Ruijiang Wang

• Doctor of Philosophy
• South China Botanical Garden

Cycas fairylakea is an endemic and Level-One National Key Protected Wild Plant in China. It is distributed in the Meilin Reservoir and Tanglangshan Country Park in Shenzhen. This study investigated two newly discovered wild populations in Taishan and Yangjiang, Guangdong Province. The forest community characteristics and population structure of the...

Hedyotis longiramulis sp. nov. (Rubiaceae) is described from Guangdong Province, China. It is similar to H. caudatifolia but differs in having puberulent, more or less tetragonal and decussately sulcate juvenile stems, waxy leaf surface, short inflorescence peduncles, high length ratio of corolla lobe to tube, and subglobose capsules. The phylogene...

Combretum xylocarpum, a new species from China, is described and illustrated. It is similar to C. acuminatum in leaf shape, spike position, flower structure and hypanthium shape, but obviously different from it by its fewer secondary veins, pale whitish flower petals, ellipsoidal woody fruits with 4 rounded ridges. In addition, the pollen grains of...

Phylogenetic conflicts limit our understanding of the evolution of terrestrial life under multiple whole genome duplication events, and the phylogeny of early terrestrial plants remains full of controversy. Although much incongruence has been solved with so-called robust topology based on single or lower copy genes, the evolutionary mechanisms behi...

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), as the key enzyme in initial carbon fixation of C 4 and crassulacean acid mechanism (CAM) pathways, was thought to undergo convergent adaptive changes resulting in the convergent evolution of C 4 and CAM photosynthesis in vascular plants. However, the integral evolutionary history and convergence of PEPC in p...

Dryopteris wulingshanensis , a new species growing on limestone in the Wulingshan Mountains, Hunan, China, is described and illustrated. This species is most similar to D. jishouensis and D. gymnophylla on general morphological traits, such as the form of scales, rhizome and sori, but differs by the number of vascular bundles at the base of the pet...

A new species of Hedyotis pubirachis is described from Guangdong province, China. It resembles H. caudatifolia in subshrub habit, lanceolate leaf blade and terminal inflorescence, but differs from the latter by its thyrsoid inflorescence with monochasial sub‐axes, broadly triangular calyx lobes and pubescent inflorescence rachises and capsules. Phy...

Parainvolucrella R.J. Wang, a new monotypic genus for P. scabra (Wall. ex Kurz) M.D.Yuan & R.J.Wang, new combination, is segregated from the Hedyotis - Oldenlandia complex, based on morphological and molecular evidence. Phylogenetically, the new genus is sister to Scleromitrion , from which it differs by a combination of morphological characters: h...

Rubiaceae is the fourth largest and a taxonomically complex family of angiosperms. Many species in this family harbor low reproductive isolation and frequently exhibit inconsistent phenotypic characteristics. Therefore, taxonomic classification and their phylogenetic relationships in the Rubiaceae family is challenging, especially in the genus Lept...

Hedyotis howii and H. interrupta, two new species from China are described and illustrated here. Hedyotis howii is similar to H. hainanensis, but can be distinguished by its tetragonal and sparsely puberulent shoots, obovate or ovoid and slightly 4-ribbed hypanthium, and 5–6 mm long corolla tube. Hedyotis interrupta is similar to H. communis and H....

Hedyotis puberulifolia from eastern Guangdong province, China, is described and photographed here. It is clearly different from all other congeneric species by its puberulous stem, leaves, stipules, and thyrsoid inflorescence with monochaisal sub-axes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that H. puberulifolia is closely related to the sympatric H. tenui...

Leptodermis scabrida complex is one of the important components of genus Leptodermis, which is mainly distributed in the Himalaya Mountains. It includes species of L. gracilis, L. hirsutiflora, L. hirsutiflora var. ciliata, L. kumaonensis, L. pilosa var. acanthoclada and L. scabrida. However, species boundaries and relationships within this complex...

Parainvolucrella R.J. Wang, a new monotypic genus is segregated from Hedyotis - Oldenlandia complex based on the morphological and molecular evidences, along with the new combination of P. scabra (Wall. ex Kurz) M.D.Yuan & R.J.Wang. The new genus is phylogenetically sister to Scleromitrion and has ever been mistaken as a member of Scleromitrion , b...

Gyrocheilos taishanense G.T. Wang, Yu Q. Chen & R.J. Wang (Gesneriaceae) from south China is described and illustrated with photographs. It is morphologically similar to G. microtrichum W.T.Wang, but it is distinguished by its glabrous or sparsely hairy pedicels, zygomorphic calyx with hairs in unequal length, and slightly bilobed adaxial corolla l...

Fenghwaia , a new monotypic genus, along with the new species Fenghwaia gardeniicarpa , is described from Guangdong Province, China. The combined features of inferior ovary, cylindrical drupaceous fruits and orbicular and dorsiventrally-compressed seeds with an elongate and pronounced basal appendage make the new genus significantly different from...

Foonchewia coriacea, a monotypic genus of the Rubiaceae, is endemic to China. Its complete chloroplast genome was determined to be 153,114 bp in length and the GC content was 37.90%. The sequence includes a large single-copy region of 83,978 bp, a small single-copy region of 18,290 bp, and the inverted region is 25,423 bp in length. It contains 129...

Background: Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), as the key enzyme in initial carbon fixation of C4 and crassulacean acid mechanism (CAM) pathways, was thought to undergo convergent adaptive changes resulted in the convergent evolution of C4 and CAM photosynthesis in vascular plants. However, the integral evolutionary history and convergence of...

Involucrella lithophila from the limestone area of Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated here. It is most similar to Hedyotis kurzii and Involucrella chereevensis in having tetragonal stems, slender pedicels and loculicidally dehiscent capsules, but it differs from the former by its 3-5 (-7)-lobed stipules, heterostylous and white flowers an...

The raw data used to build the phylogenetic tree and the chloroplast genome information of Foonchewia coriacea.

Mayaca fluviatilis, an aquatic plant belonging to the monogeneric family Mayacaceae, native to tropical America, is reported here for the first time to be naturalized in Guangdong province, China. A morphological description, with detailed photographs, is provided for further taxonomic identification. Its invasive risk is evaluated according to its...

Food-medicine plants play an important role in providing nutrition and treating chronic diseases, especially in many minority communities and developing regions. The coastal region of South China has abundant resources of medicinal plants. A long history of cross-cultural medicinal practices among different minority groups has facilitated the devel...

Leptodermis is a taxonomically problematic genus, and little information about its palynology was known previously. In order to find taxonomic informative characters for species delimitation and their systematic implications, 105 pollen samples, representing 28 species and four varieties, were observed and analyzed. Phylogenetic inference was also...

A new species, Dimetia brevipetiolata R. J. Wang, from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, is described and photographed. Morphologically, it is similar to D. scandens and D. ampliflora with respect to their terete stem, lanceolate and thick papery leaves and compound-cymose inflorescences, but differs in prostrate habit, subsessile leaves, ro...

Eleutherococcus trifoliatus (L.) S. Y. Hu is a wild edible plant and widely used in the coastal region of South China. Here, we report the complete chloroplast genome of E. trifoliatus. The length of the cp genome was determined to be 156751 bp with a small single copy (SSC) region of 18316 bp, a large single copy (LSC) region of 86747 bp and two s...

Dunnia sinensis, a monotypic genus of the Rubiaceae, is an Endangered species endemic to China. Its complete chloroplast genome was determined to be 154,909 bp in length and the GC content was 37.80%. The sequence includes a large single-copy region of 84,894 bp, a small single-copy region of 16,973 bp, and the inverted region of 26,521 bp in lengt...

Leptodermis scabrida is an important endemic species in Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains. Here, we report the complete chloroplast genome of L. scabrida. The cp genome was determined to be 154783 bp in length and the GC content was 37.5%. The sequence included a large single copy (LSC) region of 84190 bp, a small single copy (SSC) region of 17183 bp and...

Isotrema plagiostomum X. X. Zhou & R. J. Wang, a new species of Isotrema (Aristolochiaceae) from Guangdong, south China, is described and illustrated for the first time. It is similar to I. thwaitesii in the morphology of the obliquely truncated calyx limb, but differs by the habit, leaf shape, inflorescence position and splitting extent of calyx l...

The genus Hedyotis sensu lato was splitted into several genera on basis of morphological and molecular evidences. Under this generic delimitation, seven new taxonomic treatments, including six new synonyms and one new combination, are proposed for the Flora of China. The name Hedyotis tenelliflora that misapplied to Scleromitrion angustifolium is a...

Hedyotis tonggulingensis is described as a new species from China. It is similar to the sympatric species H. hainanensis, but obviously differs in having tetragonal stems with narrow wings, terminal and axillary inflorescences and the short corolla tubes. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that H. tonggulingensis was closely related to the sympatri...

The neotropical species Spigelia anthelmia L. was firstly collected from China. Morphological characters are described and photographed in detail for further taxonomic identification. The species has become an invasive species in tropical Asia already, but not dispersed to the local ecosystem in Hainan yet, probably because of the short time of nat...

Premise of the study: Microsatellite markers were developed to facilitate studies of genetic diversity and structure in Glyptostrobus pensilis, a critically endangered and monotypic conifer species. Methods and results: Using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq), we developed 10 polymorphic and 27 monomorphic microsatellite marke...

Misopates orontium (L.) Raf. was firstly collected in Fujian province, China. It is the new record of the genus Misopates for the Flora of China. Morphological and palynological characters are described and imaged in detail. Molecular analysis based on 20 nrITS sequences testified the correct generic taxonomic identification.

Hedyotis taishanensis is described as a new species from China. It is similar to H. acutangula, but obviously differs in unbranched herbal stems with slightly winged ridges, petiolated leaves, abaxially pubescent stipules, terminal pleiochasium inflorescence. The phylogenetic analysis from nuclear ITS and plastid petD sequences of 27 taxa revealed...

Leptodermis hechiensis from Guangxi, China, is described as a new species. The species differs from similar L. yangshuoen-sis by triangular calyx lobe and 3-lobed style, and from L. coriaceifolia by subcoriaceous leaf blade and shorter bracteoles. Its leaf epidermis and pollen morphology were observed by SEM. Diagnostic characters and distribution...

Spiradiclis pengshuiensis Bo Pan & R. J. Wang (Rubiaceae) is described as a new species from Chongqing in SW China. It is morphologically compared with S. pauciflora L. Wu & Q. R. Liu because of their similarities in habit, pubescent surface, small leaf laminas and subglobose capsules. Its conservation status is evaluated as "VU" according to the I...

The new species Spiradiclis jingxiensis R. J. Wang is described here. It is similar to S. danxiashanensis with respect to its prostrate habit, small leaves, and terminal inflorescence with 1-3 salverform flowers, but is readily distinguished by pinkish flowers, and included stamens and stigmas in long- and short-styled flowers. The conservation sta...

A new species of Spiradiclis (Rubiaceae) was found during our field trip to Guangxi, China, and is described here as Spiradiclis longanensis R. J. Wang. This species is readily distinguishable from other prostrate and decumbent species of the genus described previously by dense pubescence all over the plant, 5–20 small flowers per cymose, linear ca...

Spiradiclis danxiashanensis, a new species segregated from S. guangdongensis, is described and illustrated. The morphological description of S. guangdongensis is emended accordingly. Both species are Chinese endemics and a conservation assessment to each of them is provided using IUCN guidelines.

A new species, Hedyotis nanlingensis from Guangdong province, China, is described and illustrated. It is morphologically similar to H. nankunshanensis but differs in the smaller and more slender habit, the sessile leaves, the usually two to three secondary veins on each side of the midvein, the inflorescences with monochasial branching and the shor...

The genus Physalis Linnaeus (1753: 182) is a medium-sized genus in the family Solanaceae Jussieu (1789: 124). It includes about 75 New World species and one Eurasian species, P. alkekengi Linnaeus (1753: 183), the generic lectotype (Britton & Brown 1913). Recently, several phylogenetic analyses focusing on Physalis and related taxa strongly support...

The genus Lycium Linnaeus (1753: 191) is one of the largest genera in Solanaceae Jussieu (1789: 124), with approximately 92 species in the monogeneric tribe Lycieae Hunziker (1977: 28; Levin et al. 2011). It is disjunctly distributed in temperate to subtropical regions between the northern and southern hemispheres, mainly in North America, South Am...

Two new species, Spiradiclis coriaceifolia R.-J. Wang and S. tonglingensis R.-J. Wang, from China, are described and illustrated. Their palynological characters are described based on SEM observations.

Uvaria huana is proposed as a new name for U. unnanensis (Hu) L. l. Zhou, Y. C. F. Su & R. M. K. Saunders (2009), a later homonym of U. yunanensis Li (1978).

In 2009, the Chinese government approved the use of Hengqin Island for a large-scale development that will have serious consequences for plant biodiversity and plant communities in the island ecosystem as a whole. To construct an integrated and healthy vegetation ecosystem on Hengqin Island, we investigated the current vegetation and soil and devel...

Abstract The new species, Foonchewia guangdongensis R. J. Wang & H. Z. Wen and the new monotypic genus Foonchewia R. J. Wang (Rubioideae, Rubiaceae), are described from eastern Guangdong, China. It is characterized by its subshrub habit, pentamerous and heterostylous flowers, 2‐1ocular ovary with many ovules, and apically dehiscent capsules with nu...

Forensically informative nucleotide sequencing (FINS) is a molecular approach to identify biological materials based on DNA sequences. It focuses on the clustering of samples with reference species through an analysis of the phylogenetic relationship among the species. The choice of loci is critical to the successful use of FINS for identification....

Ligustrum guangdongense R. J. Wang & H. Z. Wen (Oleaceae), from Guangdong, China, is described and illustrated. The new species is similar to L. punctifolium M. C. Chang and L. morrisonense Kaneh. & Sasaki, based on the small leaf blades and terminal inflorescences. Ligustrum guangdongense differs from L. punctifolium by having sparsely punctate gl...

Hedyotis nankunshanensis R.-J. Wang & S.-J. Deng sp. nov. from China, is described and illustrated. It is morphologically similar to H. cantoniensis How ex Ko, but differs by having a pleiochasium inflorescence, hollow peduncles and stems, and different flowering season. Phylogenetic analysis inferred from nuclear internal transcribed spacers (ITS)...

A new species, Hedyotis xinyiensis X. Guo & R.J. Wang (Rubiaceae), from the west of the Guangdong province, China, is described and illustrated. It belongs to Hedyotis sect. Diplophragma due to its septicidal dehiscence of mature capsules. The morpho-logical characters that distinguish it from the two similar species, H. consanguinea and H. matthew...

The potential application of DNA barcodes of plastid (matK, trnH. psbA, petD, and rbcL) and nuclear (internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of rDNA) DNA regions was investigated for 25 Hedyotis taxa. The ITS showed the best species discrimination by resolving 23 of the species as exclusive lineages with no shared alleles between any of the 24 distinct s...

Pinaceae, the largest family of conifers, has diversified organizations of chloroplast genomes (cpDNAs) with the two typical inverted repeats (IRs) highly reduced. To unravel the mechanism of this genomic diversification, we examined the cpDNA organizations from 53 species of the ten Pinaceous genera, including those of Larix decidua (122,474 bp),...

Generic delimitation of Cyathocalyx and Drepananthus has been controversial, with some authors recognizing them as distinct genera, and others recognizing a more broadly defined Cyathocalyx, inclusive of Drepananthus. Some doubt also exists regarding the relationships between these taxa and Cananga. Molecular phylogenetic analyses are presented bas...

Generic delimitation of Cyathocalyx and Drepananthus has been controversial, with some authors recognizing them as distinct genera, and others recognizing a more broadly defined Cyathocalyx, inclusive of Drepananthus. Some doubt also exists regarding the relationships between these taxa and Cananga. Molecular phylogenetic analyses are presented bas...

Diodia teres Walt., an annual herb native to tropical and subtropical America, is found to be a newly recorded weed in Fujian. It is similar to D. virginiana L. except that it is characterized by the 4~8 fimbriate stipules and 4 persistent sepals in the capsule. The morphological description and illustration of D. teres and a key of Diodia in Taiwa...

Five cinnamon species, viz. Cinnamomum cassia, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Cinnamomum tamala, Cinnamomum burmannii, Cinnamomum pauciflorum, were chosen to prepare essential oils by hydrodistillation and to identify and quantify their volatile compound compositions. C. cassia was determined to have the highest yield (1.54%) of essential oil, followed by...

Hedyotis cheniana R. J. Wang and H. wuzhishanensis R. J. Wang, from Hainan Province, China, are described as new. Hedyotis cheniana is similar to H. terminaliflora Merrill & Chun in having a terminal condensed inflorescence, but differs in having elliptic to ovate, or sometimes circular leaves with rounded or truncated leaf bases and distinct petio...

Various expansions or contractions of inverted repeats (IRs) in chloroplast genomes led to fluxes in the IR-LSC (large single copy) junctions. Previous studies revealed that some monocot IRs contain a trnH-rps19 gene cluster, and it has been speculated that this may be an evidence of a duplication event prior to the divergence of monocot lineages....

Studied taxa and their GenBank accession numbers, references and IR-LSC junction positions. This table (Table S1) provides detailed information about the studied 123 taxa, including 12 basal angiosperms, 16 magnoliids, 62 eudicots, and 33 monocots, involved in the analysis.

Hedyotis koana R. J. Wang is described as a new species from Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Fujian, and Hainan provinces of China. It is most similar to H. herbacea L. and H. pinifolia Wall. ex G. Don. because they all have narrow leaves and their capsules are loculicidally dehiscent at the top, but it differs from H. herbacea by having termin...

A revised classification of the species of Cyathocalyx (Annonaceae) occurring in western Malesia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo) is presented, with distribution maps. Fifteen species are recognized, including two that are newly described from Borneo (C. angustipetalus and C. magnifructus), which are illustrated. Several important nomencl...

A comprehensive taxonomic revision of the Philippine representatives of the genus Cyathocalyx (Annonaceae) is presented for the first time. Five species are recognized, including two endemics that are newly described (C. crassipetalus and C. samarensis). The utility of specific taxonomic characters is also evaluated, with particular emphasis on lea...

A revised classification of the species of Cyathocalyx (Annonaceae) occurring in western Malesia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo) is presented, with distribution maps. Fifteen species are recognized, including two that are newly described from Borneo ( C. angustipetalus and C. magnifructus ), which are illustrated. Several important nomen...

Two new species of the genus Hedyotis L. ( Rubiaceae) from southern China, H. wangii and H. yazhouensis, are described and illustrated.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. Mode of access: World Wide Web.