IDENTIFICATION OF DNA BARCODE SEQUENCE FOR TWO HOMALOMENA SPECIES (ARACEAE) IN VIETNAM

Abstract

Homalomena is genus of flowering plants of the Araceae family which consists of many medicinal plants used in Vietnamese traditional medicine. However, the scientific names and classification of some species of this genus in are still controversial. Therefore, this study was performed to describe the morphological characteristics and determine the correct scientific names of two species Homalomena occulta and Homalomena pierreana. Our data, for the first time, provided the molecular data (trnL intron and trnL-trnF IGS sequences) of H. occulta and H. pierreana. The comparison of trnL intron and trnL-trnF IGS regions of two studied species and others in GenBank, especially H. aromatica, the closely relative to H. occulta, proved that H. occulta and H. aromatica were two distinct species, which supported to the correct classification of these species in previous studies.