What is it about?
The genus Thuja contains 5 living species with a disjunctive distribution between East Asia (3 species) and North America (2 species). Here we firstly investigate all 5 living species of the genus with respect to the morphological characters of cones and foliage using the Light Microscope and Scanning Electron Microscope and provide a new species identification system within Thuja.
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Why is it important?
Numerous fossil records of this genus were reported in the Northern Hemisphere from the late Cretaceous to Pleistocene sediments. However, due to the fragmental preservation of fossils, the precise species identification within the genus is difficult, which impedes our tracing its evolutionary history and the forming process of its biogeographic pattern. Therefore, a precise species identification system for fossils based on foliage and seed cones is needed.
Perspectives
We have made particular use of micromorphological characters in order to 1. Differentiate the living species within Thuja. 2. Link fragmental fossil species to living ones, and thus help to trace the evolutionary history of the genus.
Professor Yu-Fei Wang
Instititu of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Recognizing the species of Thuja (Cupressaceae) based on their cone and foliage morphology, Phytotaxa, July 2015, Magnolia Press,
DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.219.2.1.
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