欢迎访问中国科学院大学学报,今天是

中国科学院大学学报

• • 上一篇    下一篇

裸子植物一新科——竹柏科

傅德志   

  • 收稿日期:1900-01-01 修回日期:1900-01-01 出版日期:1992-11-10 发布日期:1992-11-10
  • 通讯作者: 傅德志

Nageiaceae—A New Gymnosperm Family

Fu De-Zhi   

  • Received:1900-01-01 Revised:1900-01-01 Online:1992-11-10 Published:1992-11-10
  • Contact: Fu De-Zhi

摘要:

竹柏科Nageiaceae是根据叶无中脉而具多数近平行细脉和雌性生殖器官接近原始的枝条状结构,
从裸子植物罗汉松科Podocarpaceae中分出的单属新科。 新科内有2个组,5个种,分布于太平洋西
海岸的东亚、南亚近海山地至新几内亚等南太平洋岛屿区域。 该科植物具有2个以上叶迹和无中脉的
多脉叶类型,在现存的裸子植物中十分特殊,仅与少数几个系统位置较为孤立或系统位置不甚清楚的
类群有一定相似之处,而与其他大多数具中脉叶类型的类群几乎没有任何过渡和联系。 古植物学证据
表明,自古生代以来,各不同地质时期均有这种多脉叶类型化石存在,同时,在某些古裸子植物化石
中,也存在接近Nageiaceae所具有的枝条状雌性生殖器官类型。 据此推测,在裸子植物系统发育中,
可能存在一条以叶具多脉为标志的M-演化线(multinerved-leaved evolutionary line),这条演化线
可追溯至古裸子植物科达类甚至更古老的类群。

关键词: 竹柏科, 雌性生殖器官, 大孢子叶球, 多脉叶, M-演化线

Abstract:

A new monotypic gymnosperm family, Nageiaceae D. Z. Fu, is sepa-
rated from Podocarpaceae. It is characterized by having multinerved leaves with-
out costae, and primitive shoot-like female reproductive organs (female strobili).
The new family contains a single genus consisting of 2 sections, 5 species and is
distributed along the western coast of the Pacific, from low coastal mountains of
eastern and southern Asia to the Phillipines and Papua New Guinea.
     The first species in the Nageiaceae was described as an angiosperm, Myrica
nagi Thunb. (1784), but it was soon recognized to be a gymnosperm belonging
to a new genus, and was renamed as Nageia japonica Gaert. (1788). The generic
name, Nageia, however, has seldom been used, and the members of Nageia have
generally been treated as an isolated section of Podocarpus in the Podocarpaceae.
When revising the Podocarpaceae, De Laubenfels (1969) established a new genus
Decussocarpus based on Nageia, but several years later (1987) he revived the old
generic name, Nageia. Page ( 1988,1990)considered Nageia to be a valid generic
name and redefined it as a natural genus.
     The distinctive,broadly lanceolate, multinerved leaves (without costae) of Nageia
are rather unusual in gymnosperms,only being similar to those of Agathis in the
Araucariaceae, their leaves are also similar to each other in anatomy. For example,
there are many  single vascular bundles arranged parallelly,  between which
occur sclerenchyma cells in the mesophyll. Apparently,leaves in Nageia are rather
similar both externally and internally to paleogymnosperm cordaitean leaves, and
sclerenchyma cells found in Nageia might be the remains of straps between veins
in cordaitean leaves. In addition to leaf characters, the large and nearly round
pith of the young shoot in Nageia appears to be a reminiscent of the large pith in
cordaitean stem.
    The female reproductive organs (female strobili ) in Nageia are shoot-like.
The female strobilus  has  a  sterile terminal  bud,  and  several  opposite  or
subopposite sterile scaly bracts on its axis; two opposite megasporophylls are
found near the axis apex and both have an anatropous ovule which is almost en-
tirely covered by the megasporophyll; a bract is partly adnate to the lower back
of the megasporophyll;mature arillate seeds are 1-2 or occasionally 3 in number;
the axis becomes woody when the seeds mature,  but in some species (N.
wallichiana) the upper part of the axis becomes fleshy (in the shape of a receptacle),
in which no distinct boundary was found between the fleshy receptacle and the
woody part, and both have the same scaly bracts or traces.
     Many characters in Nageia are distinctly different from those in Podocarpus.
Leaves in the Podocarpaceae have distinct midribs; in Podocarpus, the reproduc-
tive organ, which was generally thought to be similar to that in Nageia, has no ter-
minal bud,  and  its  bract  is  entirely  free  from  the  lower back  of the
megasporophyll, the fleshy receptacle is derived from both the axis and the sterile
bracts (except the lowest two), and the female strobilus at the seed stage has a sec-
ondary stalk.
     The multinerved leaf in Nageia can rarely   be found in most of the living
gymnosperms except in some rather isolated groups, such as Araucariaceae,
Ephedraceae,Ginkgoaceae and Welwitschiaceae. Paleobotanical evidence shows that
multinerved leaves have been found in all of the geological ages from the Paleozoic
to the present, and such a shoot-like female reproductive organ as in Nageia was
found in some paleogymnosperms. It is very difficult to determine the systematic
positions of these fossil plants because of lacks adequate material of reproductive
organs or even lack of complete vegetative organs. The vascular system and
leaf characters of gymnosperms are considered to be very  conservative, and the
fact that the common leaf shape and venation exist in both fossil and living
gymnosperms could imply  that there exists a multinerved-leaved evolutionary
line ( M-line )  in  gymnosperms,  which  could  be  traced  back  to  the
paleogymnosperm cordaitean plants or even older ones with multinerved leaves.
The different types of the female strobili (female reproductive  organs) of living
 gymnosperms, regardless of having one or only several seeds without a typical
 cone or many seeds with a cone, might have been derived from shoot-like or spike-
like female reproductive organs possessed by their common ancestor.The fossil eviden
 ce shows that the typical cone similar to those of living gymnosperms first appeared
 in the Jurassic, much later than the single-seeded fossil plant without cones. The seed
 fossil appeared in the late Devonian Period. It is very difficult to infer the relationships
among living gymnosperms, which are hardly derived from one another. But an
analysis of the strobili,  including the axis structure and position,  number,
morphology and degree of adnation of the phyllomes on them, would be helpful
to the study of their phylogeny. It is evident, therefore, that the gymnosperms
with leaves having a midrib might also have a rather long evolutionary course,but no
transition between the midrib and multinerved patterns of leaf venation has so far
been found in both living and fossil plants.
    Finally, it is noteworthy that the Nageiaceae are distributed along the western
coast of the Pacific, where many primitive representatives, both in gymnosperms
and angiosperms, still survive. This would be advantageous to the consideration
of Nageiaceae as a primitive representative, or a descendant of fhe paleogymnos
-perm cordaitean plants.

Key words: Nageiaceae D. Z. Fu, Female reproductive organs, Female strobilus, Multinerved leaf, Multinerved-leaved evolutionary line (M-line)