The family Betulaceae, which belongs to the Order Fagales, is composed of six genera: Alnus, Betula, Corylus, Carpinus, Ostrya, and Ostryopsis. In Korea, five genera are distributed except for Ostryopsis, which is endemic to China. The genus Betula in...
The family Betulaceae, which belongs to the Order Fagales, is composed of six genera: Alnus, Betula, Corylus, Carpinus, Ostrya, and Ostryopsis. In Korea, five genera are distributed except for Ostryopsis, which is endemic to China. The genus Betula in Korean peninsula consisted of seven species: Betula fruticosa Pall., B. pendula Roth, B. chinensis Maxim., B. costata Trautv., B. dahurica Pall., B. ermanii Cham., and B. schmidtii Regel. The genus Carpinus is distributed as four species and one variety: Carpinus cordata Blume, C. laxiflora (Siebold & Zucc.) Blume, C. laxiflora (Siebold & Zucc.) Blume var. longispica Uyeki, C. tschonoskii Maxim., and C. turczaninowii Hance. Research on the fruits of the family is limited, and in particular, in anatomical studies of the fruits, no previous studies have been conducted domestically. Therefore, excluding B. fruticosa and B. pendula, which grow naturally in North Korea, external morphological, micromorphological, and anatomical studies of the fruits of 9 species and 1 variety of two genera of Korean Betulaceae were conducted to examine taxonomically useful characters. All fruits were nutlet, and according to the external morphological study, in the genus Betula, fruit size, wing width, and the degree of hair distribution on the surface were identified as taxonomically useful characters, and in the genus Carpinus, fruit size, the presence or absence of striations, and the presence or absence of stomata on the surface were identified as useful characters. According to the anatomical study, both genera showed significant differences in the thickness and structure of the pericarp, and in the case of Betula ermanii, unlike the other taxa, the exocarp consisted of 2∼3 layers. Among the five taxa of the genus Carpinus, C. cordata had the thickest mesocarp compared to the other four taxa, and the exocarp was observed in the thinnest, compressed form. When comparing the anatomical characters of the Korean Betula and Carpinus, the differences between the two genera appear to be clear, and it is considered that if the study were to be expanded to all taxa of the family Betulaceae, it would be possible to understand the evolutionary tendencies of each genus.