Data from: Conflict between morphological and molecular data: a case study of Ficus krishnae (Moraceae)

Ficus krishnae, considered as highly sacred plant species in India, is well known for its peculiar nature of cup-shaped leaves. The species distinctly differs from its allied species F. benghalensis not only in the cup formation in leaves but also in the height of plants, aerial roots, stipules, petiole and its leafy appendages, ostiolar bracts of the receptacle and pollinator wasps, in addition to slight differences in the karyotype, DNA contents, stomatal and parenchymatous cells and nodal anatomy. In spite of having several morphological differences, F. krishnae is considered by some authors as a synonym of F. benghalensis, which does not seem to be convincing. Contrary to the morphological differences, the sequence analysis of nuclear and plastid regions of both the species conducted in the present study does not reveal any significant variations and thus infers no differentiation between the species at molecular level. This may be due to mutations at one or few coding loci or differences in gene expression associated with morphogenesis with significant phenotypic appearance.

克氏榕（Ficus krishnae）在印度被视为极具神圣性的植物类群，以其独特的杯状叶片形态闻名于世。该物种与近缘的孟加拉榕（F. benghalensis）存在显著差异：不仅体现于叶片的杯状结构，还包括植株高度、气生根、托叶、叶柄及其叶状附属物、隐头花序的孔口苞片以及传粉榕小蜂；此外在核型、DNA含量、气孔与薄壁组织细胞以及节部解剖结构上也存在细微差异。尽管二者存在诸多形态学差异，部分学者仍将克氏榕视为孟加拉榕的同物异名，这一观点似乎缺乏说服力。与形态学差异相悖的是，本研究对两个物种的核基因组与质体基因组区域开展序列分析后，未发现任何显著变异，因此在分子层面无法区分这两个物种。该现象可能源于单个或少数编码基因座的突变，或是与形态发生相关的基因表达差异，进而造就了二者显著的表型外观。