Home – Home – Jornals – Flora and Vegetation of Asian Russia 2022 number 4

Genus Epimedium is the largest genus of herbaceous plants in the Berberidaceae family. It includes about 50-65 species. Species of the genus Epimedium have a traditional use in Chinese, Korean and Japanese medicine. They are also known as ornamental plants. Three plant species of Epimedium grow in Russia: E. colchicum (Boiss.) Trautv., E. koreanum Nakai and E. macrosepalum Stearn. All of them are included in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the study is a comparative morphological and anatomical study of rhizomes and roots of E. colchicum and E. macrosepalum belonging, respectively, to the subgenera Rhizophyllum and Epimedium. Materials for the study have been collected in the botanical garden of All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. We used an MBS-10 binocular and an Axioplan 2 imaging Carl Zeiss microscope. Cross sections of rhizomes were stained 1) with an alcoholic solution of phloroglucinol and concentrated HCl; 2) 0.1 % cresyl violet solution. Cylindrical rhizomes, non-yearly branching, characterize both species. Rhizomes are dark brown with numerous thin adventitious roots. Rhizomes of E. colchicum are short and thick (diameter 7.8 ± 0.1 mm, length of annual growth 42.9 ± 2.3 mm); rhizomes of E. macrosepalum are thin and elongated (rhizome diameter 2.5 ± 0.1 mm, length of annual growth 65.5 ± 4.8 mm). The zones of the primary bark and the central cylinder on transverse sections of rhizomes are distinguished. Open conducting bundles are located in one circle. The pith is lignified. Idioblasts with druzes of CaC₂O₄ crystals are in the inner zone of the parenchyma of the primary cortex of E. macrosepalum. E. colchicum has relatively wide pith rays (up to 20 rows of cells), the presence of groups of lignified protophloem fibers, and the absence of sheaths of lignified fibers. E. macrosepalum is distinguished by relatively narrow (2-10 rows of cells) pith radiuses, the absence of bundles of lignified protophloem fibers, and the presence of sheaths of lignified fibers.