Bioscience Methods 2024, Vol.15, No.5, 244-254 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/bm 245 2 Botanical Characteristics and Cultivation 2.1 Morphological description Atractylodes macrocephala, commonly known as Baizhu in China, is a perennial herb belonging to the Asteraceae family. The plant is characterized by its thick, cylindrical rhizomes, which are the primary medicinal part used in traditional medicine. The leaves are alternate, simple, and have a lanceolate to ovate shape with serrated margins. The flowers are small, white to pale yellow, and are arranged in dense capitula. The plant typically blooms from July to September, and the seeds mature from August to Octobe (Figure 1) (Chen et al., 2018; Zhu et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2020). Figure 1 Graphic representation of features identified in the plastome of three Atractylodes species by using CPGAVAS2 (Adopted from Wang et al., 2020) Image caption: The map contains four rings. From the center going outward, the first circle shows the forward and reverse repeats connected with red and green arcs, respectively. The next circle shows the tandem repeats marked with short bars. The third circle shows the microsatellite sequences identified using MISA. The fourth circle is drawn using drawgenemap and shows the gene structure on the plastome. The genes were colored based on their functional categories, which are shown at the left corner (Adopted from Wang et al., 2020) 2.2 Geographic distribution Atractylodes macrocephala is native to East Asia, with its primary distribution in China, Korea, and Japan. In China, it is predominantly found in the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan, and Shaanxi. The plant thrives in temperate climates and is commonly found in mountainous regions and forest edges. The geographic distribution of A. macrocephala is influenced by its preference for well-drained, fertile soils and a climate with moderate rainfall (Chen et al., 2018; Zhu et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2022).
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