ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 4749
Poster No. = 677


THE GENUS PARIS (TRILLIACEAE)


Li Heng, Kunming Inst.of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, People's Republic of China


Many species in the genus Paris are considered as very important traditional medicinal materials in China. Recent studies on Paris reveal that the genus includes 24 species with 11 varieties belonging to 8 sections and 2 subgenera. The following characteristics are believed to be very useful in indentifying taxa in Paris: 1. The basic number of flowers is (3-)4-10, the number of sepals or petals is the same as that of the carpels, 2. The number of stamens is generally 2-6 times as many as sepals (or carpels, stigmas), 3. Ovary unilocular with (3-)4-10 parietal placentas or (3-)4-10-locular with axial placentas, fruit a dehicent capsule or an indehiscent berry, 4. Seeds enclosed by a juicy testa, with an imperfect aril from the funicle or without it, 5. Rhizome short and thick or enlongate slender creeping, 6. Cytologically it is diploid or polyploid, karyotype is tropical (K2n=2x=10=6m+4t) or temperate (K2n=2x=10=6m+4st, or =6m+2st+2t).In determining phylogenetic trends within the genus,it is obvious that Paris dunniana Levl., which produces a thick rhizomes, has got stamens as 4-6 times as the carpels in number, unilocular ovary with parietal placentas, dehiscent fruit, seeds with scarlet juicy testa, diploid with tropical carvotype, represents a primitive species that could not be considered as to be advanced than other species.


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