Study On Regeneration Mechanism Of Clonal Population Of Epimedium Koreanum

Epimedium koreanum Nakai is a traditional Chinese medicine, is mainly founded in Jilin, Liaoning province in the territory of Northeast China, and widely distributed in Japan, Korea, etc. This plant often growths in aggregative patches with different sizes as communities occupying in the forest. It is an economic plant which has high applied value and foreground for development in medicine. So there are some approaches to chemical constituents, pharmacodynamics, biological, etc, but no documents on vegetative propagation characteristics, such as clonal architecture, clonal growth, longevity of ramet root, nutrient allocation of ramets. This research is studied its clonal architecture, age structure, nutrient allocation of rhizomes and clonal reproduction of Epimedium koreanum in different conditions in Changbai mountain area. The objectives of this study were to describe the characteristics of Epimedium koreanum population in order to supply some evidences or material for exploring the covergent adaption and regeneration of the clone population in the Changbai mountain area.The experiment was carried out on the renewing population of Epimedium koreanum in the next year from 2004-2005 in Linjiang where is lies in among 126°11'~127°35'E longitude, 41°27'~42°4'N latitude. Based on the observation of sampling, three different habitats had been chosen in Quercus mongolica forest, Juglans mandshurica forest and Shaw forest in Weisahe, and Huasan. Based on the field investigations and compiled statistics, the results are showed as follows:1. The results indicated that Epimedium koreanum is a typical species of perennial herbaceous rhizome plant. The natural population is mainly renewed by vegetative propagation of rhizomes. Epimedium koreanum population had a regular clonal growth. It is a clonal architecture of guerilla and a shoot ramet. The ramets were able to maintain for one year, but the rhizomes were able to maintain for at least nine years. There is patential of a strong clonal integration in the species.The age structure was characterised by number, length and biomass of rhizomes in Quercus mongolica forest, Juglans mandshurica forest and Shaw forest. The branch number, length and biomass of rhizomes changed in increasing age structure in Quercus mongolica forest, Juglans mandshurica forest and Shaw forest. The Quercus mongolica forest is the best favorable environment for Epimedium koreanum clonal population which could extend its niche space by the speed of 12-14 cm per year. In addition, the rhizome in the...