The Occurrence of Extrafloral Nectaries in Korean Plants

韓國植物의 花外蜜腺分布

Extrafloral nectaries have been shown in many studies to promote mutualistic interactions between plants and insects(usually ants) that visit the glands. The insects gain sugars, water and amino acids secreted by the extrafloral nectaries and benefit the plants by reducing the damage caused by plant's inseet herbivores. Little is known about the occurrence of extrafloral nectaries in plants growing in Asia. To learn about the occurrence of extrafloral nectary bearing plants in Korea, living plants and herbarium material were examined for the glands. In addition, the cover of plants with extrafloral nectaries and the proportion of woody plants with extrafloral nectaries were measured in three forest communities on Kangwha Island. 131 species of plants belonging to 53 genera and 30 families were found to have extrafloral nectaries. These 131 species comprise about 4.0% of Korea's flora, a highet percentage of extrafloral nectary bearing plants than occurs in the studied areas of North America. Extrafloral nectary bearing plants occupied 7, 23 and 55% of the covers and comprised 15, 21 and 15% of the woody plants in the three different forests, a significant level of occurrence. Many important Korean crop plants were found to have extrafloral nectaries including : sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), squash (Cucurbita moschata Duchesne), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam), persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) cotton (Gossypium indicum Lam.), mung bean (Phaseolus radiatus L.), red bean (Phaseolus angularis W.F.), peach (Prunus persica (L) Batsch.), plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.). Many of these cultivated and wild plants may receive protection by ants and other beneficial insects that visit their extrafloral nectaries.