• 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.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.234-239
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• 2010

The taxonomy of umbel genus Sium L., Apiaceae in Korea was reviewed on the basis of molecular phylogenies derived from sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions. The ITS sequence-derived phylogeny indicates that S. heterophyllum, endemic to Korea, is identical to S. tenue, which is known as endemic to Ussuri regions. Comparisons of sequence pairs across both spacer regions gave divergence values and revealed the identity between S. tenue and S. heterophyllum on Mt. Moonsoo. On the other hand, the ITS sequences support species delimitation of S. ternifolium, as reported recently as a new species that differs from other Sium species. The ITS sequence divergence values of 1.4 and 1.6% support species delimitation between S. serra and S. ternifolium.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.181-188
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• 2020

This study was conducted to identify the optimal conditions for seedling growth in Veronica rotunda var. subintegra (Nakai) T.Yamaz. which a endemic plant and can be development as ornamental plants. We sowed V. rotunda var. subintegra (Nakai) T.Yamaz. seeds, and exposed the seedling was different treatment conditions. We varied soil type and fertilizer concentration, shading ratio, additional fertilizer concentration, pretreatment light exposure and collection time of seeds. We found that seedling growth was good in horticultural substrate (with no additional fertilizer), but mixed soils supplemented with fertilizer inhibited growth, regardless of the fertilizer concentration. In the 55% shading treatment, seedling growth was greater than in the non-shading treatment. High concentration addition of fertilizer (Hyponex) promoted plant growth, in terms of both plant length and fresh weight. Exposure of seeds to a red light-source prior to germination had a greater effect on seedling growth than exposure to other light sources. Seedlings exhibited better growth when grown from seed collected in 2018, rather than 2017.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.27-30
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• 1996

This study was conducted to obtain basic information on growth characteristics and major components of three Korean endemic resource plant species, Artemisia sp., Gynostemma pentaphyllum Makino and Humulus japonicus S. et Z. , growing in different areas in Korea. Three geographical types of artemisia, namely Pangssuk, Ongjinssuk and Yakssuk which were collect in Suwon, Ongjin and Eumsong, respectively were compared in yield, and Pangssuk artemisia was higher in yield than the others. However, essential oil content was the highest in Yakssuk artemisia. Dry weight of areal parts of G. pentaphyllum was higher in the cultural method with props for tendril growth than in the conventional cultural method without props. Rutin was detected in areal parts of G. pentaphyllum. Dry weight of areal parts of H. japonicus collected at the Kyeryong mountain in Chungnam province was higher than that collected in Eumsong. A phenolic compound isoquercitrin was detected in areal parts of H. japonicus.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.292-297
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• 2018

Background: Gelada baboon is one of the endemic mammals of Ethiopia residing in different highlands. The population structure and habitat use of gelada baboon in Wof-Washa particularly Gosh Meda area was investigated from September 2016 to August 2017. Total counting method was used to collect data on the population status by dividing the study area in to four blocks, namely, Kundi, Arbgebeya, Goshber, and Goshmeda. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. The age-sex category and the numbers of geladas found within the different blocks were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, and paired t test was also used to analyze the pair wise comparison of the different age and sex categories during both dry and wet seasons. Results: A total of 435 and 471 gelada baboons were counted during the wet and dry seasons, respectively. The maximum group size consisted of 178 individuals whereas the minimum group size contained 53 individuals. Out of the total population adult females accounted for 54.7% in the wet and 54.56% in the dry seasons. There was a significant difference among the age-sex categories in both the wet ($F_{2432}=630$, P < 0.05) and dry ($F_{2468}=696.6$, P < 0.05) seasons. The male to female ratio was 1:5.7 during wet season and 1:5.8 during dry season. So that the population will have a better chance to increase in the study area. Conclusion: Wof-Washa Forest could be a good site for eco-tourism activities due to the presence of endemic animals and its scenic beauty. However, the quality of the habitat is decreasing due to livestock grazing, agricultural expansion, and invasion of exotic plants species. Therefore, appropriate conservation measures should be implemented to conserve gelada baboon in particular and other wildlife resources in general.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.70-75
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• 2021

The present study aimed to clarify flora living at the area of Restoration Center for Endangered Species in Yeongyang, Gyeongbuk Province. In May, August, and September 2019 and in May and July 2020, all of vascular plants were recorded, and endangered, Korea endemic, and exotic plant species were further identified. The study site contained a total of 418 floral taxa (98 families, 261 genera, 384 species, 4 subspecies, 27 variations, and 3 formations), in which Magnoliophyta accounted for larger proportion (95.2%) than Pteridophyta (3.6%) and Pinophyta (1.2%). In addition, 1 endangered (Cypripedium macranthos Sw.) and 5 Korea endemic species (Aconitum pseudolaeve Nakai, Eleutherococcus divaricatus var. chiisanensis [Nakai] C.H. Kim & B.-Y. Sun, Lonicera subsessilis Rehder, Paulownia coreana Uyeki, and Weigela subsessilis [Nakai] L.H. Bailey) were detected. The number of exotic species was 33, consisting of 4 invasive-exotic, 4 potentially invasive-exotic, and 25 non-invasive species. Compared to a previous assessment before the establishment of the center (in 2014), there were increases in total floral taxa (from 361 to 418), endangered species (from 0 to 1), and exotic species (from 26 to 33). These results possibly reflect temporal changes in floral community, which should be confirmed through subsequent long term monitoring.