Journal Search Engine

to

Search Advanced Search Adode Reader(link)
Download PDF Export Citation Korean Bibliography
ISSN : 1226-9999(Print)
ISSN : 2287-7851(Online)
Korean J. Environ. Biol. Vol.43 No.4 pp.410-415
DOI : https://doi.org/10.11626/KJEB.2025.43.4.410

New record of an alien plant, Valerianella radiata (Caprifoliaceae), in Korea

Jung-Hyun Kim*, Hyun Sik Kim1, Sang Deog Shim1, Hyeon Rae Jo1, Seog Woo Kwon2, Sunhee Sim3, Min-Ha Kim3
Korean Wild Plant Institute, Gimpo 10067, Republic of Korea
11Gyeongnam Plant Observation Society, Daegu 42808, Republic of Korea
2Department of Life Science, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, Republic of Korea
3Species Diversity Research Division, National Institute of Biological Resources, Incheon 22689, Republic of Korea
*Corresponding author Jung-Hyun Kim Tel. 031-987-0653 E-mail. kimjh4065@hanmail.net

Contribution to Environmental Biology


▪ This report on the new record of Valerianella radiata in Korea provides a valuable baseline for future studies on the ecology of this species and its habitat.


18/09/2025 09/11/2025 28/11/2025

Abstract


Valerianella radiata (L.) Dufr., which is native to North America, was newly found in Gyeonggi-do and Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea. This species can be distinguished from other Valerianella species in Korea by its white flowers, and the fertile fruit locule lacks a corky mass on the abaxial surface. V. radiata grows on slopes and roadsides, suggesting that it is likely to have been introduced when green sites were installed and during road construction. Its introduction into Japan has been reported, but the associated ecological risk is unknown. Here, we provide a detailed morphological description, taxonomic key to related taxa, voucher specimens, photographs, and distribution maps of its habitat.


alien plant , new record , Valerianella radiata , Caprifoliaceae

초록

    1. INTRODUCTION

    The genus Valerianella, a member of the Caprifoliaceae family, comprises 50 to 65 species distributed mainly in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere (Krok 1864;Mabberley 2009;Arnelas et al. 2022;Masoumi et al. 2025). Plants of Valerianella are known by the common name cornsalad. V. taxa are annual, self-pollinating plants displaying small flowers with slightly colored corollas, little or no scent, low pollen production, and most likely no nectar (Ernet 1977;Martin and Mathez 1990). Species recognition has traditionally been based on fruit characteristics, as flowers are similar across taxa (Arnelas et al. 2022). Many Valerianella taxa possess edible value, and some species are under cultivation (Sansanelli and Tassoni 2014;Ceccanti et al. 2018). In Korea, only one species in the genus Valerianella is reported; V. locusta (Park et al. 2003;Kim et al. 2018;NIBR 2019;KNA 2021).

    Recently, unrecorded alien plants continue to be reported in Korea (Jung et al. 2023;Kang et al. 2023, 2024;Kim et al. 2023;Youn et al. 2023;Hong et al. 2024;Lee et al. 2024;Jang et al. 2025;Kim et al. 2025;Lee et al. 2025). During a plant diversity field survey in Korean Peninsula, an unrecorded alien plant, V. radiata was found in abandoned fields and roadsides in Gyeonggido and Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea.

    We here formally report the first occurrence of the V. radiata in Korea. The Korean name is ‘Buk-mi-sangchi- a-jae-bi, based on the origin. We provide precise description, taxonomic key to Korean Valerianella species, voucher specimens, photographs, and distribution maps of its habitat (Figs. 1-3).

    2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

    The newly found Valerianella radiata from Korea was exhaustively compared against the type specimen [U.S.A., Virginia, without date, Clayton 43 (lectotype, BM!)], and high-definition images of Global Plants (JSTOR Global Plants 2025) were also checked online. The morphological characters of the species were examined based on the reference by Dyal (1938), using live specimens and photographs (Figs. 1-3). In addition, keys of Korean Valerianella followed (Park et al. 2003;Kim et al. 2018). Photographs in the field were captured by using a digital camera (Body: Nikon D750; Tokyo, Japan; Lens: Nikon 60 mm f/2.8D; Tokyo, Japan). Measurements of the morphological characters were performed by using digital Vernier calipers (CD-20AX; Mitutoyo, Sakado, Japan), and data derived from field notes. All voucher specimens were deposited at the herbarium of National Institute of Biological Resources (KB) and Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources (NNH).

    3. TAXONOMIC TREATMENT

    Valerianella radiata (L.) Dufr., Hist. Nat. Valér. 57, 1811; Valeriana locusta var. radiata L., Sp. Pl. 1: 34, 1753; Valeriana radiata (L.) Willd., Sp. Pl. 1: 184, 1797; Fedia radiata (L.) Michx., Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 18, 1803. - TYPE: U.S.A. Virginia, without date, Clayton 43 (lectotype, BM, 000042693, photo!; designated by Dyal (1938: 206).

    Fedia woodsiana Torr. & A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 2: 52, 1841; Valeriana woodsiana (Torr. & A. Gray) Christenh. & Byng, Global Fl. 4: 149, 2018. - TYPE: U.S.A. Brazos river, without date, Drummond s.n. (syntype, GH, 00032867, photo!).

    Description. Herbs, annual, hermaphroditic, 20-60 cm tall. Roots a taproot, branched, slender. Stems erect or ascending, dichotomously branched in upper part, 4-angled, ridges narrowly winged, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with retrorse hairs along ridges. Leaves basal and cauline, opposite, simple. Basal leaves sessile or short petiolate; blade spatulate to obovate, 3-5 cm× 1-1.5 cm, apex rounded, base attenuate, margins entire, adaxial surface glabrous, abaxial surface with few short simple hairs along midvein, midvein prominent. Cauline leaves sessile, blade oblong-spatulate to lanceolate, 1-6 cm×0.5-2 cm, apex rounded to bluntly, base clasping, margins entire or weakly toothed toward base. Inflorescences terminal, dense head-like clusters, usually paired at the branch tips; bracts lanceolate to narrowly elliptic or narrowly spatulate, 2-5 mm long, margins ciliate. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, sessile; calyx obsolete or minute; corolla funnelform, white, 5-lobed, 3-4 mm in diam.; tube 1.5-2 mm long, apex rounded, glabrous; stamens 3, exserted; filaments 0.5-1 mm long, glabrous; anthers white, ca. 0.2 mm long; stigma usually slightly 3-lobed. Achenes yellow to yellowish, indehiscent, 1-seeded, ovate to oblong-elliptic, 1.5-2.5 mm long, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, ventral grooves.

    Korean name. Buk-mi-sang-chi-a-jae-bi (북미상치아재비).

    Flowering. April to May.

    Fruiting. May to June.

    Origin. North America.

    Introduced. Japan (Mito and Uesugi 2004), Korea (Gyeonggi-do and Gyeongsangnam-do).

    Specimens examined. KOREA. Gyeonggi-do: Yeoju-si, Gangcheon-myeon, Gangcheon-ri, 29 May 2024, Jung- Hyun Kim KIMJH24043, KIMJH24044 (KB), KJH24175 (3 sheets, NNH); ibid., 03 Jun 2025, Jung-Hyun Kim KIM JH25181, KIMJH25182, KIMJH25183 (KB). Gyeongsangnam- do: Goseong-gun, Georyu-myeon, Eunwol-ri, 14 May 2025, Jung-Hyun Kim KIMJH25170, KIMJH 25171, KIMJH25172, KIMJH25173, KIMJH25174, KIM JH25175, KIMJH25176, KIMJH25177, KIMJH25178, KIMJH25179, KIMJH25180 (KB).

    Key to the species of Valerianella in Korea

    1. Flowers white; Fertile locule of fruit lacks a corky mass on the abaxial surface··············V. radiata

    1. Flowers pale blue; Fertile locule of fruit has a conspicuously thickened, corky mass on the abaxial (back) surface······················V. locusta

    Note.Valerianella radiata was described by Pierre Dufresne in Histoire Naturelle et Médicale de la Famille des Valérianées in 1811. It was first described as Valeriana locusta var. radiata by Carl von Linnaeus in the first volume of the first edition of Species Plantarum in 1753 (Dyal 1938). Most websites and databases list V. radiata as the accepted scientific name (FSUS 2025;GBIF 2025;TROPICOS 2025;WFO 2025), but in the POWO (2025) website, Valeriana woodsiana has been accepted as the scientific name of this species. However, the matter of whether Valeriana woodsiana should be treated as a distinct taxon has not been fully addressed (Ware 1983;Dodds 2022).

    In this study, we report the alien plant V. radiata for the first time in Korea. It was initially detected in Gyeongsangnam-do in 2019 and confirmed again during the flowering and fruiting seasons of 2024 and 2025, after which it was also found in Gyeonggi-do in 2024. This species is distributed along slopes and roadsides of open habitats at low-elevation areas. One population (Gyeongsangnam-do) was composed of 100 individuals and the other (Gyeonggi-do) was composed of 30 individuals. This species is found under the shrubs (e.g., Rosa multiflora, Rubus crataegifolius, and Amorpha fruticosa), and vines (e.g., Clematis apiifolia and Pueraria lobata), together with other herbaceous plants, Equisetum arvense, Humulus japonicus, Arenaria serpyllifolia, Cerastium fontanum subsp. vulgare, Gynostemma pentaphyllum, Lepidium densiflorum, Vicia hirsuta, Vicia sativa subsp. nigra, Veronica persica, Artemisia indica, Conyza canadensis, Erigeron annuus, Bromus japonicus, and Festuca arundinacea, so far.

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

    This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR) and National Institute of Ecology (NIE), funded by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE) of the Republic of Korea (NIBR202402101, NIBR202502101, and NIE-A-2025-12).

    CRediT authorship contribution statement

    JH Kim: Investigation, Data curation, Writing-Review and editing. HS Kim: Investigation. SD Shim: Data curation. HR Jo: Investigation. SW Kwon: Investigation. S Sim: Resources. MH Kim: Project administration.

    Declaration of Competing Interest

    The authors declare no conflicts of interset.

    Figure

    KJEB-43-4-410_F1.jpg

    Voucher specimens of Valerianella radiata (L.) Dufr.

    KJEB-43-4-410_F2.jpg

    Photographs of Valerianella radiata (L.) Dufr. A. Habitat, B. stem and leaves, C. inflorescences, D. flowers (top view), E. bracts and flowers, F. fruit, and G. achenes.

    KJEB-43-4-410_F3.jpg

    Distribution maps of Valerianella radiata (L.) Dufr. in Korea.

    Table

    Reference

    1. Arnelas I, E Pérez-Collazos, J López-Martínez, JA Devesa and P Catalán. 2022. Molecular systematics of Valerianella Mill. (Caprifoliaceae): Challenging the taxonomic value of genetically controlled carpological traits. Plants 11:1276.
    2. Ceccanti C, M Landi, S Benvenuti, A Pardossi and L Guidi. 2018. Mediterranean wild edible plants: Weeds or “new functional crops”? Molecules 23:2299.
    3. Dodds JS. 2022. Valerianella radiata Rare Plant Profile. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, State Parks, Forests and Historic Sites, State Forest Fire Service and Forestry, Office of Natural Lands Management, New Jersey Natural Heritage Program. Trenton, NJ, USA.
    4. Dyal SC. 1938. Valerianella in North America. Rhodora 40:185- 212.
    5. Ernet D. 1977. Blütenbau und Fortpflanzungsbiologie von Valerianella und Fedia (Valerianaceae). Plant Syst. Evol. 128:1-22.
    6. FSUS. 2025. Flora of the Southeastern United States. Facilitated by the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Chapel Hill, NC, USA. https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu. Accessed August 13, 2025.
    7. GBIF. 2025. Valerianella radiata (L.) Dufr. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. https://www.gbif.org. Accessed June 10, 2025.
    8. Hong JK, SD Shim, HS Kim, EH Eom, JH Park, JS Kim and JH Kim. 2024. New records of two alien plants, Carex annectens and C. gravida (Cyperaceae) in Korea. Korean J. Pl. Taxon. 54:193-199.
    9. Jang JE, HJ Jeong, J Seol, ES Kang, SW Lee, HB Kim and DC Son. 2025. Plantago coronopus (Plantaginaceae), a new invasive alien plant in the Republic of Korea. Korean J. Pl. Taxon. 55:29-35.
    10. JSTOR Global Plants. 2025. Valerianella radiata (L.) Dufr. JSTOR Global Plants. https://plants.jstor.org. Accessed July 28, 2025.
    11. Jung J, HR Na, KS Lee, Y Choi, W Cho and JO Hyun. 2023. New records of two alien plants, Juncus torreyi (Juncaceae) and Egeria densa (Hydrocharitaceae) in Korea. Korean J. Pl. Taxon. 53:54-59.
    12. Kang ES, CW Kim, DC Son, MY Yim and SJ Ji. 2023. Ipomoea heptaphylla and Murdannia nudiflora: New records for the flora of Korea. Korean J. Pl. Taxon. 53:222-229.
    13. Kang ES, GY Chung, SW Lee and DC Son. 2024. Hedypnois rhagadioloides (Asteraceae; Cichorieae): An alien plant found at Busan new port. Korean J. Pl. Taxon. 54:200-205.
    14. Kim JH, YH Cho, SS Kim, S Sim and MH Kim. 2023. A newly recorded alien plant, Silene fissipetala (Caryophyllaceae) from Korea. Korean J. Environ. Biol. 41:266-272.
    15. Kim JS, JH Kim and JH Kim. 2018. Herbaceous Plants of Korean Peninsula I. Plants Living in Seasides, Rivers, Wetlands and Cities. Dolbegae. Paju, Korea.
    16. Kim Y, SD Shim, SY Jung, GH Nam, N Yun and BM Nam. 2025. New records of four introduced alien plants in coastal and port areas of South Korea. J. Asia -Pac. Biodivers. 18:238- 246.
    17. KNA. 2021. Checklist of Vascular Plants in Korea (Alien Plants). Korea National Arboretum. Pocheon, Korea.
    18. Krok TO. 1864. Anteckningar till en monografi öfver våxtfamiljen Valerianeae: Valerianella, Hall. PA Norstedt & Söner. Stockholm, Sweden.
    19. Lee SR, BK Park, KH Lee, JS Kim, DC Son and ES Kang. 2024. A new record of a Plantaginaceae alien plant in the Republic of Korea: Chaenorhinum minus. Korean J. Pl. Taxon. 54:40-46.
    20. Lee YS, HH Lee, H Lee, MK Lee and CG Jang. 2025. New record for alien plant, Corchorus aestuans L. (Malvaceae) in Korea. J. Natl. Park Res. 16:148-152.
    21. Mabberley DJ. 2009. Mabbersley’s Plant -Book. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, United Kingdom.
    22. Martin A and J Mathez. 1990. Polymorphisme et taxinomie chez les Valerianaceae: Quelques indications sur les valerianelles proches de Valerianella coronata. Nat. Monsp. 55:61-75.
    23. Masoumi A, MB Faghir and MH Rikan. 2025. Fruit micromorphology of the genus Valerianella (Caprifoliaceae) in Iran. Phytotaxa 717:1-30.
    24. Mito T and T Uesugi. 2004. Invasive alien species in Japan: The status quo and the new regulation for prevention of their adverse effects. Glob. Environ. Res. 8:171-191.
    25. NIBR. 2019. National Species List of Korea: Plants. National Institute of Biological Resources. Incheon, Korea.
    26. Park SH, JH Kil and YH Yang. 2003. Unrecorded and naturalized plants in Korea (XVIII). Korean J. Pl. Taxon. 33:79-90.
    27. POWO. 2025. Plants of the World Online. The Royal Botanic Gardens. London, United Kingdom. https://powo.science.kew.org. Accessed July 18, 2025.
    28. Sansanelli S and A Tassoni. 2014. Wild food plants traditionally consumed in the area of Bologna (Emilia Romagna region, Italy). J. Ethnobiol. Ethnomed. 10:69.
    29. TROPICOS. 2025. Valerianella radiata (L.) Dufr. Missouri Botanical Garden. St. Louis, MO, USA. https://tropicos.org. Accessed August 25, 2025.
    30. Ware DME. 1983. Genetic fruit polymorphism in North American Valerianella (Valerianaceae) and its taxonomic implications. Syst. Bot. 8:33-44.
    31. WFO. 2025. The World Flora Online. https://www.worldfloraonline.org. Accessed August 14, 2025.
    32. Youn JS, JS Kim, CW Hyun, JH Pak and W Lee. 2023. New record of an alien plant, Ipomoea cristulata (Convolvulaceae) in Korea. Korean J. Pl. Taxon. 53:60-64.

    Vol. 40 No. 4 (2022.12)

    Journal Abbreviation 'Korean J. Environ. Biol.'
    Frequency quarterly
    Doi Prefix 10.11626/KJEB.
    Year of Launching 1983
    Publisher Korean Society of Environmental Biology
    Indexed/Tracked/Covered By

    Contact info

    Any inquiries concerning Journal (all manuscripts, reviews, and notes) should be addressed to the managing editor of the Korean Society of Environmental Biology. Yongeun Kim,
    Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea.
    E-mail: kjeb@koseb.org
    Tel: +82-2-3290-3496 / +82-10-9516-1611