• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.347-376
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• 2021

Investigating and evaluating regionally distributed plant resources provide fundamental information (inventory) to conserve plant diversity in target areas. Nevertheless, the examination of inventory to collect information in areas with little interest has been insufficient. In this study, the vicinity of Mt. Baegamsan(1,004m) was investigated for plant resources in the central and southern part of the Korean peninsula, which has received low interest. Nine surveys identified a total of 638 taxa consisting of 108 families, 339 genera, 572 species, 12 subspecies, 49 varieties, and 5 forms. One taxon was designated to be the endangered wild plant by the Ministry of Environment, and a total of 29 taxa were designated to be endemic species in Korea. Floristic target species identified by the surveys included 1 taxon for grade V, 13 taxa for grade IV, 36 taxa for grade III, 29s taxa for grade II, and 34 taxa for grade I. A total of 38 taxa were identified to be naturalized plants, and 3 of them were designated as invasive alien plants by the Ministry of Environment. There was a difference in plant distribution between western and eastern areas of Mt. Baegamsan. The endangered and valuable plants for conservation were mainly identified from Mt. Baegamsan peak area, the ridge, and the western area. Considering the plant distribution, the Mt. Baegamsan region, located on Nakdong-jungmaek, was estimated to be dispersal routes for plant expansion and retreat.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.165-171
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• 1997

The floristic characteristics and ecological conservation measures for the plant resources of the Mt. Kumjung(801m), Pusan, Korea were discussed. The field works was done for about twenty times in nine major areas from March, 1995 to Octover, 1996. The total number of vascular plants In this area were summarized as 103 families, 312 genera, 493 species and 564 kinds. The fourteen kinds of artificially planted, ten kinds of Korean endemics and twenty-nine kinds of Korean rare and endangered species in the area were revised and compiled in the list. The flora of the area were categorized into the South-coast put of the Korean Region, where the species such as Platycarya strobilacea, Quercug serrata, Eutya japonica, Camellia japonica, Trachelosperm urn asia talcum vu . in termedium, Quercus acu tissima were roles as major floristic components in the Korean Region and endemized in the south-cosat part of Korea. The natural communities such as Pinus thunbergii Community, Quercus mongolica community, Cupinus laxiflora Community, Wistria floribunda Community and swamp vegetation in Bukmun area as well as upland grassland at the summit of Kodangpong were represented for their floristic values in the area. The thirty kinds of medichinal plant, fifteen kinds of ornamental plants and thirteen kinds of edible plants are faced potentially in endangered from the outrageous collections by the local peoples. The action plan for the conservation management of the area which enables sustainable use by the local peoples must have established in the near feature.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.59-67
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• 2017

Southwest Primorye is located in the southern most part of the Russian Far East. The flora of this area is one of the most thoroughly studied and contains 1,530 species of vascular plants, belonging to 622 genera and 154 families, representing 55.6% of the flora of the Primorsky Territory. The flora native to Southwest Primorye encompasses 1,356 species from 547 genera and 148 families. Adventitious plants are represented by 174 species from 127 genera and 37 families. Among other areas of the Russian Far East, only Southwest Primorye has flora in common with the Korean Peninsula, which contains plant species in the subtropical and tropical latitudes: Mitrasacme indica Wight, Halosciastrum melanotilingia [Boissieu] M. Pimen. et V. Tichomirov, Streptolirion volubile Edgew., Lipocarpha microcephala [R. Br.] Kunth, Pueraria lobata [Willd.] Ohwi, Belamcanda chinensis [L.] DC., Zoysia japonica Steud., Deinostema violacea [Maxim.] Yamazaki and Parthenocissus tricuspidata [Siebold et Zucc.] Planch. Most of the flora is represented by the species restricted to Southwest Primorye (seven endemic species) or the Korean Peninsula (seven hemiendemic species). A total of 50.2% of the 10 largest families are nemoral (preboreal) floras, located in the transitional zone of the boreal and nemoral floras. In terms of the structure of the ranked taxonomic spectrum of the largest families, the flora of Southwest Primorye is more similar to that of Northeast China with influence of the Korean flora.

• ALGAE
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.139-153
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• 2012

The re-examination of morphological and anatomical characters of Laminaria appressirhiza and L. inclinatorhiza collected from different localities in the Sea of Okhotsk was performed. Despite their commercial and ecological importance to the region they have not been comprehensively reviewed since their first description in 1970. Our results show that some original diagnostic key characters (e.g., shape of holdfast, shape of sporangial sori, and dissection of blade) are not stable and have deviations from the type morphology when plants grow in different environments. In L. inclinatorhiza, the sporangial sori development occurred differently to the pattern indicated in original species description as they did not develop simultaneously on both sides of the blade. Instead, the sporangial sori outlines on both sides of the blade did not coincide at first and only became coincident later. Also, a deep-water population of L. inclinatorhiza with an unusual and interesting morphology, growing at depths of 15-25 m on opened rocky coasts in Taujskaya Bay (northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk) was found. The stable diagnostic key characters to distinguish these two species are the cone-like, multilayered, very thick and massive holdfast (in L. inclinatorhiza) and rolled margins of blades, lamellar rosette-like part of thallus, and sporangial sori developing only on one side of the blade (in L. appressirhiza). The ecological characteristics, distribution, and abundance of both species in the Sea of Okhotsk are discussed. Both species are perennial and widely distributed in the region. L. appressirhiza is more often found as a subdominant species among other kelps, forming maximum biomass and density of 7-9 kg and 8-25 plants per $1m^2$, respectively. L. inclinatorhiza sometimes forms local mono-species communities with maximum biomass and density of 10-12 kg and 10-15 plants per $1m^2$, respectively.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.336-340
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• 2007

Plants from the genus Centaurea (C.) (Family: Asteraceae alt. Compositae), widely distributed in Asia, Europe and North America, have traditionally been used in the treatment of various ailments. As a part of our on-going studies on the plants from the genus C. for their phytochemistry and biological activities, extracts of the seeds of Turkish endemic C. species, C. bornmuelleri and C. huber-morathii, were tested for their cytotoxicity towards the CaCo2 colon cancer cell line as well as for the toxicity towards the brine shrimps, using the MTT and the brine shrimp lethality assays, respectively. Among the extracts, the MeOH extract of these plants showed significant toxicity towards the brine shrimps ($LD_{50}=55.2{\times}10^{-2}\;and\;42.4{\times}10^{-2}mg/ml$, respectively). The MeOH extract of both C. species also inhibited the growth of CaCo2 colon cancer cells in the MTT assay ($IC_{50}$=29.9 and 33.0 g/ml, respectively). As the most prominent activities in both assays were observed with the MeOH extracts, it can be assumed that the compound(s) responsible for these activities are polar in nature.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.785-791
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• 2014

Crude extracts or phytochemicals obtained from some plants have potential anti-cancer properties. Teucrium persicum is an Iranian endemic plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family which has traditionally been used to relieve abdominal pains. However, the anti-cancer properties of this species of the Teucrium genus have not been investigated previously. In this study, we have used a highly invasive prostate cancer cell line, PC-3, which is an appropriate cell system to study anti-tumor properties of plants. A methanolic extract obtained from T persicum potently inhibited viability of PC-3 cells. The viability of SW480 colon and T47D breast cancer cells was also significantly decreased in the presence of the T persicum extract. Flow cytometry suggested that the reduction of cell viability was due to induction of apoptosis. In addition, the results of wound healing and gelatin zymography experiments supported anti-cell invasion activity of T persicum. Interestingly, sublethal concentrations of T persicum extract induced an epithelial-like morphology in a subpopulation of cells with an increase in E-Cadherin and ${\beta}$-Catenin protein levels at the cell membrane. These results strongly suggest that T persicum is a plant with very potent anti-tumor activity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.61-80
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• 2012

This study is to offer the basic data for restoration and conservation of wetland ecosystem by surveying and analysing the flora distributed in the Binae marsh, Namhan River, Chungju-si. The flora in the Binae marsh were verified 204 taxa including 48 families, 152 genera, 179 species, 23 varieties and 2 forms. In flora, pteridophyta were 2 taxa including 1 family, 1 genus and 2 species, among angiospermae, dicotyledonae were 153 taxa including 37 families, 110 genera, 138 species, 13 varieties and 2 forms and monocotyledonae were 49 taxa including 10 families, 41 genera, 39 species and 10 varieties. In the result of classifying the life form of flora, megaphanerophytes (M), nanophanerophytes (N) and chamaiphytes (Ch) were each 9 taxa (4.4%), 37 taxa (18.1%) of hemicryptophytes (H), 19 taxa (9.3%) of geophytes (G), 97 taxa (47.6%) of therophytes (Th) and 24 taxa (11.8%) of hydrophytes (HH). The rare plant designated by Korea Forest Service was 1 taxa (Aristolochia contorta), and the endemic plant was 1 taxa (Salix koriyanagi) too. The specific plants by floristic region were 6 taxa. From among these, the species of degree I were 5 taxa including Salix chaenomeloides, Aristolochia contorta, Artemisia selengensis, Cirsium pendulum and Vallisneria natans, and degree III was 1 taxa including Alisma orientale. The naturalized plants were 45 taxa and the invasive alien plants were 3 taxa including Sicyos angulatus, Ambrosia artemisiifolia and Ambrosia trifida. The naturalized index (NI) was about 22.1%, 16.1% of urbanized index (UI) and 27.3% of disturbed index (DI). The extinct species by construction were 17 taxa including Persicaria sagittata, Typha orientalis, Zizania latifolia and so forth. The new-occured species were 14 taxa including Brassica juncea, Thlaspi arvense, Carduus crispus and so forth. The important species among the extinct species were Aristolochia contorta, Alisma orientale and Vallisneria natans.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2018.04a
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• pp.16-16
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• 2018

Flora investigations have been conducted by many researchers for a long time in Korea. Even though large amount of investigation data has been accumulated, there is no accurate statistics or database because most of data were published in a printed form. We developed a web-based database of flora investigation, named as the Integrated Korean Flora Database (http://www.floradb.net/) to understand distribution patterns and habitats of plants in Korea. Till now, 480 published paper, 356 thesis, 76 reports and books, and 8 unpublished papers written in between 1962 and 2017 were collected and their species lists from 280 papers were parsed into the database. From 124,105 records, 3,100 species belonging to 206 families and 965 genera were identified via comparing with two major Korean plant species lists. 55 endangered species, 159 endemic species, and 367 rare species were identified. The most frequently surveyed species were Commelina communis in herbaceous and Rosa multiflora in woody plants. Microclimate data provided by Korea Meteorological Administration were also integrated and analyzed to assign cold hardness zones for each species. By comparing minimum temperature (<2%) acquired from automated weather stations (AWS) near by plant species, 6a to 10b zones (7b is the most frequent zone) were identified. Integrated Korean Flora Database will be a fundamental platform of korea flora investigation as well as a new standard for classifying distribution of plants based on accurate microclimate data. Moreover, it can also provide evidences of investigated plant species, such as specimen and/or pictures with connecting to the InfoBoss Cyber Herbarium (http://herbarium.infoboss. co.kr/) and Biodiversity Observation Datbase (BODB; http://www.biodiversitydb.org/).

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.21 no.5_1
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• pp.457.2-486
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• 1998

Ecological success of introduced species is frequently attributed to the reproductive characters of those species. We examined the relationship between both flowering season and plant size and reproductive characters in two introduced species of Taraxacum, e.g., T. officinale and T.laevigatum. Seventy six plants of T. officinale and 23 plants of T. laevigatum were randomly tagged from a population at the sungshin Women's University in April of 1997. The size and number of vegetative characters such as rosette diameter, leaf number, and the largest leaf length and width were measured for each plant at the onset of flowering. The infructescence was collected continually from each plant before seed dispersal from April to August of 1997. The number of infructescence per plant, and seed number and total seed weight per infructescence were measured. Mean individual seed weight per infructescence was also obtained. T. officinale possessed larger sized, but smaller number of, leaves than T. laevigatum, thereby resulting in no significant difference in total leaf area. There was a trend that vegetatively larger plants in both of these species produced reproductive characters larger in size or greater in number, except for seed number and total seed weight per infructescence in T. laevigatum. All reproductive characters examined in T. officinale decreased toward the end of flowering season. In T. laevigatum, infructescence number per plant also declined during a flowering season: however, mean seed number per infructescence increaed toward the end of flowering season with no significant seasonal change in the total seed weight per infructescence. T. officinale produced on average about twice as many seeds per plant as T. laevigatum during a growing season. These two Taraxacum species produced quite small seeds in size compared to the endemic species, exhibiting a far better dispersal ability of introduced species. These data demonstrate that most reproductive characters decline in size and number in both species during a long flowering period, but the two species appear to employ different strategies to achieve reproductive success in disturbed habitats.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.30-42
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• 2018

Background: The southern and eastern parts of the Gobi Desert area are a unique dry ecosystem with a diverse regional desert, semi-desert, and mountain dry steppe flora. This area habitat is located at the overlap of different floristic regions; on its northeast side, Central Asian desert flora is dominating, and on the eastern side, East Asian flora is observed. The comprehensive survey was carried out to find the floral diversity of the medicinal plants on the region. Methods: All recorded species in this study were based on the collected voucher specimens between June and August in the year 2017. Results: We recorded 23 families, 57 genera, and 78 species of vascular plants. The families Asteraceae (15 species), Fabaceae (10 species), and Amaranthaceae (10 species) were represented most in the study area, while Caragana (5 species), Salsola (4 species), and Arnebia (3 species) were the most common genera found. Conclusion: Conservation status for remarkable species was also reviewed based on the literature. Around the study area, 24 species as "sub-endemic," 10 species as "very rare," 4 species as "rare," 1 species as "alien," 13 species as "relict," 10 species as "Red Book," 2 species as "endangered (EN)," 3 species as "vulnerable (VU)," 3 species as "near threatened (NT)," and 2 species as "least concern (LC)" plants are growing.