Data from: Phylogeny and evolution of endemic species on Ulleungdo Island, Korea: the case of Fagus multinervis (Fagaceae)

The genus Fagus (beech, Fagaceae) consists of about 10 species
discontinuously distributed in East Asia, eastern North America, and
Europe. Fagus multinervis occurs only on Ulleungdo Island, Korea, and is
an important component of the island's plant community. The species
was described primarily based on one of its stem characteristics: it
branches at the base, producing several primary trunks. In part because no
extant Fagus species are found in mainland Korea, and because the closest
populations of Fagus are found in Japan, F. multinervis has been
considered to be derived from the Japanese species, F. japonica. However,
a recent study synonymized F. multinervis under F. engleriana and proposed
that the beech population of Ulleungdo Island was derived instead from
China via long-distance dispersal. Fagus multinervis is morphologically
very similar to F. engleriana, but it can be distinguished by having
rhombic lenticels that are vertically elongated. We determined the
nucleotide sequences of the trnK-matK, trnL-trnF, trnH-psbA, and atpB-rbcL
regions of plastid DNA and the second intron of the nuclear LEAFY gene
from accessions of eight species, including eight F. multinervis
individuals, in order to clarify the phylogenetic placement of this
insular species. Phylogenetic analyses show that F. multinervis is
monophyletic, and that it is closely related to F. engleriana and F.
japonica. However, a sister relationship of F. multinervis with either of
those species is not resolved. Therefore, our molecular data support the
distinctness of F. multinervis as an endemic on Ulleungdo Island.
Furthermore, incongruence between plastid and nuclear data suggests that
F. multinervis may have originated via hybridization.