Identification of the Plant Family Caryophyllaceae in Korea Using DNA Barcoding

Caryophyllaceae is a large angiosperm family, with many species being utilized as ornamental or medicinal plants in Korea, addition to several endangered that are managed by the government. In this study, we used DNA barcoding for accurate identification of Korean Caryophyllaceae. A total 78 taxa (n = 215) were sequenced based on three chloroplast regions (rbcL, matK, and psbA–trnH) nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacers (ITS). neighbor-joining tree, higher accuracy was generally observed when using ITS (>73%) rather than (<62%). The highest resolution found rbcL + (77.6%), although varied according genus. Among genera included two more species, five (Eremogone, Minuartia, Pseudostellaria, Sagina, Stellaria) successfully identified. However, other (Cerastium, Gypsophila, Dianthus, Silene, Spergularia) showed relatively low resolutions (0–61.1%). cases Cerastium, ambiguous taxonomic relationships among unidentified may have been factor contributing such resolutions. contrast these results, Gypsophila Spergularia identified well previous studies. Our findings indicate need reconsideration Korea.