From Folk Taxonomy to Species Confirmation of Acorus (Acoraceae): Evidences Based on Phylogenetic and Metabolomic Analyses

Abstract

Plants in Acorus have been used as herbal medicine by various linguistic groups for thousands of years. Arguments of taxonomy of Acorus among scientists resulted in confusions and misuses of Acorus plants. The present study used different methods to investigate the classification of the genus, based on folk taxonomy. The relationships among Acorus species were revealed through phylogenetic analyses by constructing the Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses based on sequences of two chloroplast regions (trnL-trnF and rbcL). All samples named with two so-called synonyms, Acorus macrospadiceus (Yamam.) F. N. Wei and Y. K. Li and Acorus tatarinowii Schott collected from different habitats, were clustered into separate groups, which revealed that they represented two independent species. Multivariate statistical analysis of metabolites from different Acorus populations were carried out based on UPLC-QTOF-MS data. Three independent analysis, principal component analysis, heat-map analysis, and hierarchical cluster analysis, showed that A. macrospadiceus and A. tatarinowii are different from two recognized species in the genus, A. calamus L. and A. gramineus Aiton. The results of phylogenetics and chemotaxonomy, together with morphological and ecological evidences, were consistent with traditional knowledge of local people related to Acorus taxa, which proved the significance of parataxonomy. Multiple evidences including morphological, ecological, folk taxonomic, phylogenetic, and chemical taxonomic results suggested that there are four species in the genus Acorus.

Folk nomenclature of plants in Cistanche deserticola-associated community in South Gobi, Mongolia

“…It not only reflects how people describe a plant “species” and its natural ecosystem, but also relates it to its traditional uses. A recent study revealed that local people understood the habitat difference of different ethno-taxa of Acorus ( Cheng et al, 2020 ). In the present study, there is also rich ethnoecological information in the Cistanche deserticola -associated community.…”

Mixtec taxonomy: plant classification, nomenclature, and identification in Oaxaca, Mexico

“…These observations of over-differentiation have been observed since Conklin (1954) with the Hanunoo of the Philippines, who recognized a quarter more taxa in relation to the Linnaean species identified. Traditional identification and nomenclature mechanisms are important because they have been shown to reveal new scientific species (Newmaster et al 2009) as well as clarify complexes of cryptic species (Cheng et al 2020, Newmaster & Ragupathy 2010. A detailed analysis of the ethnotaxa and the Mixtec identification in relation to Linnaean species can complement the work of taxonomists, as well as help to record new scientific knowledge in an area little studied from a biological diversity point of view.…”

Uncovering the Protective Mechanism of the Volatile Oil of Acorus tatarinowii against Acute Myocardial Ischemia Injury Using Network Pharmacology and Experimental Validation

“…Acute ischemia, hypoxia, and metabolic disorders in the myocardial tissues are caused by severe spasms, sudden coronary artery obstruction, low blood pressure, reduced aortic blood supply, change in blood viscosity, valvular disease, and myocardial disease [4,5]. e genus Acorus belongs to the Acoraceae family that is widely distributed in temperate and subtropical regions, and it includes Acorus tatarinowii (shi chang pu), Acorus calamus L (shui chang pu), Acorus gramineus Aiton (jin xian pu), and Acorus macrospadiceus F. N. Wei (shannai chang pu) species [6,7]. Although Acorus tatarinowii is similar to Acorus calamus L, the former is smaller in terms of morphology, and its leaves lack a midrib.…”

“…The genus Acorus belongs to the Acoraceae family that is widely distributed in temperate and subtropical regions, and it includes Acorus tatarinowii (shi chang pu), Acorus calamus L (shui chang pu), Acorus gramineus Aiton (jin xian pu), and Acorus macrospadiceus F. N. Wei (shannai chang pu) species [ 6 , 7 ]. Although Acorus tatarinowii is similar to Acorus calamus L, the former is smaller in terms of morphology, and its leaves lack a midrib.…”