Integrative Biology Journals

25 October 2006, Volume 28 Issue 05
    

  • Select all
    |
    Articles
  • XIANG Xiao-Guo; CAO Ming; ZHOU Zhe-Kun
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 439-452.
    The plants of the genus Abies are dominant and key species in dark conifer forest in the Northern Hemisphere. There are 52 species, 1 subspecies and 12 varities of genus Abies in the world. The history and modern distribution of
    Abies were discussed at present paper. The genus has 3 modern distributional centers: South Europe, North America and East Asia. These areas are also rich in fossil records. The vertical distribution regions of Abies are from sea level to 4 700m, concentrated in 1 000 - 2 000 m (15 species ) and 2 500 - 4 000 m ( 13 species ). In China, the genus distributes in 20 provinces, especially abundant in the Hengduan Mountians. Meanwhile endemic and relic phenomea are obvious in this genus. There are 7 relical species with both limited individuals and limited distributed regions. Based on the fossil records and the newest phylogenetic data, the following hypothesis was proposed: Abies originated from the mid- and high altitude of the Northern Hemisphere in the Middle Cretaceous and it was dispersed forward to the south area in the Eocene due to global climate cooler down. The distribution of Abies was deeply impacted by geological events such as upleft of Himalaya, Alps, Rocky Mountains, the occurrence of Aisan Monsoon as well as Quaternary glaciers. Finally the current
    distribution pattern appeared at the Quaternary. The genus Abies has similar fossil history and modern distribution pattern with Cathaya and Pseudolarix.
  • WANG Chang-Teng
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 453-460.
     Based on investigation and statistical analysis, the woody plant flora of Luoliaoxian Nature Reserve is studied in the present paper . Woody plant flora is abundant in Luoliaoxian Nature Reserve of Zhejiang Province . There are 738 species ( including varieties) of woody plant belonging to 292 genera and 89 families. The dominant families are Rosaceae、Fabaceae、Caprifoliaceae、Fagaceae and Lauraceae . The dominant genera are RubusIlexPrunusSymplocos and Viburnum . The flora origin traces back early, many of its families、genera and relic species are ancientry. The flora elements are complicated coming from different geographical types. The geographical distribution has relationships with other parts in the formation of the world , and the temperate elements of the woody flora have a dominant position. Some suggestions for woody plant resources protections were also put forward .
  • XING Yao-Wu; WANG Kang-Lin; YANG Yu-Ming
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 461-467.
    Calamus L. (Palmae : Calamoideae) is the largest palm genus, with about 370 species in the world. China is the north verge of its natural distribution, 37 species and 26 varieties are reported in southwestern and southeastern China respectively. The high proportion of endemic species indicates that the natural distribution of Calamus shows intensely regional. Its flora of southwestern China distribution center is closely related to that of western Indo-Chinese Peninsula and South Asia, and the southeastern China distribution center is more closely related to that of eastern Indo-Chinese Peninsula.
  • CHEN You-Sheng
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 468-469.
    Acer tonkinense H. Lecomte and Acer wilsonii Rehder are newly recorded for Xizang, Acer campbellii var. serratifolium Banerji is a new record from China.
  • J. Silba
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 469-470.
    Recent embryological evidence of studies of seedlings of Cupressus L. along with chemotaxonomic studies of heartwood components has demonstrated that Cupressus lusitanicaMill. did indeed originate from the country of India. In the midsixteenth century, Portuguese merchants established early trade routes between India and Portugal. The trade developed from the spice industry confirms Miller’s ( 1768 ) original description that Cupressus lusitanica did indeed originate from India. Later authors suggested that Cupressus lusitanica cultivated in Portugal was introduced from wild populations of Cupressus in Mexico. However, this latter theory was never accepted by native botanist in the country of Mexico, including noted botanist
    M. martinez (1948 ). In fact, all Cupressus species in India seem to have a different embryology than that of all Cupressus species in Nepal, Bhutan, China and Vietnam (Silba, 1994 ).
  • WEN Jun; CHEN Zhi-Duan
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 471-472.
    In preparation of the Vitaceae treatment for Flora of China, we discovered that Cayratia mollissima var. lanceolata C. L. Li from China’s Hainan is highly distinct from C. mollissima (Wall. ) Gagnep. from the Malay Peninsula and Indochina in fruit and leaf morphology. The taxon from Hainan deserves recognition at the species level and thus a new combination, Cayratia lanceolata (C. L. Li ) J. Wen & Z. -D. Chen, is herein made.
  • ZHOU Shou-Biao; LUO Qi; LI Jin-Hua; WANG Ying
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 473-480.
    The comparative anatomy of the leaves of 12 species in Lycoris was studied. The results are as follows: ( 1) The shape of these foliar transection in Lycoris is basically shallow“W”or“V”nd there are many spiny papillae on epidermal cells of some species; (2) All these species possess dorsi-ventral leaves. The mesophyll is differentiated into the palisade parenchyma and the spongy parenchyma, many differences between both of them, such as the thickness of the palisade parenchyma and the spongy parenchyma, the proportion of them and even the cell layers of palisade parenchyma, are occured among species; (3) The spongy parenchyma is developed and possesses abundant big parenchymatous cells or hollow cavities ( secretory canals or air cavities); (4) The number of the vascular bundle is usually odd, and the vascular bundle sheath is composed of parenchyma cells; (5) The shape of leaf margin in transverse section can be divided into arcuate
    and cuneate. Many characters of foliar anatomy have a lot in common in the genus Lycoris, but there are some differences among species, which can provide valuable information for studies on interspecific relationship and further utilization.
  • PEI Lin-Ying; JIA Yu; ZHAO Zun-Tian
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 481-487.
    The spores of 7 species in Bartramiaceae from China were observed by light microscope (LM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The result shows that there are some differences among 7 species on the proximal face, the
    exine ornamention and shape . By contrast , there are some similarity on size and thickness of exine. These observation will increase new information of spores for systematic analysis of Bartramiaceae .
  • PAN Jin; ZHANG Da-Ming; WANG Chao; SANG Tao; PAN Kai-Yu; HONG De-Yuan
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 488-492.
    This is the first report of the chromosome karyotype of P. anomala from the Altai populations. The populationssampled from the Altai region of Xinjiang , China , are diploid ( 2n = 10) , with the 2A type karyotype and the karyotypic
    formula of 2n = 2x= 10 = 6m+ 2sm+ 2st . Based on karyotypic and asymmetric parameters, i . e ., mean arm ratio , ratioof longest􊄯shortest chromosomes (L1/Ln ) , coefficient of karyotypic overall asymmetry (CKOA) , it was found that therewas no apparent differentiation in karyotype features among all the three sections of the genus Paeonia , although someslight karyotypic differences were found between the woody section ( Sect. Moutan DC .) and the herbaceous sections(Sect . Onaepia Lindley and Sect. Paeonia) . The diploid status of the P . anomala populations , revealed in this study, implies that the species, assumed as interspecific hybridization origin , may add to the handful examples of homoploid hybridspeciation in angiosperms .
  • MA Jin-Shuang
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 493-504.
    The lessons from the research work on the natural history, unfinished story of the discovery, and existed questions on protection of native tree of Metasequoia glyptostroboides are reviewed and discussed; and relative proposals on botanical history of China, including Metasequoia Museum, Collection History on the Chinese plants, and The East Asiatic Bibliography of Plant Taxonony and Systematics , are also presented.
  • DU Fan; YANG Yu-Ming; LI Jun-Qing; YIN Wu-Yuan
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 505-508.
    Exotic invasive species have long been known to bring about serious damages to ecosystem, which has imposed great threats to national eco-safety . Since the late 1990s, ecological impacts caused by Mikania micrantha H . B . K .,
    an invasive plant species, have become the focus of different walks of society . No existing literature on M. micrantha , however , relates anything concerning its distribution in Yunnan Province . Based on field investigations and taxonomic
    study on the specimen collected in Kunming Institute of Botany, the authers identified two species of Mikania Wild in Yunnan , namely M. cordata and M. micrantha . The present research also depicts the impacts of M. micrantha in Dehong, a pefecture in Southwestern Yunnan . Considering the biological features of the species , the author predicts there are possibilities of spreading of the species in Dehong prefecture , and possibly diffusing over other areas with identical climate patterns as Dehong . In the wake of this , it is highly advised that government departments and relative research institutes
    pay great attention to the problem and take effective measures to deal with situation .
  • OUYANG Zhi-Qin; SU Wen-Hua; ZHANG Guang-Fei
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 509-514.
    The weight of a thousand seeds of Dipteronia dyeriana Henry from ex situ plants 2346 . 5 g is lighter than that of seeds from the wild plants 3255 . 6 g . TTC colouring seed vitality tests indicated that : 1 . in 25℃ water environment, 60 d seeds had no vitality; 2 . seeds 52% stored up in the wild for 180 d had vitality; 3 . seeds 58% stored up 510 d in pot had vitality; 24% seeds in room also had vitality; in 4℃ 96% seeds had vitality; in 15℃ 36% seeds had vitality; in 25℃ seeds had no vitality . In 6℃ , the germination rate of seed without testa was 98% in 5 months , while in constant temperature of 15℃、25℃、30℃ and in condition of changing temperature had no seed germination . Low temperature ( 6℃ ) was the most suitable temperature for the germination of D. dyeriana . No light needed for seed germination . Sowing in the wild , there were 17. 2% seeds germinated after a winter and 58% seeds germinated after two winters and one summer in pot . Its own seed character of D. dyeriana was one of the main factors causing the extinction of the species .
  • SHAO Yu-Tao; YIN Shou-Hua; LAN Qin-Ying; ZHANG Xiao-Yan
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 515-522.
    Germination of Archontophoenix alexandrae seeds and embryos were studied under gradient water content treatments throughout the seed development phases of maturation in 2005 to investigate seed desiccation tolerance and storage characteristics. During the maturation process, seed water content decreased gradually from55 DAF (days after flowering) to 70 DAF, and seeds reached the maximum dry-weight at 90 DAF. Seed germinability appeared after 60 DAF. Seeds germinated with a temperature range from15℃- 40℃ under alternating photoperiod (14 h light, 10 h dark, 12μmol m- 2s - 1 ), while the best germination percentage was obtained between 30℃- 35℃. A maximum germination capacity reached at 70 DAF. However, seed germination was greatly inhibited by light. Desiccation tolerance of seeds and embryos increased
    gradually from 55 DAF to 90 DAF and reached the maximum at 90 DAF with a semilethal water content of 0.18 g/g ( seed) and 0.3 g/g ( embryo) respectively. Rapid dehydration maintained higher seed germination percentage than that
    of slow dehydration when drying to the same water content. Seeds with without water content treatments failed to germinate after 1 month storage under - 18℃, whereas appropriate desiccation treatment prolonged seed longevity under 4℃, 10℃ and 15℃ storage temperatures. It revealed obviously the recalcitrant characteristics of Archontophoenix alexandrae seeds torage behaviour which are tolerant toward neither deep desiccation nor low temperatures.
  • SUN Dong-Hua; TIAN Qiu-Ying; ZHANG Wen-Hao
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 523-528.
    The effects of AlCl3 on Hibisucs moscheutos seed germination and growth were investigated to evaluate its hardiness to Aluminum (Al), in compassion with Carazinho, a wheat genotype tolerant to Al, and Egret, agenotype sensitive
    to Al . For H. moscheutos and two wheat genotypes, our results indicated that germination was insensitive to AlCl3 until at 500μmol/L. AlCl3 of 50μmol/L inhibited the elongation of primary and lateral roots significantly, but had less effect on the number of lateral roots. There was no difference of root elongation between the H. moscheutos and wheat, but the lateral roots of H. moscheutos were more tolerant to Al than that of wheat genotypes. Under AlCl3 of 50μmol/L, the reduction of root biomass was significant in wheat genotypes, but not in H. moscheutos, comparing to their control, suggesting that H. moscheutos is more tolerant to Al than the two wheat genotypes, and that Al has different effects on the growth of primary and lateral roots in both H. moscheutos and wheat .
  • LI Jun; WEI Hui-Ting; PENG Zheng-Song; LU Bao-Rong; YANG Wu-Yun
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 529-533.
    Hybridization and polyploidization are important ways for wheat to evolve and to genetically differentiate. Ninety two simple sequence repeat (SSR) molecular markers, which distributed in A, B, and D genomes , were used to perform genetic comparison between Chuan-W5436 (CW5436), a new wheat variety, and its parents, synthetic hexaploid wheat Syn786 (♀ ) and common wheat Mianyang 26 (My26) (♂). The results indicated that alleles were not genetically transmitted from parents (Syn786 (♀) crossed (My26) (♂) ) to the progeny CW5436 as Mendelian proportions . A new variation on a SSR molecular marker loci with novel additive bands was observed in CW5436 but not found in its parents. It suggested that artificial selective stress was an important factor to promote the frequency of significant deviations of the expected allele, resulting in microsatellite sequences of the progeny changed . The affect of the genetic differentiation of SSR molecular marker loci that occurred in wheat crosses and gene transfer on the genetic evolu1tion of wheat was discussed.
  • Muhammad Waseem; M.Amin Ullah Shah; Rizwana Aleem Qureshi; Iqbal Muhammad; Rabia Afza; Saeeda Yousaf
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 535-542.
    The present paper represents the ethnopharmacological survey of Sudhan Gali, Kashmir, Pakistan. The study revealed that 12 plant species belonging to 11 families were used for the treatment of stomach, diabetes and ophthalmic diseases by the local people in Sudhan Gali. Achillea millefolium , Aconitum heterophyllum, Berberis lycium, Polygonum amplexicaule, Mentha longifolia, Paeonia emodi, Plantago lanceolata were locally used for stomach related problems treatment; Berberis lycium, Skimmia lareola, Solanum dulcamara for diabetes and Geranium wallichianum, Artemisia vulgaris, Solanum dulcamara, and Corydalis crassifolia used for the treatment of ophthalmic diseases. Two species Berberis lycium and Solanum dulcamara have multipurpose value. Former is used to treat stomach as well as diabetes while latter is used to treat not only to diabetes but also ophthalmic diseases. According to IUCN categories , out of these 12 plant species collected and marketed, Polygonum amplexicaule and Paeonia emodi are endangered, Aconitum heterophyllum; Berberis lycium species are vulnerable while Plantago lanceolata and Skimmia lareola species are rare.
    The availability of these medicinal plants has decreased during the past 20 years and these are facing a drastic biotic pressure due to their extensive usage and non-scientific methods of collection. It is quite evident that these valuable native medicinal plants species are going to decline in number and ultimately will become extinct if no timely proper conservation strategies are adopted.
  • ZENG Guang-Zhi; HUANG Huo-Qiang; TAN Ning-Hua; JI Chang-Jiu; PAN Xu-Lin
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 543-552.
    Human carbonic anhydrase Ⅱ is one of the most efficient one in carbonic anhydrase isozymes, which catalyzes the reversible hydration dehydration of CO2 and water : CO2 + H2O\ HCO3- + H+. It is found in virtually every tissue
    and cell type, and involves in many human physiological and pathological processes, such as human acid-base balance, glaucoma, osteoporosis, and cancer. Since discovered in 1940, carbonic anhydrase Ⅱ has been an important drug target with more attention. Up to now, many inhibitors were discovered including some clinical therapeutic drugs. This paper reviewed recent developments in structures, functions and inhibitors of human carbonic anhydrase Ⅱ.
  • YANG Li-Rong; XIONG Jiang; TAN Ning-Hua; CHU Hong-Biao; XU Li; LI Ming-Yang
    Plant Diversity. 2006, 28(05): 553-557.
    To search for new bioactive constituents from Pedicularis tricolor, a new xanthone named pedicutricone A (1)and a new iridoid named pedicutricoside A (2), along with fifteen known compounds, were isolated from the ethanol extracts of the whole plants of P. tricolor for the first time. Their structures were elucidated based on spectroscopic methods, including two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance analysis.