• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.21-40
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• 2006

We examined nrDNA ITS sequences from 16 taxa of Polygonum sect. Persicaria(Polygonaceae) in Korea to infer relationships among the taxa within the section. A neighbor-joining tree obtained from the analysis of the ITS sequences suggest that the ITS region was useful inferring the phylogenetic relationships among the taxa. The neighbor-joining tree indicates that P.amphibium is clearly separated from the other Korean taxa. The tree also reveals the presence of five major groups in the Korean taxa of the section; 1) P. lapathifolium var. lapathifolium, 2) P. persicaria and P. viscoferum, 3) P. orientale and P. viscosum, 4) P. japonicum and 5) a group including the remaining taxa. these relationships depicted on the ITS tree are largely congruent with those inferred from morphological and anatomical characters.