The differentiation between the reproductive traits ofAllium wallichiiKunth in central and peripheral populations

Abstract

The differentiation of reproductive characteristics not only exists between different populations, but also may exist within populations. In this work, the differences between the central and peripheral populations were experimentally compared and analyzed in terms of biodiversity index, plant traits, anthesis, pollen germination, floral visitors, seed setting rate, and ploidy. The results showed that the diversity and richness of other plant species, in the central population were significantly lower than those in the peripheral population, but the plant density was much higher than in the peripheral population. The plant anatomical traits, anthesis, pollen germination, floral visitors, seed setting rate, and ploidy were significantly different between central population and peripheral populations. The term increasing rate (IR) is proposed as a means of comparing morphologies in different organs. IR differences in vegetative characteristics were more stable, while those in reproductive characteristics differed significantly. For the central population, the effect of the intraspecific reproductive competition and pollinator selection on plants may significant, and morphology was differentiated in terms of reproductive characteristics. Plants in the peripheral populations were visited by many more pollinators than in the central population, and all pollinators visited infrequently. The reproductive characteristics of plants in the peripheral populations may therefore only be weakly affected by pollinator selection. The reproductive characteristics of plants in the peripheral population may weakly affected by the selection of pollinators and the variation was small. In conclusion, morphological differentiation among the different populations was associated with differences in vegetative and reproductive characteristics.

Ethnomedicinal and traditional application of Allium wallichii Kunth (Himalayan Onion): An unexplored and underutilized nutraceutical plant foods from Himalayan regions.

“…During earlier classification Allium genus was placed in Liliaceae, which was later included in Amaryllidaceae on the basis of inflorescence structure (Melchior 1964). The plant is differentiated from one geographic location to another by reproductive trait (Tang 2021). In a very recent study by our group, stomata type, number and index were studied.…”

“…In brief, A. wallichii is a perennial herb of higher altitude (between 2700 to 3600 m elevations) having single, conical, and short bulb (flowering during August and September and having garlic like odor), majorly habitat in Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Southwestern China, respectively (Chhetri & Gupta 2007, Rana & Samant 2010, Huang et al 2014Chen et al 2021). The detailed pharmacognostical and phylogenetic studies revealing various identification characters has been carried out in the recent past (Tiwari et al 2014, Huang et al 2014, Paul et al 2019, Tang et al 2021. A study conducted on 110 informants suggested strong aroma for A. wallichii by 100%.…”