Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2012, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (3): 271-277.DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1259.2012.00271

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Numerical Taxonomic Analysis of Stellaria and Myosoton (Caryophyllaceae)

Xubo Chen1, Shiyong Meng2, Quanru Liu3*   

  1. 1College of Ecology, Lishui University, Lishui 323000, China;

    2College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;

    3College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
  • Received:2011-10-17 Revised:2012-02-22 Online:2012-05-01 Published:2012-07-06
  • Contact: Quanru Liu

Abstract: The phylogenetic relationship between Stellaria L. and Myosoton Moench. is always controversial. To clarify the relationship and their genus classification, we studied Stellaria L. and Myosoton Moench. by numerical analysis of 55 morphological characters. According to cluster analysis and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), the Myosoton aquaticum is closely related to sect. Stellaria, especially subsect. Larbreae. Thus, the genus of Myosoton should be reduced to Stellaria, and the section Fimbripetalum should be considered an independent group. PCoA results showed that some characters have played an important role in species classification, including the form of the stem and whether it has a coat, the leaf length and width, whether it has a petiole, the leaf form and coat, stomata index and density. Moreover, other characters that have played a crucial role include the existence of petals and the number of petal lobes, the number of stamens, capsule length, the number of styles and seed, and surface features of seeds.