The Karyotypes of Angelica dahurica and Their Taxonomical Significance (Umbelliferae)
白芷的核型研究及其分类意义

The present paper deals mainly with the karyotype analysis of five materials in Angelica dahurica collected in Yanbian of Jilin, Anguo of Hebei, Yuxian of Henan, Hangzhou of Zhejiang and Suining of Sichuan. They are under the names “Dongbeidahuo”, “Qibaizhi”, “Yubaizhi”, ”Hangbaizhi” and “Chuanbaizhi” respe- ctively. Among then “Dongbeidahuo” is a wild plant, which occurs in northeastern China, and the others are cultivated as important crude drugs in some provinces. “Qi- Baizhi” and “Yubaizhi” have been identified as conspecific with the wild Baizhi-“Do- Ngbeidahuo” (A. dahurica) according to the external morphological features, whereas the other cultivated ones, “Hangbaizhi” and “Chuanbaizhi”, treated as a variety (A. dahu- rica var. formosana). The results of karyotype analysis are shown in Plate 1, 2, with the formula 2n=22 =12 m+2 mSAT+4sm+4st. The karyotypes described here are constantly characterized by satellites attached to the fourth pair of metacentric chromosomes and differ from the pu- blished reports on the other species of the genus. It is reasonable to say that the five materials collectively named “Baizhi” are taxonomically closely related to each other and could be regarded as conspecific. Since the second chromosome pair is submetacen- tric in “Dongbeidahuo”, it may be justifiable to separate the wild plant from the cul- tivated ones and treat them as two separate varieties.