Abstract

Historical biogeography is a study of taxa in time and space including their origin, migration and diversification. This kind of study requires fossil data and an understanding of phylogenetic relationships. These requirements make Acer a good model to study because Acer 1) has a relatively complete fossil record, 2) contains many species, 3) is a major northern temperate floristic element, and 4) is well known. Because fossils are only confidently assigned to section or species group, section as a unit is suitable for tracing evolutionary history of Acer. However, the circumscription of section of Acer is different to each classification through the long history of studies. This work reviews and summarizes the studying history of Acer. Delendick in 1981concluded that the system of Ogata in 1967 and that of Jong in 1976 were superior to others except that most Jong’s series should be raised to section. This work, therefore, follows Delendick’s delineation of section except Distyla and Parviflora, which are combined as Parviflora, to elucidate the development of the circumscription of section based on the system of Pax in 1885 and 1886, Pojarkova in 1933, Momotani in 1962, Fang in 1966, Ogata in 1967, Murray in 1970, Jong in 1976, Delendick in 1990 and Xu in 1996.

中文摘要

歷史生物地理學(historical biogeography)是研究分類群在時間及空間上之分布。 其研究內容包括分類群之誕生，散播，及分化。這類研究需借助化石証據，並需瞭解分類群內各個種間之親緣關係。槭樹屬植物具有下列四項條件符合這種要求：1)具有豐富的化石；2)包含很多物種；3)是北溫帶植物區系之主要元素之一； 4)廣為人知。因為槭樹植物之化石只能肯定的鑑定到組(section)，因此以組為單位來追溯槭樹植物之演化史是合適的。但是槭樹植物組之範圍大小，因研究者而異。故本文旨在回顧整理以前之研究來說明組範圍之變動以供為參考。Delendick在1981年之文章中認為槭樹屬以下之分類系統以Ogata發表於1967年及Jong發表於1976年之系統最好，不過他認為很多Jong處理為系(series)之分類群應提升為組。因此本文除合併Distyla及Parviflora為Parviflora外，餘跟隨Delendick之系統以說明組範圍之變動。

Keyword: Acer, Infrageneric classification, Study history.