Research Article |
Corresponding author: Dafang Cui ( cuidf@scau.edu.cn ) Academic editor: Hugo de Boer
© 2019 Baohuan Wu, Chaoyu Liu, Daniel Potter, Dafang Cui.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Wu B, Liu C, Potter D, Cui D (2019) Taxonomic reconsideration of Prunus veitchii (Rosaceae). PhytoKeys 115: 59-71. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.115.29219
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Prunus veitchii was published in 1912 and was treated as a synonym of P. serrulata var. pubescens. The information about this taxon is relatively scarce. When consulting specimens of Prunus L., type materials of Prunus veitchii were found to belong to three taxa and P. veitchii, P. concinna, P. japonica var. zhejiangensis, C. jingningensis and C. xueluoensis were found to be conspecific. The taxonomic status of P. veitchii is reconsidered in the present paper. Morphometric analyses were performed to evaluate the significance of differences between P. veitchii and P. serrulata var. pubescens. The results show that the leaves of P. veitchii are significantly smaller and narrower than the leaves of P. serrulata var. pubescens and the peduncle and pedicels are shorter. According to the results of morphometric analyses, P. veitchii should be treated as a separate species. To address these results, a lectotype of P. veitchii is designated here and P. concinna, Cerasus jingningensis and C. xueluoensis are here designated as synonyms of P. veitchii.
Prunus , Prunus serrulata var. pubescens, typification, synonyms, China
Cerasus A. Gray, the taxon that includes species commonly known as cherries, is a group that is famous for germplasm resources of edible fruits and flowering trees and shrubs. Historically, Cerasus has been treated either as a subgenus of Prunus L. or as a separate genus (
Prunus veitchii Koehne (
Meanwhile, we also found that P. veitchii, P. concinna, P. japonica var. zhejiangensis, Cerasus jingningensis and C. xueluoensis should all be conspecific due to their similarities in morphology and habitat. The histories of all of these taxa are relevant and are described below.
First, along with the publication of P. veitchii,
Here, we use morphometric analyses to test the distinct nature of P. veitchii and P. serrulata var. pubescens and conclude that the former should be recognised as a separate species. We designate a lectotype for P. veitchii and reduce P. concinna, Cerasus jingningensis and C. xueluoensis to its synonymy.
Herbarium specimens from A, AU, CSFI, DAV, E, GH, HBG, HHBG, HX, IBK, IBSC, IFP, JJF, JXU, K, KUN, LBG, MO, NAS, NF, NY, PE, UC, US, ZJFC and ZM (
Floral characters and vegetative characters used in morphometric analyses.
Code | Floral Character | Code | Vegetative Characters |
A | Peduncle length (cm) | H | Petiole length (cm) |
B | Pedicel length (cm) | I | Leaf length (cm) |
C | Length of calyx tube (cm) | J | Leaf width (cm) |
D | Diameter of calyx tube top (cm) | K | Angle of leaf base (°) |
E | Length of calyx lobe (cm) | L | Angle of leaf apex (°) |
F | Width of calyx lobe (cm) | M | Length of leaf apex (cm) |
G | Ratio of length and width of calyx lobe | N | Ratio of leaf length and petiole length |
O | Ratio of length and width of leaf |
A non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA was conducted to evaluate the significance of the difference in measured characters between P. veitchii and P. serrulata var. pubescens in each character, as not all characters follow a normal distribution. Box plots were created to illustrate the differences. Data analyses were performed in R version 3.5.1 (
After examining the type specimens, other collections, relevant literature and plants in the field, we determined that P. veitchii, P. concinna, P. japonica var. zhejiangensis, C. jingningensis and C. xueluoensis must be conspecific. Their original descriptions are not essentially different (Table
Characteristic description of Prunus veitchii, P. concinna, P. japonica var. zhejiangensis, Cerasus jingningensis and C. xueluoensis, from the original literature (the description of P. concinna contains Koehne’s description (
P. veitchii | P. concinna | P. japonica var. zhejiangensis | C. jingningensis | C. xueluoensis | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Life Form | Shrub | Shrub | Shrub | Shrub | Shrub, small tree |
Lamina | – | narrow-elliptic to oblong-ovate, oblong-obovate | – | ovate, ovate-elliptic, obovate-elliptic | elliptic, obovate-elliptic |
Leaf Length | – | 3–6 (8) cm | – | 3–6 cm | 3–7 cm |
Leaf Width | – | – | – | 1.5–3 cm | 1.5–3 cm |
Leaf Margin | Incisively serrate | Sharply and rather finely serrate, doubly serrate | – | Acuminately serrate, biserrate | Serrate, biserrate |
Leaf Apex | – | - | – | Acuminate, cuspidate | Acuminate, caudate |
Leaf Base | – | Cuneate, rounded | – | Cuneate, rounded | Subrounded to broadly cuneate |
Petiole | – | 3–8 mm | – | 4–10 mm | 5–9 mm |
Inflorescence | Umbellate, 1–3 flowered | Umbellate (Koehne, 1912), 1–4 flowered (Rehder, 1940), 1–2 flowered (Koehne, 1912) | – | Umbellate, subumbellate, 1–3 flowered | Umbellate, 2–4 flowered |
Peduncle | No | No | – | Very short or no peduncle | Inconspicuous |
Bract | Leaf like | – | – | Leaf like, subovate, ovate-oblong | Obovate, spatulate, fan-shaped, lobate |
Pedicel | 0.8–1.3 cm | 0.8–1.5 cm ( |
– | 0.8–1.8 cm | 0.6–2.5 cm |
Calyx Tube | Tubular with acute base, obconical, 8–10 mm long | Tubular (Rehder, 1940), obconically-tubular (Koehne, 1912), 9 mm long | – | Tubular-campanulate | Narrow tubular, apical enlarged, 6–10 mm long |
Sepal | Ovate, oblong, entire | Ovate to ovate-oblong ( |
– | Ovate-triangular, entire | Ovate-triangular, entire |
Published year | 1912 | 1912 | 1992 | 2012 | 2013 |
The result of basic statistics and Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA are summarised in Table
Arithmetic average ±standard deviation and Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA for measured morphological characters. A, Peduncle length (cm). B, Pedicel length (cm). C, Length of calyx tube (cm). D, Diameter of calyx tube top (cm). E, Length of calyx lobe (cm). F, Width of calyx lobe (cm). G, Ratio of length and width of calyx lobe. H, Petiole length (cm). I, Leaf length (cm). J, Leaf width (cm). K, Angle of leaf base (°). L, Angle of leaf apex (°). M, Length of leaf apex (cm). N, Ratio of leaf length and petiole length. O, Ratio of length and width of leaf.
Variates | Prunus veitchii | P. serrulata var. pubescens | Chi-Square value (ANOVA) | P value (ANOVA) |
---|---|---|---|---|
A | 0.34±0.24 | 0.96± 0.44 | 12.639 | <0.001 |
B | 1.09±0.37 | 1.79± 0.45 | 9.536 | <0.01 |
C | 0.77±0.08 | 0.61± 0.07 | 14.158 | <0.001 |
D | 0.34±0.04 | 0.28± 0.04 | 7.424 | <0.01 |
E | 0.38±0.04 | 0.45± 0.06 | 6.869 | <0.01 |
F | 0.2±0.02 | 0.18± 0.03 | 0.925 | 0.364 |
G | 1.95±0.22 | 2.5± 0.38 | 12.639 | <0.001 |
H | 0.74±0.16 | 1.88±0.31 | 30.6 | <0.001 |
I | 6.18±1.23 | 8.65±0.96 | 25.988 | <0.001 |
J | 2.71±0.59 | 4.62±0.67 | 29.021 | <0.001 |
K | 115.53±20.7 | 162.63±38.39 | 15.341 | <0.001 |
L | 75.9±8.61 | 94.39±13.18 | 19.991 | <0.001 |
M | 0.61±0.21 | 1.1±0.24 | 22.205 | <0.001 |
N | 8.55±1.89 | 4.68±0.71 | 30.069 | <0.001 |
O | 2.29±0.11 | 1.89±0.19 | 24.535 | <0.001 |
Univariate statistics with the minimum and maximum values for discriminating characters of Prunus veitchii and P. serrulata var. pubescens. PS, P. serrulata var. pubescens. PV, P. veitchii. A, Peduncle length (cm). B, Pedicel length (cm). C, Length of calyx tube (cm). D, Diameter of calyx tube top (cm). E, Length of calyx lobe (cm). F, Width of calyx lobe (cm). G, Ratio of length and width of calyx lobe. H, Petiole length (cm). I, Leaf length (cm). J, Leaf width (cm). K, Angle of leaf base (°). L, Angle of leaf apex (°). M, Length of leaf apex (cm). N, Ratio of leaf length and petiole length. O, Ratio of length and width of leaf.
Prunus veitchii was treated as a synonym of P. serrulata var. pubescens by Wilson, a treatment that was followed by Koehne with reservation (
The short peduncle was thought to be an important feature that distinguished P. sargentii Rehder from members of the P. serrulata complex (
E. H. Wilson 66 (Veitch Expedition) collected in April 1900, was cited as the voucher when Koehne described P. veitchii. However, this collection number is a source of some confusion. Number “66” was re-used by Wilson for a specimen collected in 1907 during his expedition for Arnold Arboretum, which was determined by
Type and original materials of Prunus veitchii, P. concinna, P. japonica var. zhejiangensis, Cerasus jingningensis and C. xueluoensis.
Specimen | Type | Collecting locality | Identification |
---|---|---|---|
E. H. Wilson 66 – E00417568 | Original material | W. Hubei | P. veitchii |
E. H. Wilson 66 – HBG511147 | Original material | W. Hubei | P. veitchii |
E. H. Wilson 66 – Y00415930 | Original material | W. Hubei | P. veitchii |
E. H. Wilson 66 – US00130697 | Original material (lectotype designated in this paper) | W. Hubei | P. veitchii |
E. H. Wilson 66 – A00032230 | – | W. Hubei | A small branch is P. veitchii, the other 3 branches are P. pseudocerasus |
E. H. Wilson 66 – A00241703 | – | W. Hubei | P. tenuiflora (P. serrulata var. pubescence) |
E. H. Wilson 66 – K000737109 | – | W. Hubei | P. tenuiflora (P. serrulata var. pubescence) |
E. H. Wilson 2825 | Type of P. concinna | W. Hubei | P. veitchii |
Zhang Fanggang & Li Zhiyun 5309 | Type of P. japonica var. zhejiangensis | S. Zhejiang | P. veitchii |
Y.K.Xu, C.G.Zhao etc. JN1205001 | Type of C. jingningensis | S. Zhejiang | P. veitchii |
Cheng-Hui Nan 040301 | Type of C. xueluoensis | W. Hubei | P. veitchii |
As for why this species was published again several times, we believe that there are several reasons besides the confusing voucher. First, the vouchers of this species are deposited in different herbaria in different countries, so it would have been difficult to consult all of them in the past. Second, few sources, especially those easily accessible to Chinese plant taxonomists, record this species. P. veitchii is not included in “Flora Hubeiensis” (
According to the International Code of Nomenclature (ICN) (
Type: China, western Hubei, April 1900, E.H. Wilson 66 (lectotype, designated here: US! [US00130697]; isolectotypes E! [E00417568], HBG! [HBG511147], NY! [NY00415930], A! [A00032230 in part]).
Prunus concinna Koehne, Pl. Wilson. (Sargent) 1(2): 210. 1912, syn. nov. Type: China, western Hubei, 7 April 1907, E.H. Wilson 2825 (holotype: K! [K000737137]).
Prunus japonica var. zhejiangensis Y. B. Chang, Bull. Bot. Res. 12(3): 271–274, 1992. Type: China, Zhejiang, Suichang, Daixikeng, Tieluyang, 26 May 1986, F. G. Zhang & Z. Y. Li 5309 (holotype: ZM!).
Cerasus jingningensis Z. H. Chen, G.Y. Li & Y. K. Xu, Jour. of Zhejiang For. Sci. & Tech. 32(4): 81–83, 2012, syn. nov. Type: China, Zhejiang, Jingning She Autonomous County, Dayanghu, 22 May 2012, Y. K. Xu, C. G. Zhao et al. JN1205001 (holotype: ZJFC!).
Cerasus xueluoensis C. H. Nan & X. R. Wang, Ann. Bot. Fennici 50: 79–82, 2013, syn. nov. Type: China, Hubei, Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Xuanen County, Xueluozhai, 3 April 2009 C. H. Nan 040301 (holotype: NF!).
Small trees, sometimes shrubs, deciduous, up to 3 m tall. Winter buds ovoid, apex acute, 1–3(4). Stipules lanceolate, sometimes ovate and lobed. Leaves elliptic to obovate-elliptic, 3–8 × 1.5–3.5 cm, apex acuminate, base subrounded to broadly cuneate, abaxially pale green and glabrous, sparsely pilose or sometimes pilose when young, adaxially green and glabrous or sparsely pubescent, margin serrate or biserrate. Petiole 4–10 mm, glabrous or sparsely pilose, apex with 2 nectaries or not. Inflorescence umbellate or sometimes corymbose, peduncle short or inconspicuous, 1–4-flowered, involucral bracts spatulate or obovate-elliptic, bracts ovate, obovate or spatulate, margin serrate. Pedicel 6–25 mm, glabrous or sparsely pilose. Hypanthium tubular, 6–10 × 1.5–3 mm, reddish-green to purplish, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Sepals ovate-triangular to triangular-lanceolate, 3–5 mm, margin entire. Petals white or pinkish, obovate, apex emarginate, ca. 10 mm long. Stamens ca. 30–40. Style glabrous. Drupe ovoid or globose, ca. 8–10 mm in diam., glabrous, black when ripe. Flowering March-April, fruiting May-June.
Fruit or leaf branch, JianJun Zhou 16050702, Xunlin Yu & Hui Zhou 14051515 (CSFI); Fusong Peng 728, 551, Anonymous 23060, Anonymous & Qibai Xiang 844, Laiguan Lin 5976, Linhan Liu 1838, Xianyu He 21316, C. Y. Wu L72, Jiangxidiaochadui 348, Jiangxidui 1242 (PE); Anonymous 11758 (NAS); Choufen Liang 34522; 34484, 34442 (IBK); Xianyu He 23025, Wukaodui 2386 (IBSC); Yaoguo Xiong 07753, 08772 (LBG); Changming Xie et al. L8633-304, Jianshe Fang et al. L8635-320, Maochun Liu 840044, Chensen Ding & Xianglin Shen 5234, 5342, 5215 (ZJFC). Flower branch, H. H. Chung s. n. (AU); Xu Zhang 2015033003, Xunlin Yu, Fan Zhang, Ronghui Tu 16040517, Xunlin Yu, Si Feng, Fanxun Zhang 16040506 (CSFI); HZ017025 (HZ); Lai & Shan 647, Niemin Xiang 92022 (NAS); Anonymous 4218, Jiangxidui 81 (PE); Chensen Ding et al. 5008, Liang Chen 0219 (ZJFC).
This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, 31370246). We are grateful to A, AU, CSFI, DAV, E, GH, HBG, HHBG, HX, IBK, IBSC, IFP, JJF, JXU, K, KUN, LBG, MO, NAS, NF, NY, PE, UC, US, ZJFC and ZM for access to the specimens and their work on the specimen digitisation, making digital images of specimens available on the internet. We also thank Dr. Chenghui Nan and Fanggang Zhang for providing information and the images of the type specimens of Cerasus xueluoensis and Prunus japonica var. zhejiangensis.
P. serrulata var. pubescens
Flower
China: Anonymous 118 (IFP), E. H. Wilson 20 (A00241699), E. H. Wilson 20 (A00241700), E. H. Wilson 13, 66, 69 (A), Anonymous s. n. (NAS00358158), H. F. Chow 40129 (PE), Z. Wang 2283 (PE).
North Korea: C. S. Chang & S. A. Ryue sky 0038 (PE).
Leaf
E. H. Wilson 20 (A00241699), E. H. Wilson 20 (A00241700), E. H. Wilson 13, 51, 51a, 69 (A), H. H. Chung s. n. (AU034505), Wilson 5833 (GH), Anonymous 3038 (NAS00358152), X. Y. He 21994 (NAS), M. B. Deng 4136 (NAS), T. Y. Zhou 1101 (NAS), K. Nakashima s. n. (NAS00358168), M. B. Deng 5498 (NAS), S. X. Li 592 (PE), T. Tang 1948 (PE).
P. serrulata var. pubescens determined as P. leveilleana
Flower
Japan
S. Tsugaru 14295, 16109 (MO), S. Tsugaru et al. 32548 (MO), T. Sawada 895(MO), T. Sawada et al. 287 (MO), K. Seto 28312 (MO),
Leaf
Japan: C. Howick et al. HMT2688, HMT2689 (MO), S. Tsugaru 14326 (MO), S. Tsugaru et al. 18429 (MO), S. Tsugaru et al. 692 (MO), S. Tsugaru et al. 27511, 27680, 29096 (MO), S. Tsugaru & T. Takahashi 14586 (MO), T. Takahashi & G. Murata 2913 (MO), T. Sawada 895 (MO).
P. veitchii
Flower
China: E. H. Wilson 66 (HBG511147, NY00415930, US00130697), H. H. Chung s. n. (AU039954), Q. Z. Lin 054029 (CSFI), X. L. Yu et al. 16040517 (CSFI044820, CSFI044821, CSFI044822), S. Feng & G. X. Feng 16040517 (CSFI), X. Zhang 2015033004 (CSFI), Anonymous 547 (HHBG_ HZ017025).
Leaf
China: G. Yao & R. P. Jiang 11758 (NAS), Anonymous 660465 (LBG00010741), Y. G. Xiong 07753, 08772 (LBG), X. L. Yu & H. Zhou 14051515(CSFI), H. Zhou 16050702 (CSFI), C. F. Liang 34442, 34484, 34522 (IBK), Wukaodui 2386 (IBSC), X. G. Li 203583 (IBSC), X. Y. He 23025 (IBSC), F. S. Peng 728 (PE), Jiangxidui 348 (PE), Jiangxidiaochadui 348, 1242 (PE), Y. K. Xu, C. G. Zhao et al. JN1205001 (ZJFC).