The morphological traits of the resin duct of the needle leaves of Abies koreana . Wilson, an endemic species of Korea, and its related species were analysed. The quantitative traits of the resin ducts from 289 individuals were measured, and the observed resin duct types were compared with previous studies. | Turkish Journal of Botany Research Article Turk J Bot (2013) 37: 553-560 © TÜBİTAK doi: Comparative anatomy of the needles of Abies koreana and its related species Ju-Kyeong EO*, Jung-Oh HYUN Department of Forest Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-921, Korea Received: Accepted: Published Online: Printed: Abstract: The morphological traits of the resin duct of the needle leaves of Abies koreana , an endemic species of Korea, and its related species were analysed. The quantitative traits of the resin ducts from 289 individuals were measured, and the observed resin duct types were compared with previous studies. As a result, each characteristic of the resin duct showed some clinal variations with latitude changes. The variations had extreme values in A. nephrolepis (Trautv.) Maxim. on Mt. Sikhote-Alin (Russia) and in A. koreana on Mt. Halla (Korea). In addition, it was difficult to suggest just one type of resin duct in some taxa. Thus, further studies on the type of resin duct will need to survey the entire distribution area of a taxon and analyse the quantitative traits to determine the range of morphological variation. Key words: Abies, clinal variation, cross-section, resin duct 1. Introduction There are about 50 species of firs throughout the world (Farjon, 1990). On the Korean peninsula, there are 3 species (Liu, 1971; Cheng & Fu, 1978): Abies holophylla Maxim., A. koreana , and A. nephrolepis (Trautv.) Maxim. Among these species, A. holophylla has a distinctive characteristic and can be easily identified by the acicular shape of the end of the needles and the hidden bract scale in the cone (Lee, 1985). However, many researchers have argued, based on their own opinions, which morphological characteristics between A. koreana and A. nephrolepis are and are not useful in identifying and delineating the species (Lee & Kim, .
