatively assign them to the similar species Fagus engleriana , Fagus crenata or Fagus japonica .
description
The species Fagus multinervis can not be differentiated morphologically with certainty and is mainly differentiated according to genetic characteristics. Fagus multinervis is very similar to Fagus engleriana, which is common in southern China .
Vegetative characteristics
Like Fagus engleriana , Fagus multinervis grows with multiple stems, whereby the individual stems can reach heights of growth of 18 to 20, rarely up to 30 meters and trunk diameters of about 60 to rarely 70 centimeters. The bark of the branches is initially densely hairy, later balding.
The alternate leaves arranged on the branches are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The simple leaf blade is egg-shaped with a length of 4 to 9, rarely up to 11 centimeters and a width of 3.5 to 6, rarely up to 7 centimeters with a pointed upper end and a smooth or slightly wavy edge. There are 11 to 15 lateral nerves each. The upper side of the leaf is bare and the underside is pale in color and hairy when pressed on the leaf veins.
Generative characteristics
The fruit cups (cupulae) are densely covered with green colored, spatula-shaped scales.
Site conditions
Ulleungdo Island, about 130 kilometers east of the Korean coast, is about 73 square kilometers and is of volcanic origin. Its age is estimated to be around 1.8 million years, and it was never connected to the mainland. The island culminates in the 984 meter high Seonginbong, whose steep flanks are divided by five elongated ridges. The deciduous, temperate forests of the island, in which Fagus multinervis is widespread, grow from an altitude of around 300 meters, below which evergreen subtropical forests are widespread. As is typical for beech forests, Fagus multinervis develops dominant stands with little involvement of other tree species. The linden species Tilia insularis , the maple species Acer okamotoana and Acer takesimense , the cherry species Prunus takesimensis , the yew species Taxus cuspidata and the elm species Ulmus laciniata are also found, most of them also endemic to the island of Ulleungdo (39 of the approximately 600 plant species are endemic) . In the herbaceous layer of the forests, species such as Allium victorialis var. Platyphyllum , the liverwort Hepatica maxima , the lily of the valley Maianthemum dilatatum and ferns such as Rumohra standishii , Polystichum tripteron and Polystichum retrosopaleaceum are characteristic.
In terms of plant sociology , the beech forests of Ulleungdo are assigned to an association Hepatico-Fagetum multinervis , which alone forms its own order Fagetalia multinervis .
Systematics
The first description of Fagus multinervis was made in 1918 by the Japanese Nakai Takenoshin after the book copies of this island until then the type Fagus japonica were attributed. According to morphological characteristics it was synonymous with Fagus engleriana by CF Shen and, following him, by Th. Denk . Other botanists considered it a variety of Fagus japonica or Fagus crenata . According to genetic studies by the Korean researcher Sang-Hun Oh (and colleagues) in 2015 and 2016, however, it can be viewed as an independent species. The sister group relationship is still unstable and unclear between the investigations; it probably forms the sister group of Fagus japonica and the Chinese species of the subgenus Engleriana taken together. The differing position in different cladograms could be an indication of a hybridogenic origin. Due to the island's low geological age, the immigration must have occurred relatively recently, possibly from mainland Korea. Beech species no longer occur there today, but their earlier occurrence has been proven by fossil remains.
Literature and Sources
- Takenoshin Nakai: Notulae ad plantas Japoniae et Koreae XVII. In: Botanical Magazine , Volume 32 (377), 1918, pp. 103-110.
- Sang-Hun Oh: Sea, wind, or bird: Origin of Fagus multinervis (Fagaceae) inferred from chloroplast DNA sequences. In: Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy , Volume 45, Issue 3, 2015, pp. 213-220. doi: 10.11110 / kjpt.2015.45.3.213
- Sang-Hun Oh, Jung-Won Youm, Yong-In Kim, Young-Dong Kim: Phylogeny and Evolution of Endemic Species on Ulleungdo Island, Korea: The Case of Fagus multinervis (Fagaceae). In: Systematic Botany , Volume 41, Issue 3, 2016. doi: 10.1600 / 036364416X692271 .
- Reinhard Zetter: Morphological investigations on Fagus leaves from the Neogene of Austria. In: Contributions to the paleontology of Austria , Volume 11, 1985, pp. 207–288.
- Thomas Denk, Guido W. Grimm, Vera Hemleben: Patterns of molecular and morphological differentiation in Fagus (Fagaceae): phylogenetic implications. In: American Journal of Botany , Volume 92, Issue 6, 2005, pp. 1006-1016. doi: 10.3732 / ajb.92.6.1006 .
- Tukasa Hukusima, Tetsuya Matsui, Takayoshi Nishio, Sandro Pignatti, Liang Yang, Sheng-You Lu, Moon-Hong Kim, Masato Yoshikawa, Hidekazu Honma, Yuehua Wang: Syntaxonomy of the East Asiatic Fagus Forests Chapter 2 In: Phytosociology of the Beech ( Fagus) Forests in East Asia. Springer Verlag, Berlin and Heidelberg 2013, ISBN 978-3-642-35619-3 . (Chap.) Doi: 10.1007 / 978-3-642-35620-9_2 .