Bokyung Choi

• Doctor of Philosophy
• PostDoc Position at Chungnam National University

To infer the cytological evolutionary mechanism of the genus Hosta, we analyzed chromosome numbers and karyotypes obtained via Feulgen staining, and measured genome size by flow cytometry. While the chromosome number of all the studied plants was consistently 2n=60, the total haploid chromosome length varied from 55.37 µm in H. jonesii to 76.22 µm...

The genus Juncus L., comprising approximately 310 species, is a perennial herbaceous plant with the highest species diversity among Juncaceae. Although external leaf morphological and anatomical characteristics were used for taxonomic delimitation of Korean Juncus taxa, the micromorphological structure of Juncus is not comprehensively described. Ou...

Interspecific hybridization resulting in diploid-homoploid hybrids is relatively rare in natural populations. The Iris genus, which comprises numerous economically important species, is a taxonomically complex group in which polyploidization and hybridization frequently contribute to taxon diversification and speciation in natural populations. In K...

The genus Disporum (Colchicaceae) comprises approximately 20 species distributed throughout Asia, of which four species (Disporum sessile, D. smilacinum, D. uniflorum, and D. viridescens) are currently recognized in Korea. Mixed-ploidy variations, including odd-ploidy levels within the same species, are important in evolution as they enable backcro...

The genus Ajuga is widely distributed in temperate to subtropical regions, and four species are currently recognized in Korea (A. decumbens, A. multiflora, A. nipponensis, and A. spectabilis), but epidermal anatomical differences across these species have never been described. A comparative study of the leaf micromorphological characteristics of Ko...

The Eriostemon–Phebalium clade (Rutaceae) includes c. 200 species across 16 genera, and is distributed in Australia (including Tasmania), New Caledonia, New Hebrides, New Zealand, and New Guinea. Phylogenetic analyses based on DNA sequences have consistently shown that the Eriostemon–Phebalium group is robustly monophyletic. However, despite this,...

Background Chromosome number and genome size changes via dysploidy and polyploidy accompany plant diversification and speciation. Such changes often impact also morphological characters. An excellent system to address the questions of how extensive and structured chromosomal changes within one species complex affect the phenotype is the monocot spe...

Chromosome number and genome size changes via dysploidy and polyploidy accompany plant diversification and speciation. Such changes often impact also morphological characters. An excellent system to address the questions of how extensive and structured chromosomal changes within one species complex affect the phenotype is the monocot species comple...

Juncus L. (Juncaceae) is a genus of annual and perennial herbs composed of approximately 310 species distributed worldwide, but more rarely found in the tropics. Despite an increasing number of karyological studies in Juncaceae, reports on chromosome numbers in Korean Juncus taxa have been scarce owing to the small chromosome size. Here, we present...

The Iris series Chinenses in Korea comprises four species (I. minutoaurea, I. odaesanensis, I. koreana, and I. rossii), and the group includes some endangered species, owing to their high ornamental, economic, and conservation values. Among them, the putative allotetraploid, Iris koreana (2n = 4x = 50), is hypothesized to have originated from the h...

Rhododendron keiskei var. hypoglaucum (Ericaceae) was recently reported in Korea, with a disjunct distribution on the southern islands of the Korean Peninsula. Although chromosome numbers and ploidy variations are important traits in angiosperms, gaining a clear understanding the cytological features of Rhododendron has been hampered by the small s...

Iris ruthenica Ker Gawl. and I. uniflora Pall. ex Link, which are rare and endangered species in Korea, possess considerable horticultural and medicinal value among Korean irises. However, discrimination of the species is hindered by extensive morphological similarity. Thus, the aim of the present study was to identify discriminating features by co...

Iridaceae L. is a large and well-known plant family that is widely distributed across the northern hemisphere. According to recent and ongoing taxonomic revision, its largest genus, Iris L., includes 14 species of perennial herbs occurring in Korea. Although pollen morphological data have proved crucial to the resolution of systematic relationships...

The genus Iris L., comprising approximately 210 species, is one of the most species‐rich genera in the family Iridaceae. In this study, the first comprehensive leaf micromorphological characters of Korean irises were studied using light and scanning electron microscopy. Our objective was to evaluate the foliar micromorphological characteristics (na...

The genus Cirsium is a member of the tribe Cardueae (Asteraceae) and is distributed in the northern hemisphere. The Carduus-Cirsium group has a long history of taxonomic confusion due to its complicated morphological and molecular phylogenetic data. Here, we report the chromosome numbers and karyotypes of nine currently recognized Korean Cirsium sp...

Changes in chromosome number and karyotype evolution are important to plant diversification, as they are both major drivers of speciation processes. Herein, chromosome number, karyotype, and genome size of the Korean lady’s slipper orchid Cypripedium japonicum Thunb., an endangered species, were investigated in natural populations. Furthermore, all...

The genus Disporum Salisb. is widely distributed in East Asia, yet phylogenetically relevant morphological traits useful for differentiating many of the small, perennial, herbaceous species remain poorly described. To address this, leaf, floral, pollen, and orbicule micromorphology of four Korean Disporum species was investigated using light and sc...

Chromosome numbers, karyotypes, and genome sizes of 14 Iris L. (Iridaceae Juss.) species in Korea and their closely related taxon, Sisyrinchium rosulatum, are presented and analyzed in a phylogenetic framework. To date, understanding the chromosomal evolution of Korean irises has been hampered by their high chromosome numbers. Here, we report analy...

The genus Youngia Cass. is taxonomically complex and widely distributed in East Asia. Despite the high diversity of species, only two species, Youngia japonica (L.) DC. and Youngia longiflora (Babc. & Stebbins) C.Shih, are currently found in Korea. Among them, Y. longiflora was once recognized as a subspecies of Y. japonica . However, based on chlo...

The Orobanche is the largest group, which are mainly distributed in the northern hemisphere and consisted of about 170 species. The present study is focused on a cytological study on Korean endangered species Orobanche filicicola as well as morphologically similar species O. coerulescens and their morphotype, which was previously referred to O. coe...

Resolving the phylogenetic relationships of closely related species using a small set of loci is challenging as sufficient information may not be captured from a limited sample of the genome. Relying on few loci can also be problematic when conflict between gene-trees arises from incomplete lineage sorting and/or ongoing hybridization, problems esp...

Chromosome number changes and karyotype evolution play an important role in plant genome diversification and eventually in speciation. The genus Ajuga L. of family Lamiaceae has approximately 50 species distributed in temperate to subtropical regions. Four of these species are currently recognized in Korea (A. decumbens Thunb., A. multiflora Bunge,...

Melaleuca sensu lato is the second biggest genus (ca. 380 spp.) that is mainly distributed in Australia, but some species are found in Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia. Melaleuca occupy a range of habitats and are found in all biomes, which makes this hyper-diverse genus an excellent group to carry out evolutionary studies. The ta...

The name Correa alba Andrews var. rotundifolia DC. (Rutaceae) is resurrected for a newly recognised variety endemic to south-eastern Tasmania. Mazeutoxeron rufum Labill the basionym, is lectotypified. A key to the three varieties of C. alba is provided as are descriptions and notes.