관악수목원 소장표본을 중심으로 한 국내 목본 식물의 분포지와 식별에 대해서 (III) : 자작나무과에 대해서

Abstract

To clarify the taxonomy of five genera of Betulaceae, herbarium spcimens collected from South Korea past forty years were compared on the basis of leaf and fruit morphology. A multivariate morphometric study of Corylus and Alnus was undertaken to assess the numbers and ranks of taxa that usefully could be recognized. The qualitative and quantitative differnces among Betula taxa were larger and indicated that five species could be easily recognized. The current study, together with earlier studies, justified varietal status for several taxa, such as Corylus sieboldiana var. mandshurica C. Schneider, Carpinus tschonoskii var. brevicalycina Nakai and C. laxiflora var. longispica Uyeki. However, A. hirsuta (Spach) Turcz. ex Ruprecht was indistinguishable from A. sibirica (Fischer ex Spach) Komarov on the basis of leaf and fruit morphology. Using a key to the taxa produced from all results, the distributions of most taxa were determined from a limited sample of herbarium specimens and nomenclatural problems were reviewed. The relationships of several taxa, such as Alnus fruticosa complex, A. hirsuta complex, and Corylus sieboldiana complex to one another and to the northern populations of them were as yet unclear, and therefore recognition of these taxa would be premature.