Collection of herbological material in Hong Kong

Abstract

Countries in Southeast Asia may be a source of spread of dangerous invasive plant species. Among them can be both decorative species, widely used in urban landscaping, and weeds of seed and planting material. Among the latter, there are often species included in the Common List of Quarantine Pests of the Eurasian Economic Union: Bidens pilosa L., Bidens bipinnata L., Ipomoea hederacea Jacq., Cuscuta sp., Striga sp. Collection of diaspores of these species from different parts of the range is necessary for the development of modern techniques for their identification. Today, identification of seeds and fruits of plants in the field of plant quarantine is carried out, as a rule, by morphological characteristics, which does not always give the correct result. The development of molecular genetic methods will improve the accuracy of species identification and reduce the time required to conduct research.