Systematics Of Corydalis DC. (Fumariaceae)

Corydalis DC., the largest genus of Papaveraceae, belongs to Corydaleae-Fumarioideae and comprises ca. 440 species mainly distributed in north temperate area. More than 300 species occur in China. It is one of the most taxonomically complicated genera owning to the variable morphology and reticulate evolution and there are still many taxonomical problems need to be settled. Many disagreements are there about the subdivision of the genus and also phylogenetic relationships among sections, our study aims to acquire a more natural system and track the true radiation process of the genus .The blueprint is composed of two parts, i. e. molecular systematics and palynology. In the first study, two markers from the chloroplast genome, i.e. rps 16 intron and matK, are chosen to rebuild the phylogeny system of the genus. Nearly 100 species representing most of the sections are sequenced. Rps16 of 98 species and matK of 70 were successfully amplified. Two phylogeny trees from the two markers independently display the same topology with 5 branches. The systematic positions of some sections are settled and the sectional phylogeny relationships are far different from the historical view.In the latter study, 124 species from most of the sections are observed under scanning electronic microscope and some of them under light microscope. The palynology studies reinforced some of the results from molecular study. Some of the conclusions as following. Firstly, species in Sect. Asterostigmata and Sect. Elatae bear derived palynology characters. Secondly, Sect. Fasciculatae s.l. is especially diversified and some series, such as Ser. Feddeana possesses perforate exine ornamentation, are divergent from others. Thirdly, Sect. Incisae is an unnatural group and one or more species may related to the monotypic Sect. Pubicaules. Furthermore, the evolution...