SAMBUCUS SPECIES IN CHINA
In the world it is well-known that Sambucus elderberry is a
genus of
flowering plants in
the family
Adoxaceae. It was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family,
Caprifoliaceae, but
was reclassified with recent genetic research. It contains between 5 and
30 species of
deciduous
shrubs, small
trees and
herbaceous
perennial plants.
The leaves are
pinnate with 5–9 leaflets
(rarely 3 or 11). Each leaf is 5–30cm long and the leaflets have
serrated margins. They bear large clusters of small white or
cream-colored flowers in
late spring; these are followed by clusters of small black, blue-black,
or red berries (rarely yellow or white). The black-berried elder complex
is treated as single speciesSambucus
nigra, found in the warmer parts of
Europe and
North America with
several regional varieties and subspecies. The flowers are in flat
corymbs, and the berries
range from black to glaucous blue. The plants are larger shrubs,
reaching 3–8m tall, and occasionally small trees up to 15m tall with a
stem diameter of up to 30-60cm.
Sambucus are deciduous trees or shrubs or perennial herbs; Shoots
are smooth, striate, or warty, with stout pith, and stems often
lenticel, with well-developed marrow. Leaves have an odd number pinnate,
opposite stipules with leafy or degraded glands. Inflorescence by Cymose
synthesis is an acrogenous complex umbrella or cone, leaflets are
serrate or divided, opposite or alternate. Flowers are small and white
or a yellowish-white color, short calyx tubes, five calyx teeth, a
five-lobed corolla rotate, five stamens, shorter filaments, exposed
anthers, ovaries, a short style or almost no stigma and lobes between
two or three. Berries can be red, yellow or purple with three to five
seeds, seed shape is prismatic or oval and embryo length is same as
endosperm length.
There may be 11 species of elderberry in China (Flora of China, Flora of
Heilongjiang, Flora of Inner-Mongolia) and grow from temperate to
subtropical regions and tropical mountains. It is not clear when theSambucus NigraLinn European e lderberry and Sambucus
Canadian Linn American elderberry were brought into
China (Beijing Shanghai, Shandong and Jiangsu Province).
Pollen morphology is of great significance in taxonomy, phylogeny, and
paleobotany. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies on pollen from
cultivated fruit trees have been carried out for taxonomic purposes and
cultivar identification. A pollen diagnosis for our 3 popular elderberry
species investigated, European elderberry(Sambucus Nigra Linn ),
American elderberry (Sambucus Canadian Linn ) and Chinese
Woody-elderberry (Sambucus wiiliamsii ) been made through scanning
electron microscopy, are presented below Fig 1 and Fig
2 :