Looking for East Asian botanists for *Achlys japonica*

The genus Achlys occurs on both sides of the North Pacific, but so far, iNaturalist only has observations for the North American species:

The red circle is the core range of the Asian species: Hokkaido and the northern part of Honshu; see how empty it is. A search of Google Scholar using keyword: Achlys also brings up almost exclusively studies of the North American species.

I am currently working on a short book about this genus; I have had to bring in some of my own field work to fill in the gaps in the literature. However, I have only been able to do this for the North American species. I am looking for assistance or collaboration from naturalists located in countries where the Asian species, known in Japanese as ナンブソウ (kanji: 南部草), scientifically Achlys japonica occurs -- mainly Japan; but recently also recorded in northern China and South Korea. (I also wonder if it might occur in the Russian Far East.) Here is the picture from iNaturalist's taxon page; you can see that it is a picture only of an herbarium specimen:

More than just locations of observations (we have iNaturalist for that), I would like to know about its natural history -- its phenology, its ecological interactions, and any local uses. Depending on how much you can provide, I would either cite you as a source, or potentially consider co-authorship. ありがとうございました.

Posted on March 14, 2022 05:17 AM by jasonhernandez74 jasonhernandez74

Comments

I have verified that this species indeed occurs in Korea, too -- the attested name is ㅞ 잎 블
(source: Lee, Chong-Bok. 1968. Plant resources of Korea. Journal of the Korean Society of Forest Science 8(1): 27-139.)
Maybe someone can help me with the meaning of this name? Google translate is only partially helpful -- it translates ㅞ 잎 as leaves. But as far as I can discover, 블 is mainly used in loan words where the sound "bul" is needed. Has this syllable a meaning of its own?

Posted by jasonhernandez74 about 2 years ago

iNaturalist user @yanghooncho verified that 세잎풀 means "three-leaf plant," and that it was collected in North Korea.

Posted by jasonhernandez74 almost 2 years ago

Add a Comment

Sign In or Sign Up to add comments