全 文 ：Study on Morphology and Distribution of
Euphorbia kansuensis Prokh. (Euphorbiaceae), a
Potential Energy Plant
Zixia GU, Jianlin GUO, Yifeng ZHOU, Yueyu HANG*
Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory for Plant Ex-situ Conservation, Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and the Chinese Academy
of Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China
Supported by Key Technologies R & D Program of Jiangsu Province (BE2008328).
*Corresponding author. E-mail: hangyueyu@yahoo.com.cn
Received: March 8, 2012 Accepted: June 28, 2012A
Agricultural Science & Technology, 2012, 13(7): 1443-1446
Copyright訫 2012, Information Institute of HAAS. All rights reserved Agronomy and Horticultrue
Abstract [Objective] This research aimed to study the taxonomic status of a poten-
tial energy plant, E. kansuensis Prokh (Euphorbiaceae). [Method] Fresh plants col-
lected after field survey and specimens were observed and compared to study the
morphological characteristics and distribution of E. kansuensis Prokh. and E. ebraceo-
lata Hayata in Subgen. Esula distributed in Jiangsu Province. [Result] There was no
obvious morphological distinction but some overlaps between E. kansuensis Prokh.
in Flora of China and E. ebraceolata Hayata in Flora of Jiangsu based on indumen-
tum and root characteristics, therefore the standpoint that E. ebraceolata Hayata was
a wrong name for E. kansuensis Prokh. in Flora of China proved to be reasonable.
However, the description of E. kansuensis Prokh. should be modified as follows: in-
dumentums, present or absent; roots, fusiform to terete; glands, oblong kidney -
shaped. [Conclusion] This study is of great significance for the taxonomic identifica-
tion of E. kansuensis Prokh.
Key words Energy plant; E. kansuensis Prokh.; E. ebraceolata Hayata; Morphologi-
cal characteristics; Distribution
T he genus Euphorbia Linn. is thelargest one in the family Eu-phorbiaceae, and also one of
the super-genera. The Euphorbia
species are almost widespread thro-
ughout the world, and approximately
2 000 species are recorded in Flora of
China[1] and its English version[2]. There
are 77 Euphorbia species including 11
endemic species and 9 introduced
species in China, which mainly dis-
tribute in the Hengduan Mountains,
Southwestern China and the arid re-
gion of Northwestern China [ 3 ] . This
genus consists of diverse species with
great variation, and can be found in
complicated habitats. Centered mainly
in Eurasia, Subgen. Esula is the most
difficult subgenus to be classified in
Euphorbia. There are 500 species in
Subgen. Esula recorded in Flora of
China. In China, there are 46 Euphor-
bia species, of which 7 are endemic [1].
Species in this subgenus are annual or
perennial herbs characterized by vari-
able intraspecific morphology and
unstable variation extent[4]. A Euphor-
bia species from different habitats is
often divided into several species or
varieties due to the unawareness of
continuous changes in morphology.
The seeds of some Euphorbia
species are oil-rich [5], and Euphorbia
lathyris Linn. has been studied exten-
sively as an acknowledged energy
plant [6]. Researchers have also imple-
mented a comparative analysis on
Euphorbia plants distributed in Jiang-
su. Related literatures suggest that fat
content in seeds of E. kansuensis
Prokh. is very high, and the proportion
of fatty acid with carbon number less
than twenty is higher than 99%, indi-
cating a close composition to ideal
biodiesel. Therefore, E. kansuensis
Prokh. could be used as a potential
energy plant [7]. It is thus evident that
the taxonomic identification of E. kan-
suensis Prokh. is significant for further
study.
It was documented that E. kan-
suensis Prokh. in Subgen. Esula was
first established in 1927 by J. Proch-
anov according to the specimens col-
lected along the upper reaches of the
Yellow River and Xiahe River in Gansu
Province by N. Przcwalshi and G.
Potanin[8], and E. ebraceolata Hayata
was named by B. Hayata in 1904 [9].
However, in Flora of China and its
English version, only E. kansuensis
Prokh. is recorded, and E. ebraceolata
Hayata is considered as a wrong
name for E. kansuensis [1-2]. On the
contrary, only E. ebraceolata Hayata is
recorded in floras of Jiangsu, Anhui,
Zhejiang and Shandong, while E. kan-
suensis Prokh. is not[10-13].
By comparing the descriptions of
E. kansuensis Prokh. and E. ebraceo-
lata Hayata in the above floras, it can
be discovered that the two species are
extremely similar in morphology. The
only morphological difference is that E.
kansuensis Prokh. is glabrous throu-
ghout, with semicircular or circular
glands and tereteal roots [1]. Whereas
E. ebraceolata Hayata is sparsely
white-haired on stems (densely at the
internodes), and glabrous on adaxial
surface of leaves, and sparsely cov-
ered with long white hairs on abaxial
surface of leaves, together with
roundish heart-shaped or flat kidney-
shaped or kidney-shaped glands, and
fusiform or conic roots [10]. In addition,
there is a difference in distribution ac-
cording to Flora of China and its Eng-
lish version, E. kansuensis Prokh. ex-
tends over Inner Mongolia, Hebei,
Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu,
DOI:10.16175/j.cnki.1009-4229.2012.07.030
Agricultural Science & Technology
Agricultural Science & Technology Vol.13, No.7, 2012
2012
Table 1 Source information of fresh Subgen. Esula materials and the vouchers
Site of collection Collector Voucher and storage site
Baohuanshan Wu Baocheng, Gu Zixia 0647630; NAS
Langyashan Wu Baocheng, Gu Zixia 0647632; NAS
Table 2 Observation results of indumentum in E. kansuensis Prokh. specimens
SC NS ISL IS/IL IA
Gansu 19 4 3 12
Hebei 5 2 0 3
Shanxi 21 3 6 12
Shaanxi 2 1 1 0
Qinghai 13 5 2 6
Jiangsu 15 6 8 1
Hubei 1 0 0 1
Sichuan 11 8 1 2
Tibet 1 1 0 0
Unknown 6 1 2 3
Total 94 31 23 40
SC, Site of collection; NS, number of samples; ISL, indumentum on both stems and leaves;
IS/IL, indumentum on either stems or leaves; IA, indumentum absent.
Table 3 Observation results of indumentum in E. ebraceolata Hayata. specimens from
NAS
SC NS ISL IS/IL IA
Shanxi 1 1 0 0
Anhui 5 1 2 2
Unknown 3 1 2 0
Total 9 3 4 2
SC, Site of collection; NS, number of samples; ISL, indumentum on both stems and leaves;
IS/IL, indumentum on either stems or leaves; IA, indumentum absent.
Table 4 Observation results of indumentum in fresh Subgen. Esula materials
SC NS ISL IS/IL IA
Langyashan 3 3 0 0
Baohuanshan 100 47 53 0
Total 103 50 53 0
SC, Site of collection; NS, number of samples; ISL, indumentum on both stems and leaves;
IS/IL, indumentum on either stems or leaves; IA, indumentum absent.
Qinghai, Jiangsu, Henan, Hubei and
Sichuan[1-2], while E. ebraceolata Haya-
ta is only distributed in Jiangsu, Anhui,
Zhejiang and Shandong according to
local floras[10-13], meaning no distribu-
tion of E. kansuensis Prokh. in Anhui,
Zhejiang and Shandong. If E. ebrace-
olata Hayata was a wrong name for
E. kansuensis Prokh. according to
Flora of China and its English version,
it would be hard to explain the taxo-
nomic status of E. ebraceolata Hayata
recorded in floras of Jiangsu, Anhui,
Zhejiang and Shandong.
Materials and Methods
Plant Materials
Fresh plants and specimens as-
cribed to Subgen. Esula were two
types of plant materials used in this
research. Fresh Subgen. Esula mate-
rials were wild ones collected from
Baohuashan in Jurong, Jiangsu and
Langyashan in Chuzhou, Anhui. Mor-
phological characteristics of the col-
lected fresh materials which were pu-
berulent conformed to the description
of E. ebraceolata Hayata in Flora of
Jiangsu, while not to that of E. kan-
suensis Prokh. in Flora of China. The
vouchers are preserved in the herbari-
um in Institute of Botany, Jiangsu
Province and Chinese Academy of
Sciences (NAS) (Table 1).
Specimens were from herbariums
in Institute of Botany, Chinese Acade-
my of Sciences (PE), Institute of
Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese
Academy of Sciences (NAS) and Kun-
ming Institute of Botany, Chinese
Academy of Sciences (KUN). Among
them, 94 were E. kansuensis Prokh.
and 9 were E. ebraceolata Hayata.
Methods
Major morphological characteris-
tics of fresh materials and specimens
were observed and compared, includ-
ing the presence or absence of indu-
mentum on stems and leaves, color
and shape of roots, gland shape, etc.
Results and Analysis
Observation of indumentum
All the 94 E. kansuensis Prokh.
specimens from PE, NAS and KUN
were observed (Table 2), of which 40
were glabrous and 54 were puberulent
on stems or leaves. Among 54 speci-
mens with indumentum, 31 were pu-
berulent on both stems and leaves,
and 23 were puberulent on either
stems or leaves. One specimen from
NAS which was collected from
Mazichuan in Min County of Gansu
Province (Yaohe 3201, 492355) con-
sisted of two individuals, one glabrous
and the other puberulent. Except indi-
vidual provinces with few specimens,
there were both glabrous and puberu-
lent specimens in each province,
which did not conform to the descrip-
tion of E. kansuensis Prokh. in Flora of
China.
Observation results of 9 speci-
mens of E. ebraceolata Hayata from
NAS were shown in Table 3. As can
be seen from the able, 3 of the speci-
mens were found puberulent on both
stems and leaves, and 2 were
glabrous, and 4 were puberulent on ei-
ther stems or leaves.
Observation results of 100 fresh
individuals from Baohuanshan which
were all puberulent revealed confor-
mity with the description of E. ebrace-
olata Hayata (Table 4). Among the 100
individuals, 47 were puberulent on
both stems and leaves, and 53 were
puberulent on either stems or leaves.
Besides, 3 fresh individuals from
Langyashan were found puberulent
on both stems and leaves, which al-
so conformed to the description of
E. ebraceolata Hayata.
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Vol.13, No.7, 2012 Agricultural Science & Technology
2012
A, a stem with indumentum from E. kansuensis Prokh. specimens; B, a stem without indu-
mentum from E. kansuensis Prokh. specimens; C, a stem with indumentum from fresh
Subgen. Esula plants; D, a stem without indumentum from fresh Subgen. Esula plants; E, a
terete root from E. kansuensis Prokh. specimens; F, a fusiform root from E. kansuensis
Prokh. specimens; G, a terete root from fresh Subgen. Esula plants; H, a fusiform root from
fresh Subgen. Esula plants.
A-D: Scale bar = 0.5 cm; E-H: Scale bar = 1.0 cm.
Fig.1 Morphological characteristics of E. kansuensis Prokh. specimens and fresh Subgen.
Esula materials
Observation of morphological char-
acteristics of roots
Observation results of 32 speci-
mens of E. kansuensis Prokh. from PE
and 6 specimens of E. ebraceolata
Hayata revealed that roots of the two
species were morphologically similar.
Both the epidermis of roots was gin-
ger, lamellar and flaky, with yellow and
white marbling on the transverse sec-
tion. However, due to the small size of
most specimens, morphological char-
acteristics of roots were not conspicu-
ous, basically between spindle and
cylinder, which were hard to be identi-
fied precisely (Fig.1 E, F).
Among total 103 fresh Subgen.
Esula individuals from Baohuashan
and Langyashan, morphological char-
acters of roots were found quite vari-
able. Meanwhile, both fusiform and
terete roots were common (Fig.1G,
Fig. F).
Distribution
According to Flora of China and
its English version, E. kansuensis
Prokh. is widely distributed in Inner
Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi,
Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Jiangsu,
Henan, Hubei and Sichuan, but not in
Anhui. However, distribution of E. ebra-
ceolata Hayata is just reported in
Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang and Shan-
dong according to local floras. Analy-
sis on sites of collection of both speci-
mens and fresh materials showed that
the distribution of most E. kansuensis
Prokh. and E. ebraceolata Hayata indi-
viduals is in accordance with the
records in floras.
There was an E. kansuensis
Prokh. specimen collected from Tibet
in PE and NAS, respectively , indicat-
ing an inconformity with the distribution
recorded in Flora of China.
Conclusions and Discus-
sions
Observation and comparison re-
sults of fresh materials and numerous
specimens show that there are some
overlaps between E. kansuensis
Prokh. and E. ebraceolata Hayata on
major morphology characters de-
scribed in floras, which results in diffi-
culty in distinguishing E. kansuensis
Prokh. from E. ebraceolata Hayata
based on indumentum, root and gland
characteristics. Therefore, the stand-
point that E. ebraceolata Hayata is a
wrong name for E. kansuensis Prokh.
in Flora of China can be proved rea-
sonable. However, the description of
E. kansuensis Prokh. should be modi-
fied as follows: indumentum present or
absent; root fusiform to terete; gland
oblong kidney-shaped.
According to some literatures,
E. yinshanica was used as a synonym
for E. kansuensis Prokh. by Ma Jin-
shuang and Wu Zhengyi [4]. However,
in the naming literature of E. yinshani-
ca, leaves of Euphorbia yinshanica
were described as sparsely puberu-
lent ones [14], differing from the de-
scription of E. kansuensis Prokh. in
Flora of China. What’s more, accord-
ing to Zhao and his colleagues, leaves
of E. kansuensis Prokh were narrowly
lanceolate or linear, adaxially sub-
glabrous, abaxially puberulent, and
densely tomentose at the margin [8].
From above all, it can be concluded
that the description of E. kansuensis
Prokh. in related literatures does not
conform to that in Flora of China in
which E. kansuensis Prokh. is de-
scribed to be glabrous throughout. Fur-
thermore, the presence or absence of
indumentum in E. kansuensis Prokh
can also be reflected from one aspect
in the studies above.
In terms of distribution, E. kan-
suensis Prokh. is extensively distribut-
ed over Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shan-
xi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai,
Jiangsu, Henan, Hubei and Sichuan,
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Agricultural Science & Technology Vol.13, No.7, 2012
2012
(Continued from page 1414)
甘蓝型油菜和诸葛菜属间杂种高世代材料形态学和细胞学分析
赵志刚 1，2，杜德志 1，李再云 2* （1.青海大学农林科学院青海省高原作物种质资源创新与利用国家重点实验室培育基地，青海西宁 810016；2.华
中农业大学作物遗传改良国家重点实验室，湖北武汉 430070）
摘 要 [目的]进一步揭示甘蓝型油菜和诸葛菜属间远缘杂种高世代（F8~F10）材料的遗传变异规律。[方法]以甘蓝型油菜和诸葛菜属间杂种高世
代群体为材料，对甘蓝型油菜和诸葛菜远缘杂交后代表型偏白菜型油菜变异群体进行形态、细胞学方面的研究。[结果]形态学分析表明，杂种后
代叶型、叶色、株型、早花性状偏向白菜型油菜，而二级分枝数、角果长度和千粒重与甘蓝型油菜 Oro更为接近；细胞学研究表明，这些杂种高世代
材料细胞中已不含诸葛菜染色体，多数植株都为少于 38条染色体的亚倍体；与白菜型油菜杂种的减数分裂配对结果显示，这些亚倍体后代细胞
中丢失的可能是来自 C基因组的染色体，随着世代的增加，体细胞染色体数目都有向甘蓝型油菜 2n=38升高和回归的趋势。[结论]该研究为揭示
杂种后代亚倍体中丢失染色体的来源及形态学改变的原因奠定基础。
关键词 甘蓝型油菜；诸葛菜；有性杂种；亚倍体
基金项目 “973”前期研究（2011CB111508）。
作者简介 赵志刚（1978-），男，内蒙古多伦县人，副研究员，博士，硕士生导师，从事油菜细胞遗传学研究，E-mail: 13897474887@126.com。*通讯作者。
收稿日期 2012-03-10 修回日期 2012-06-26
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
能源植物潜力种——甘肃大戟（Euphorbia kansuensis Prokh.）的形态和分布研究
顾子霞，郭建林，周义锋，杭悦宇 * （中国科学院植物研究所，江苏省植物迁地保护重点实验室，江苏南京 210014）
摘 要 [目的]研究甘肃大戟的分类学地位。[方法]根据野外调查、采集，结合标本观察，对江苏分布的乳浆大戟亚属的甘肃大戟（Euphorbia
kansuensis Prokh.）和月腺大戟（E. ebraceolata Hayata）的形态特征和分布区等方面进行了研究。[结果]《江苏植物志》记载的月腺大戟和《中国植物
志》的甘肃大戟在形态描述的被毛和根形态这 2个重要特征上没有明显区别，且相互有交叉，故《中国植物志》认为月腺大戟是甘肃大戟的误用名
是合理的，但是其形态描述应修订为：全株有毛或无毛；根为纺锤形至圆柱状；腺体为肾状长圆形。[结论]该研究对于理清甘肃大戟的分类学地位
具有重要意义。
关键词 能源植物；月腺大戟；甘肃大戟；形态；分布
基金项目 江苏省农业科技攻关重点项目(BE2008328)。。
作者简介 顾子霞（1985-），女，江苏常熟人，硕士，从事能源植物研究，E-mail:zixia_16@163.com。*通讯作者，研究员，博士，博士生导师，从事植
物多样性与系统演化研究，E-mail:hangyueyu@yahoo.com.cn。
收稿日期 2012-03-08 修回日期 2012-06-28
Responsible editor: Yongbo DUAN Responsible proofreader: Xiaoyan WU
and concentrated in Gansu, Qinghai
and Sichuan, with a diminishing ten-
dency from West to East according to
Flora of China and its English version.
Taking the sites of collection of speci-
mens and the modified classification of
E. ebraceolata Hayata into considera-
tion, Anhui and Tibet should be added
to the distribution areas of E. kan-
suensis Prokh.
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