• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.223-229
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• 2011

The taxonomy of the Isodon excisus complex has been ambiguous and problematic because the morphological characters, especially characters related to the leaf distinguishing subgroups of the complex in the original descriptions, are variable. To elucidate the taxonomic structure of the I. excisus complex in Korea, 34 characters were measured from 70 OTUs representing different locations and analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA). The analysis showed that principle component axis 1, 2, 3 (PC1, PC2, PC3) represents 52.0% of the total variance and characters showing high loading values for PC1 were leaf shape, density of non-glandular hairs on the lower surface of the leaf, and characters related to the teeth of the leaf. The length of apical tooth and the angle between two widest points of the leaf were highly correlated to PC2 and PC3, respectively. Three-dimensional scatter plotting of OTUs for PC1, PC2, and PC3 axis showed that the areas of previously recognized three subgroups of I. excisus completely overlapped. Our result supported that just one taxon, I. excisus var. excisus, should be recognized in the complex at the variety level.