Traditional Medicine Research 2017 January; 2(1): 18-26 Basic Research

Investigation on the ecological suitable regionalization of Melicope ptelefolia

Shao-Hui Wang1, 2, Yu Yan1, 2, Zhe-Kang Cheng1, 2, Fan-Lin Zeng3, Zong-Shen Zhang4, Ru-Han Fan5, Cai-Xiang Xie3, Tong-Xiang Liu 1, 2*

1Institute of Chinese Minority Traditional Medicine, Minzu University of , Beijing, 100081, China. 2Key Laboratory for Chinese Minority Traditional Medicine of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100081,China. 3Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chinese Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China. 4School of Biological Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China; 5 School of Pharmacy, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.

Highlights： In addition, Chinese medicine pays attention to the genuineness of herbs. "Born of various drugs, all have their environment". That is to say, ecological environment in herbs’ growing has an important influence on the genuineness of medicinal herbs. The TCMGIS platform has exhibited several advantages to investigate the ecological suitable regionalization of traditional Chinese herbs. It has diversified data format, integrated with comprehensive ecological factors with various quantificational parameters. This article took the natural ecological niches of Melicope ptelefolia as basic point. The adaptable areas of Melicope ptelefolia was analyzed throughout the whole nation by using Geographic Information System for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCMGIS). The results described in this paper provide a scientific foundation to determine the suitable areas for sustainable development and utilization of Melicope ptelefolia.

DOI: 10.12032/TMR201705033

Submit a manuscript: http://www.tmrjournal.com 18 Traditional Medicine Research 2017 January; 2(1): 18-26

Investigation on the ecological suitable regionalization of Melicope ptelefolia

Shao-Hui Wang1, 2, Yu Yan1, 2, Zhe-Kang Cheng1, 2, Fan-Lin Zeng3, Zong-Shen Zhang4, Ru-Han Fan5, Cai-Xiang Xie3, Tong-Xiang Liu 1, 2 *

Abstract Objective: The aim of paper is to find ecological suitable regionalization of Melicope ptelefolia planting and provide a reference for the rational planning of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). Methods: The natural ecological niches of Melicope ptelefolia was taken as basic point. The adaptable areas of Melicope ptelefolia was analysed throughout the whole nation by using Geographic Information System for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCMGIS). Results: Besides the original distribbution region of , Guangdong, Hainan, , Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, , we further found that Zhejiang, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Chongqing, Sichuan are adaptable for the growth of Melicope ptelefolia. The most suitable region is Guangxi, and the followed is Guangdong. Conclusion: The ecological suitable area of Melicope ptelefolia mainly distributes in Lingnan Region, and TCMGIS is comparatively scientific and accurate to analyze suitable areas for the growth of Melicope ptelefolia. These findings have important reference value for the introduction, cultivation and scientific planning of Melicope ptelefolia. Key words：Melicope ptelefolia, Ecological suitable regionalization, Ecological factors, TCMGIS

摘要 目的: 研究三叉苦的生态适宜性，为 GAP 合理规划和科学选址提供参考。 方法: 以三叉苦的主要产区为基点，运用“中药材产地适宜性分析地理信息系统”(TCMGIS)分析三 叉苦的全国适宜产区。 结果: 广西壮族自治区、广东、海南、云南、福建、江西、湖南、贵州、浙江、台湾、香港特别行政 区、重庆市、四川等省市适宜三叉苦的生长，其中面积较大的为广西壮族自治区,其次为广东省。 结论: 三叉苦生态适宜区分布主要在我国岭南地区，这与历史文献记载及现代引种实践数据相吻合， 应用 TCMGIS 技术分析三叉苦生态适宜性具有一定的科学性和准确性，对三叉苦的引种栽培及科学 规划具有重要的参考价值。 关键词：三叉苦，生态适应性，生态因素，TCMGIS

*Correspondence to: Tong-Xiang Liu, Institute of Chinese Minority Traditional Medicine, Minzu University of China, Beijing, 100081, China. E-mail addresses: [email protected]. Submit a manuscript: http://www.tmrjournal.com 19 Traditional Medicine Research 2017 January; 2(1): 18-26

1. Introduction database based on raster data (1km2) and derived data Melicope pteleifolia is one of the commonly used calculated from 30-year (1971 - 2000) surface medicinal and edible herb in traditional Chinese meteorological data of national meteorological stations, medicine. It has been distributing in Guangdong, including annual average temperature of more than Guangxi, Hainan, Fujian, Yunnan and other ethnic 10℃ for the active accumulated temperature, monthly minority areas. This herb has the effect of average temperature from month January to December, detoxification, promoting qi circulation to relieve pain, average annual rainfall, average annual relative and dampness itching in traditional Chinese medicine. humidity, average annual sunshine hours and annual It can also be used for sore throat, malaria, jaundice relative humidity; (3) soil database, the third national hepatitis and rheumatism, so as to topical treatment for soil survey to subclass soil data of 1: 4,000,000; (4) skin heat sores, skin itching, hemorrhoids in traditional spatial distribution of Chinese herbal medicine medicine [1]. However, it has been recently reported database, the third National Chinese medicine that destruction of habitat and illegal collection have resources survey data used to query, analyze and led to supply shortage of M. pteleifolia in China. compare the authentic environment of Chinese herbal Hence, it’s urgent and necessary to seek alternative to medicine. the wild resources of P. tunicoides for production of its TCMGIS is a way of analysis based on similarity bioactive compounds, such as commercial culture of clustering of basic grid, that is, quantize each plants, which severely requires the rational planning environmental factor related to the growing based on the detailed investigation of its ecological environment of herbs into a finite number of raster data suitable regionalization. structure respectively and convert data of precipitation, In this paper, we researched the scientific literatures, temperature, humidity, soil, sunlight and other factors conducted the field surveys and collected the into basic grid of 1km2 square that can make cluster herbarium, gathered the geographic information for the analysis. Each grid is equivalent to a data object, used growing point of ecological habits of Melicope spatial data, soil and climate data, etc. are stored in pteleifolia for a comprehensive analysis of its corresponding attribute table grid, then make spatial eecological suitable regionalization. We used the cluster analysis of generated grid data (different factors "Geographic Information System for Traditional belong to different layers, you can make overlay Chinese Medicine" (TCMGIS) to extract ecological analysis). According to the similarity of various factors of the main distribution area of Melicope environmental factors (climate factor data, data of pteleifolia. Based on the similarity of these ecological topographic factors (altitude) and soil type data) of factors, we investigated the suitability of the growth introducing areas and the origin (authentic origin), area and provided the quantificational and spatial suitable areas are divided into the most suitable areas information about suitable areas of Melicope (100% similarity), suitable areas (similarity≥95%) and pteleifolia. The results lay the scientific basis in terms sub-suitable areas (similarity≥90%), The flow chart of of choosing the geographic region for commercial TCMGIS system is shown in (Fig 1). cultivation of this valuable herb. Given that cultivation of Chinese herbal medicine The optimum ecological factors range was obtained by requires relatively high altitude, we firstly classified taking the medicinal heritages as the analysis points. the existing distribution points of Melicope pteleifolia in accordance with altitude. Based on the biological characteristics of Melicope pteleifolia growing in areas below 2000 meters and the reference to "Flora of The distance calculation of normalized data by using China Digital Herbarium", we screened out the the Minkowski distance formula. distribution points to meet certain altitude, and thus gained the growing point of geographic information. Integrated with the climate database and soil database, The data of ecological factors were normalized by we obtained the climate and soil factors of distribution using absolute deviation method. points of Melicope pteleifolia which serve as the datum point of its suitability analysis of domestic regions. The raster is reclassified according to the distance 2. TCMGIS system calculation result, and the similarity coefficient is The database of TCMGIS system（TCMGIS-Ⅱ，the calculated synthetically. system is based on Windows XP, Using C development, background database platform is SQLServer2000, and the GIS component is ArcEngine 9.0 ） by Chinese According to the similarity coefficient, the suitable academy of medical sciences includes: (1) Basic area of medicine was divided into different grades. spatial database and vector database of national maps with the scale of 1: 1000000; (2) meteorological factor Figure 1 The flow chart of TCMGIS system Submit a manuscript: http://www.tmrjournal.com 20 Traditional Medicine Research 2017 January; 2(1): 18-26

3. Suitability of Melicope pteleifolia 10 major ecological factors in total of each sampling 3.1 The determination of ecological characteristics point acting as background data for the growth of and ecological factors of Melicope pteleifolia Melicope pteleifolia, and each factor is weighted Warm and humid environment is suitable for the equally [3]. Inputting the Melicope pteleifolia factor growth of Melicope pteleifolia. Thus it is commonly values into TCMGIS system for data normalization, seen in more shaded and humid valleys. Or and using absolute deviation method (①). occasionally, it grows among bushes on sunny slopes, distributing scatteredly or in mass. Normally, it grows at an altitude below 2000 m, ranging from 800 m to 2000m vertically [2]. Suitable range: the minimum temperature is -4℃, the highest temperature is 40℃, Among them (), , annual evaporation is more than 1000mm, annual the standardized values (③) are normalized to 0-100. rainfall is about 2000mm, the maximum surface temperature is 80℃ and the content of soil organic matter is about 1.5%. According to the ecological characteristics of Melicope pteleifolia, our group chose 49 representative field sampling points in the main Using the formula (④) to calculate the statistical producing areas of Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, distance of each lattice to the range of Melicope Fujian, Guizhou, Yunnan, ect (Table 1). According to pteleifolia adaptive factors. China Digital Herbarium (http://www.cvh.org.cn/ or http://www.cvh.ac.cn/) and Institute of Botany Herbarium (http: //pe.ibcas .ac.cn /), we select 147 representative sample point data of Melicope pteleifolia and convert coordinate of GPS for each sampling point (Table 2). From the unit of climate grid database, soil database and terrain grid database of 1 In the formula, is the weight of each factor, is km2, we extracted average annual temperature, average mean absolute deviation, is the mean value of , temperature of January and July, minimum temperature is the normalized value of the factor, is in January, the highest temperature in July, average minkowski distance. the equalization of each factor annual rainfall, average annual relative humidity, weight is 0.151. average annual sunshine hours, ≥10 ℃ accumulated temperature, soil type, etc. Table 1 Ecological characteristics of 49 sites for Melicope pteleifolia sampling points

Number of Scope of Sampling area sample Range of latitude Limits of altitude/m longitude points Guangxi 13 E105°51′3.76″～ N22°27′6.21″～ 800～1200 E111°32′47.84″ N23°52′59.81″ Guangdong 7 E111°25′40.27″～ N22°09′42.49″～ 200～1800 E115°48′21.20″ N24°31′50.53″ Hainan 8 E109°30′29.33″～ N18°15′12.99″～ 500～1500 E110°11′22.73″ N19°57′31.51″ Yunnan 7 E100°30′21.94″～ N21°25′52.69″～ 1200～2000 E105°0′20.75″ N23°01′32.99″ Fujian 8 E117°06′5.60″～ N23°55′32.13″～ 400～2000 E118°56′46.32″ N25°48′55.05″ Guizhou 3 E104°53′40.25″～ N25°05′26.59″～ 560～1700 E108°04′32.81″ N26°20′17.75″ Hunan 4 E109°48′15.51″～ N25°45′35.65″～ 160～1400 E113°0′33.09″ N28°50′21.89″

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Table 2 Ecological factors of 147 representative sample points for Melicope pteleifolia

Average Number temperature Mean Annual Relative Sampling of /℃ annual Sunshine Soil precipita humidity/ area specimen Tempera hours/h types tion/mm % points ture/℃ Jan Jul

1500~200 1160~222 yellow Guangxi 39 6~14 23~29 16~23 65~90 0 0 soil 1300~250 1500 paddy Guangdong 21 16~19 28~29 19~24 45~93 0 ~2300 soil 1600-180 1750~265 yellow Hainan 23 16~20 24~31 22~27 76~86 0 0 soil 1100~160 2200~300 Yunnan 21 6~8 19~22 5~24 40~80 red soil 0 0 1400~200 1400~220 crimson Fujian 22 5~13 25~30 15~22 40~70 0 0 soil 1000~140 1200~160 Guizhou 9 3~6 22~25 14~16 76 ~79 red soil 0 0 red soil, 1200~170 1300~180 Hunan 12 4~7 29~31 15~18 79~85 yellow 0 0 soil

Figure 2 Spatial distribution of suitable growing areas of Melicope pteleifolia

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3.2 Plant Community Investigation and field other environmental factors of every sampling point sampling and determined the important value according to the According to survey object and study route determined weighted average of the coverage, abundance and by Li Bo and Huang Yongmei [4,5], we determined the height. nature of the community of various types of vegetation based on advantages and chose typical district to 4. The suitability analysis results of the origin randomly sample by method of "sample plot - quadrat". of Melicope pteleifolia Set quadrat 10m × 10m, investigate principally plant According to target value and analysis method and species, height, abundance, cover (canopy density) in analyzing by TCMGIS, we got suitable ecological the quadrat. The investigation was mainly focused on distribution (Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4) of 95% the growth, distribution and resources of Melicope -100% Melicope pteleifolia and the nation's major pteleifolia, meanwhile, we measured and recorded distribution and suitable areas (Table 1). terrain, slope, aspect, latitude, longitude, altitude and

Figure 3 Ecological suitability regional distribution area of Melicope pteleifolia (Note: The province's initials, for example, Guangdong abbreviated as GD, Hunan abbreviated as Hn, Hainan abbreviated as HN, ect.)

Figure 4 Proportion of ecological suitability regional distribution area of Melicope pteleifolain original growing cities, counties and regions (Note: The province's initials, for example, Guangdong abbreviated as GD, Hunan abbreviated as Hn, Hainan abbreviated as HN, ect.)

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Table 3 Area distribution of Melicope pteleifola optimum growtih zone (Ecological similarity of 100%)

Province County name Total area（km2) Suitable area Proportion of （km2) suitable district (%) Guangxi Tianlin County, Cangwu 218814.03 174281.60 79.61 County, Bobai County, Tiandong County, ect. Guangdong Yingde City, Yangchun City, 159066.69 144849.94 91.13 Dongyuan County, Zijin County, Foshan City, ect. Yunnan Guangnan County, 167408.80 86758.06 51.91 City, , ect. Fujian Dongshan County, Zhangpu 94500.00 56975.35 60.33 County, Yunxiao County, Zhaoan County, ect. Jiangxi Nanjing County, Xingguo 106184.44 63123.66 59.39 County, Anyuan County, Xunwu County, ect. Hunan Yongzhou City, Jianghua 71223.42 21583.69 30.31 County, County, Ningyuan County, ect. Hainan Sanya City, Baoting County, 29065.51 21249.88 73.11 Ledong County, Wanning City, ect. Guizhou Luodian, , 58042.92 18957.40 32.72 Ceheng County, Xingyi City, , ect. Zhejiang Longquan City, Jiangshan City, 42555.21 13520.16 31.84 Jinhua City area, Qujiang District, Ruian City, Liandu, ect. Sichuan Jinyang County, Leibo County 28330.98 2811.50 9.91 Butuo County, ect. Taiwan Cuona County, Longzi County, 31933.30 4885.92 15.30 Motuo County. Xianggang 965.28 410.78 44.61 Aaomen 22.39 2.13 9.53 Xizang 70268.83 1143.69 16.33 Note: The order of provinces (districts) and the main counties (cities) are arranged by the size of suitable areas as well as main producing areas; proportion refers to the ratio of regional areas with an ecological similarity of 98% -100% in the total area of the province (district).

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As it can be seen from (Table 3), among suitable aforementioned main suitable areas of Guangdong, areas which have the ecological similarity of 100% Guangxi, Hainan, Fujian, Jiangxi and other provinces, with main producing areas of Melicope pteleifola, the there are some potential areas suitable for the lager one is Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region development of Melicope pteleifola like Sichuan, which has an area of 218814.03 km2, followed by Chongqing and Guizhou, Xiangxi regions bordered by Guangdong Province and Yunnan Province which Hunan such as Pingjiang County, Yuanling County, have an area of 159066.69 km2 and 167408.80 km2 Longhui County, Xupu County, Fenghuang County, respectively. Main areas accounting for a relatively Sinko Dong and Yongshun larger part of their locating cities or countries are County, Jiangxi, Anhui, areas bordered by Hubei such Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Fujian with a as Susong County, Yangxin County, Huangmei proportion of 91.13%, 79.61%, 73.11% and 60.33% County and other regions. respectively. Among suitable areas which have the ecological similarity of 100% with main producing 5. Conclusion areas of Melicope pteleifola, the larger counties are The TCMGIS platform has exhibited several Guangnan County, Yunnan which has an area of advantages to investigate the ecological suitable 6409.61km2 and an ratio of 93.04% of suitable district, regionalization of traditional Chinese herbs. It has followed by Jinghong City, Yunnan which has an area diversified data format, integrated with comprehensive of 5542.20km2 and an ratio of 90.52% of suitable ecological factors with various quantificational district, and then Yunnan Mengla County which has an parameters. Chen Shilin [6] and others have area of 5045.77km2 and a ratio of 84.46% of suitable successfully used this platform to investigate the district. The counties which have a larger proportion of suitable zones for astragali radix, panax ginseng, suitable areas are mainly Guangdong panaxquinquefolius, coptischinesi and other 200 kinds JieyangRongcheng District, MeizhouMeijiang district, of Chinese herbs. These studies play an important role ChaozhouXiangqiao District, Kaiping City, Guangning in the introduction and cultivation of medicinal plants County, Heping County and Guangxi Zhuang and rational production layout of herbal medicine. Autonomous Region Bama Yao Autonomous County, Using the TCMGIS platform, this paper analysed the Pubei County, Beiliu City, Donglan County and so on. ecological suitable regionalization of Melicope The proportion of suitable areas which have an ptelefolia, assayed the potential distribution areas ecological similarity of 100% of Melicope pteleifola is suitable for the growth of Melicope ptelefolia Clearly, 100%. The areas which have an ecological similarity these results provide a scientific basis for the of 98% are mainly distributed in Taiwan, Yunnan introduction and cultivation, variety protection and LancangLahu Nationality Autonomous County, rational utilization of Melicope ptelefolia. Guangnan County, Jinggu Dai and Yi Autonomous Also, this study indicates that suitable growth zones County, Yuanling County of Hunan Province, of Melicope ptelefolia mainly distribute in Guangxi, Zhejiang Chun'an County, Sichuan Xuanhan County, Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Hubei Yichang city and so on. Guizhou. Based on the range of ecological suitability By using TCMGIS system for analysis of the areas of Melicope ptelefolia as provided in this paper, original suitability of Melicope pteleifola, we got that we are able to select the regions met with these basic main areas of Melicope pteleifola with suitable original requirements to vigorously introduce and cultivate similarity of 100% are Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Melicope ptelefolia, thus eventually establish the GAP Yunnan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou planting production bases. Obviously, large-scale and other provinces, of which the larger areas are cultivation of M. Melicope ptelefolia will benefit its Guangxi and Guangdong. By comparing the literature clinical applications, which is important for the of Melicope pteleifola and the field survey data, it is protection and utilization of wild Melicope ptelefolia found that these data have good overlap with the resources. results obtained by TCMGIS system, and it is highly However, the choice of planting bases, selection of consistent with historical records and production cultivars, control of pests and diseases, fertilization and practices, to a certain extent, the system is proved to be other field management techniques, timely harvesting, scientific and accurate, but also provides a theoretical processing and other factors, all may affect the quality basis for the introduction and cultivation of Chinese of Melicope ptelefolia. Thus, we need to take herbal medicines. The results show that suitable multi-pronged approaches to strengthen the quality cultivation bases of Melicope pteleifola are mainly control of Melicope ptelefolia. In addition, we need concentrated in central and southern of Guangdong, further study the specificity of its growth habit, Guangxi, Hainan, southwest of Fujian, southeast of metabolism, physiological and biochemical biology. Yunnan, Zhejiang, southeastern of Guizhou and central and strengthen researches on the chemical constituents, Hunan. The results of system forecast further show that pharmacological efficacy of Melicope ptelefolia, among main areas of Melicope pteleifola with suitable providing mechanistic evidence for rational drug use. original similarity of 98% -100%, except for the Submit a manuscript: http://www.tmrjournal.com 25 Traditional Medicine Research 2017 January; 2(1): 18-26

In addition, Chinese medicine pays attention to the 1. Zhang GQ, Hou DY, Xu DW, et al. DNA genuineness of herbs. "Born of various drugs, all have barcoding for identification of Melicope pteleifolia their environment". That is to say, ecological and its close species based on ITS2 sequences. environment in herbs’ growing has an important Plant Omics 2015, 8(4): 322-326. influence on the genuineness of medicinal herbs [7]. 2. Wu ZY, Qing RC, Zhu WM. Flora Repubulicae Recent researches demonstrate the quality herbs is Popularis Sinicae. Beijing: Science Press, 2006. closely related to specific ecological environments. 3. Borjigidai A, Zhuang L, Sodbilig, et al. The same species of medicinal plants, which grow in Eco-geographical Division of Endangered different environments are different in quality [8,9]. Medicinal Plant Ammopiptanthus mongolicus. J The chemical composition and secondary metabolites inner Mongolia Normal Univ 2014, 43(4): of the same species from different habitats have a 457-462. greater difference. In this scenario, only regions with 4. Li B. The Natural Resources and Environmental high ecological similarity could produce herbs with Studies of Inner Mongolia Erdos Plateau. Beijing: similar quality. According to the analysis of TCMGIS, Science Publishing Company 1990. ecological suitable regionalization of Melicope 5. Huang YM, Zhang ML. Temporal and spatial ptelefolia are mainly located in vast regions in the changes of plant community diversity on the south part of the Five Ridges, south of 25 degrees Ordos Plateau. Biodivers Sci 2006, 14 (1): 13-20. north latitude. Lingnan Region close to the north of 6. Chen SL. The Ecological Suitability Nanling, the south towards the Nanhai, and the Regionalization of Chinese Medicine Origin. geographical environment is complex and diverse, Beijing: Science Publishing Company 2011. affected by latitude and altitude, both exhibiting the 7. Chen SL, Suo FM, Han JP, et al. Analysis on vertical zonal characteristics of frigid zone, temperate ecological suitability and regionalization of zone, subtropical zone and tropical zone, with hot and traditional Chinese medicinal materials. Chin humid climate. Also, water, soil, light, heat and Tradit Herb Drugs 2007, 38(4): 481-487. biological resources are extremely rich, plus the dense 8. Yan D, Wang JB, Li JX, et al. Strategy for water network and virgin forest, make these regions research on quality identification and ecological formed a complex geographical landscape. Lingnan environment-related of Dao-di herb. Zhongguo Region is close to Nanling in the north and toward the Zhong Yao Za Zhi, 2012, 37(17): 2672-2675. South China Sea, thus having complex and diverse 9. Sun JS, Zheng ZA, Wang MJ, et al. Construction geographical environment. However, the growing and evaluation of production engineering mode for demand of Melicope ptelefolia in recent years and modern genuine traditional Chinese medicinal serious of indiscriminate deforestation has led to a material. Trans Chin Soc Agric Eng 2015, 31(17): serious shortage of Melicope ptelefolia resources. To 308-314. carry out origin migration and base construction, as based on the ecological suitability analysis of Submitted: 15 November 2016 medicinal materials as presented in this paper, are Accepted: 25 November 2016 effective measures to ensure the resources and quality Online: 26 November 2016 of Melicope ptelefolia. These measures require a Executive Editor: Cui-Hong Zhu combination of biological and ecological English Editor: Xiao-Hui Liu characteristics of Melicope ptelefolia, as well as the ecological conditions of cultivation area, and the suitable region of Melicope ptelefolia (ecological similarity≥95%) and sub-suitable areas (ecological similarity≥90%). Moreover, these measures need a comprehensive evaluation for other non-environmental factors, such as herbs cultivation and processing techniques, transportation and local labor force, etc. in main origin. In conclusion, the results described in this paper provide a scientific foundation to determine the suitable areas for sustainable development and utilization of Melicope ptelefolia.

Conflict of interests The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

References

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