Comments onthe taxonomic relationship between Raphiolepis major Card. and R. indica (L.) Lindl.

Hsu Ping-Sheng, Li Lin-Chu

Received:1900-01-01 Revised:1900-01-01 Online:1982-05-18 Published:1982-05-18
Contact: Hsu Ping-Sheng

Abstract:

According to the information including type material with regard to Raphiolepis

major Card. and R. indica (L.) Lindl., the morphological differences between these two

closely related taxa are largely quantitative, i.e., the former has larger leaves, flowers

and fruits, and longer petioles and pedicels than the latter. But since these characteri-

stics are rather variable, they can hardly be proven to be sound in separating these two

taxa as distinct.

By using methods of quantitative analysis with scatter diagrams on herbarium ma-

terials, we have found that the characteristics used to discriminate the two taxa either

tend to display continuous variational patterns, or vary at random. Both eases suggest

that the morphological variations of individual sample plants are probably due to the dif-

ferent modes of growth or development of plants in response to varied environments.

Since these two taxa are taxonomically inseparable from each other as a whole, it seems

advisable to treat them as one single species. Thus, the lately published R. major Card.

should be reduced to a synonym of R. indica (L.) Lindl.

Hsu Ping-Sheng, Li Lin-Chu. Comments onthe taxonomic relationship between Raphiolepis major Card. and R. indica (L.) Lindl.[J]. .

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