Pseudoroegneria spicata

Pseudoroegneria spicata is a species of grass known by the common name bluebunch wheatgrass. This native western North American perennial bunchgrass is known by the scientific synonyms "Elymus spicatus" and "Agropyron spicatum". The grass can be found in the United States, Canada, and Mexico from Alaska and Yukon south as far as Sonora and Nuevo León.
Description.
Bluebunch wheatgrass can often be distinguished from other bunchgrasses by the awns on its seedheads which stand out at an angle nearly 90 degrees from the stem. It is often bluish. The roots of the grass have a waxy layer that helps it resist desiccation in dry soils. In areas with more moisture the grass may produce rhizomes.
The relationship between the traits and climates of "P. spicata" is consistent with those of other grass species that also have a summer growing season. Populations of "P. spicata" from warm, arid environments are often smaller with earlier phenology, narrower leaves, and have greater leaf pubescence. This is in contrast to "P. spicata" plants from wetter and higher nutrient environments, which tend to be bigger, taller, and have larger leaves.
The stems and leaf sheaths of "P. spicata" dominate photosynthetic carbon uptake during the late spring and summer seasons. Additionally, bluebunch wheatgrass shows a greater investment of biomass and nutrients in the stems and sheaths, causing an increase in photosynthetic capacity per unit surface area.
"Pseudoregneria spicata" has extensive drought resistant root systems that can compete with and suppress the spread of exotic weeds. Its roots are also known to have significant responses when they come into contact with the roots of other plants. When plants of the same species that were grown in different sites were planted in pots together, the resulting biomass was 30% more than in pots with plants from the same population or site. Furthermore, the elongation of the roots decreased after contact with roots from another plant from the same population, this was compared to after contact with roots from a plant of a different population. Such behavior suggests that the roots of bluebunch wheatgrass are capable of detection and avoidance mechanisms when exposed to intraspecific plants from the same population.
"The roots of this grass" are also known to have notable physiological responses to enriched soil patches that are treated with varying solutions of nutrients, most notably nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. This exploitation of nutrient-rich soil can affect the nutrient status of the overall plant. In phosphorus enriched environments, the mean root uptake of phosphorus was 5 - 26% higher compared to roots from control soil patches. Results regarding the nutrient uptake capacities of "P. spicata" potassium enriched environments indicate no apparent difference between enriched and controlled soil. This is in contrast to the nitrogen enrichment experiment, where mean rates of ammonium uptake increased between 22 - 88% and mean rates of potassium root uptake were 17 - 71% higher in soil enriched with 50 μm of nitrogen, the lowest concentration tested in a particular study.
Distribution.
"Pseudoroegneria spicata" is the dominant species of grass among the mountainous regions of the western United States, occurring at elevations that range from 150 - 3,000 m and where precipitation is 250 – 500 mm. It occurs in many types of habitat, including sagebrush, forests, woodlands, and grasslands. This grass thrives in sandy and clay rich soils, but is also capable of growing on thin, rocky soils. It does not tolerate soils with high alkalinity, salt, or excessive moisture.
Two subspecies of bluebunch wheatgrass are recognized: "P. spicata" ssp". spicata" and "P. spicata" ssp. "inerme", commonly known as beardless bluebunch wheatgrass. The determining characteristic between the two is the presence of divergent awns, or hair-like projections that extend off a larger structure, such as the lemma or floret. These two subspecies have been known to hybridize.
"Pseudoroegneria spicata" is most commonly found as a diploid (2n = 14), although autotetraploid forms (4n = 28) have been found in eastern Washington and northern Idaho.
Uses.
It is an important forage grass for both livestock and native wildlife in western North America. It is widely used for revegetation of degraded habitat in the region, and cultivars have been developed.
State grass.
It is the state grass of Montana, Oregon, and Washington.
The grass is outcompeted by noxious weeds such as diffuse knapweed ("Centaurea diffusa") and medusahead ("Taeniatherum caput-medusae").


Campylospermum letouzeyi

Campylospermum oliveri is a species of plant in the Ochnaceae family. It is endemic to Cameroon. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.


Bothriochloa macra

Bothriochloa macra, commonly known as red-leg grass, red grass, redleg or pitted beard grass is a perennial grass species that is native to eastern Australia and New Zealand. It is naturalised in Tasmania and Norfolk Island.


Passiflora herbertiana subsp. insulae-howei

Passiflora herbertiana" subsp. "insulae-howei is a flowering plant in the passion flower family. The subspecific epithet refers to the island to which the subspecies is endemic.
Description.
It is a soft-wooded vine, with stems growing to several metres in length. The leaves are usually 40–80 mm long and 50–80 mm wide. The solitary, orange-yellow to greenish flowers, 60 mm across, appear from October to March. The oval green fruits are 40–50 mm long; they are edible but sickly-sweet.
Distribution and habitat.
The subspecies is endemic to Australia’s subtropical Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, where it is widespread.


Micractinium

Micractinium is a genus of green algae in the family Chlorellaceae.


Boodleopsis

Boodleopsis is a genus of green algae in the family Udoteaceae.


Macrozamia spiralis

Macrozamia spiralis is a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae. It is endemic to New South Wales in eastern Australia, where it is found in sclerophyll forest on low-nutrient soils. Plants generally lack a trunk and have 2–12 leaves that range up to 100 cm (40 in) in length.
Taxonomy.
Richard Anthony Salisbury described this species as "Zamia spiralis" in 1796, from a collection made somewhere in the vicinity of Port Jackson (Sydney); however, no type specimen is extant. Dutch botanist Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel gave it its current name in 1842. Meanwhile, Joseph Dalton Hooker described "M. corallipes" from a plate in 1872.
For many years, the name "M. spiralis" was applied to the large common cycad from the Sydney region, while its smaller relative was known as "M. corallipes". In 1959, New South Wales Herbarium botanist Lawrie Johnson examined the species descriptions and determined that Salisbury's original description was in fact of the smaller species, and renamed the familiar burrawang as "Macrozamia communis".
Description.
This cycad is acaulescent; the 8–20 cm (3.2–8 in) diameter stem does not generally grow above ground level. Plants have 2–12 leaves that range from 35 to 100 cm (14–40 in) in length. Each compound frond has 45–120 simple pinnae that are 12–20 cm (4.5–8 in) long at the leaf's greatest width. Each pinna is 0.5–1 cm (0.2–0.4 in) wide. The rachis of the leaf is often twisted 180 degrees, sometimes up to 360 degrees, though sometimes not at all. A male plant develops 1 to 4 male (or pollen-bearing) cones, which are fusiform (spindle-shaped), and measure 15–20 cm (6–8 in) high by 5–6 cm (2-2.4 in) wide. The female plant produces a single oval female (seed) cone, which is 12–20 cm (4.5–8 in) high and 6–9 cm (2.4–3.5 in) wide. The orange to red fleshy seeds have been reported to be ripe in April and May. Plants do not reproduce until 10 to 20 years of age and are thought to live over 60 years. They regrow from the ground after bushfire.
Seedlings of "Macrozamia spiralis" have a tuber and coralloid roots that rise up above the ground containing cyanobacteria. These exist in a symbiotic relationship with their cycad host by nitrogen fixation. Field work done on roots of 74 cycads from diverse genera in 2010 showed that the relationship between cycad and cyanobacterium species is not exclusive; the most common genera of cyanobacteria isolated from cycads were those of "Nostoc" (which was isolated from "M. spiralis") and "Calothrix".
Distribution and habitat.
"Macrozamia spiralis" is found in central New South Wales, from Dunedoo and the Goulburn River valley eastwards over the Blue Mountains and into the Sydney Basin south to Waterfall, and Wallacia, and north to Maroota and Putty. Conservation areas that it is protected in include Werakata National Park, Windsor Downs Nature Reserve, Agnes Banks Nature Reserve, and Castlereagh Nature Reserve, where it is common. Scattered plants grow on clay, sandy or gravelly low-nutrient soils in sclerophyll forest, under such trees as narrow-leaved apple ("Angophora bakeri") and broad-leaved red ironbark ("Eucalyptus fibrosa"). "Macrozamia spiralis" was rated as "endangered" in 2003.
Cultivation.
"Macrozamia spiralis" is suitable for growing in pots or in the ground, though requires good drainage and benefits from extra water in dry periods. It can be grown under established trees. It can be propagated by seed, though germination takes 12 to 18 months.
Uses.
The plant has been used to produce alcohol, adhesive pastes, and laundry starch.


Rhizanthella speciosa

Rhizanthella speciosa is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family and is endemic to Barrington Tops in New South Wales. It is a mycoheterotrophic herb that spends its entire life cycle, including flowering, at or below the soil surface. As at September 2020, "R. speciosa" has not yet been accepted as a valid name by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families or the Australian Plant Census.
Description.
"Rhizanthella speciosa" is a leafless, sympodial herb with a horizontal rhizome and underground stem probably similar to that of "R. slateri". From October to early November, the plant produces a flower head wide containing fifteen to thirty-five flowers about in diameter. The flower heads are bright mauve to pinkish purple and are surrounded by sixteen to eighteen overlapping, fleshy, egg-shaped to triangular bracts long and wide. After pollination, the flower produces a fleshy, narrow cylindrical drupe that is pinkish to light maroon when ripe.
Taxonomy and naming.
This species of underground orchid was discovered in 2016 by scientific illustrator Maree Elliot and formally described in 2020 by Mark Clements and David Jones in the journal "Lankesteriana" from material collected in Barrington Tops National Park. The specific epithet "speciosa" is from the Latin meaning "showy" or "splendid".
Distribution and habitat.
"Rhizanthella speciosa" was found under dense leaf litter in tall wet sclerophyll forest of the Barrington Tops National Park with Sydney blue gum, tallowood, and turpentine, and a well-developed rainforest subcanopy with "Trochocarpa laurina" and "Synoum glandulosum".
Conservation status.
As of 2020, only fifty plants in a single locality are known. The habitat where it grows is widespread, but searches have not uncovered other populations. Thus the species meets the "critically endangered" definition. The population's exact location is kept unpublished for its protection.


Taxodium distichum

Taxodium distichum (bald cypress; ;
"cipre" in Louisiana) is a deciduous conifer in the family Cupressaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States. Hardy and tough, this tree adapts to a wide range of soil types, whether wet, salty, dry, or swampy. It is noted for the russet-red fall color of its lacy needles.
This plant has some cultivated varieties and is often used in groupings in public spaces. Common names include bald cypress, baldcypress, swamp cypress, white cypress, tidewater red cypress, gulf cypress and red cypress.
Description.
"Taxodium distichum" is a large, slow-growing, and long-lived tree. It typically grows to heights of and has a trunk diameter of .
The main trunk is often surrounded by cypress knees. The bark is grayish brown to reddish brown, thin, and fibrous with a stringy texture; it has a vertically, interwoven pattern of shallow ridges and narrow furrows.
The needle-like leaves are long and are simple, alternate, green and linear, with entire margins. In autumn, the leaves turn yellow or copper red. The bald cypress drops its needles each winter and then grows a new set in spring.
This species is monoecious, with male and female flowers on a single plant forming on slender, tassel-like structures near the edge of branchlets. The tree flowers in April and the seeds ripen in October. The male and female strobili are produced from buds formed in late autumn, with pollination in early winter, and mature in about 12 months. Male cones emerge on panicles that are inches long. Female cones are round, resinous and green while young. They then turn hard and then brown as the tree matures. They are globular and in diameter. They have from 20 to 30 spirally arranged, four-sided scales, each bearing one, two, or rarely three triangular seeds. Each cone contains 20 to 40 large seeds. The cones disintegrate at maturity to release the seeds. The seeds are long, the largest of any species of Cupressaceae, and are produced every year, with heavy crops every 3–5 years. The seedlings have three to nine, but usually six, cotyledons each.
The bald cypress grows in full sunlight to partial shade. This species grows best in wet or well-drained soil but can tolerate dry soil. It is moderately able to grow in aerosols of salt water. It does well in acid, neutral and alkaline soils across the full range of light (sandy), medium (loamy), and heavy (clay) soils. It can also grow in saline soils. It can tolerate atmospheric pollution. The cones are often consumed by wildlife.
The tallest known specimen, near Williamsburg, Virginia, is 44.11 m (145 ft) tall, and the stoutest known, in the Real County near Leakey, Texas, has a diameter at breast height of 475 in (39 ft). The National Champion Bald Cypress is recognized as the largest member of its species in the country and is listed as such on the National Register of Champion Trees by American Forest. The National Champion Bald Cypress is in the Cat Island Nation Wildlife Refuge, near St. Francisville, Louisiana, and it is 96 feet tall, 56 feet in circumference, and is estimated to be approximately 1,500 years old. The oldest known living specimen, found along the Black River in North Carolina, is at least 2,624 years old, rendering it the oldest living tree in eastern North America.
Taxonomy.
The closely related "Taxodium ascendens" (pond cypress) is treated by some botanists as a distinct species, while others classify it as merely a variety of bald cypress, as "Taxodium distichum" var. "imbricatum" (Nutt.) Croom. It differs in shorter leaves borne on erect shoots, and in ecology, being largely confined to low-nutrient blackwater habitats. A few authors also treat "Taxodium mucronatum" as a variety of bald cypress, as "T. distichum" var. "mexicanum" Gordon, thereby considering the genus as comprising only one species.
Habitat.
Range.
The native range extends from southeastern New Jersey south to Florida and west to East Texas and southeastern Oklahoma, and also inland up the Mississippi River. Ancient bald cypress forests, with some trees more than 1,700 years old, once dominated swamps in the Southeast. The range had been believed to extended north only as far as Delaware, but researchers have now found a natural forest on the Cape May Peninsula in southern New Jersey. The species can also be found growing outside its natural native range. The largest remaining old-growth stands are at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, near Naples, Florida, and in the Three Sisters tract along eastern North Carolina's Black River. The Corkscrew trees are around 500 years of age, and some exceed 40 m in height. The Black River trees were cored by dendrochronologist David Stahle from the University of Arkansas. He found that some began growing as early as 364 AD.
This species is native to humid climates where annual precipitation ranges from about in Texas to along the Gulf Coast. Although it grows best in warm climates, the natural northern limit of the species is not due to a lack of cold tolerance, but to specific reproductive requirements: further north, regeneration is prevented by ice damage to seedlings. Larger trees are able to tolerate much lower temperatures and lower humidity.
In 2012 scuba divers discovered an underwater cypress forest several miles off the coast of Mobile, Alabama, in 60 feet of water. The forest contains trees that could not be dated with radiocarbon methods, indicating that they are more than 50,000 years old and thus most likely lived in the early glacial interval of the last ice age. The cypress forest is well preserved, and when samples are cut they still smell like fresh cypress. A team, which has not yet published its results in a peer-reviewed journal, is studying the site. One possibility is that hurricane Katrina exposed the grove of bald cypress, which had been protected under ocean floor sediments.
Reproduction and early growth.
The bald cypress is monoecious. Male and female strobili mature in one growing season from buds formed the previous year. The male catkins are about in diameter and are borne in slender, purplish, drooping clusters long that are conspicuous during the winter on this deciduous conifer. Pollen is shed in March and April. Female conelets are found singly or in clusters of two or three. The globose cones turn from green to brownish-purple as they mature from October to December. The cones are in diameter and consist of 9 to 15 four-sided scales that break away irregularly after maturity. Each scale can bear two (rarely three) irregular, triangular seeds with thick, horny, warty coats and projecting flanges. The number of seeds per cone averages 16 and ranges from 2 to 34. Cleaned seeds number from about 5,600 to 18,430 per kg (2,540 to 8,360 per lb).
Seed production and dissemination.
Some seeds are produced every year, and good seed crops occur at three- to five-year intervals. At maturity, the cone scales with their resin-coated seeds adhering to them, or sometimes entire cones, drop to the water or ground. This drop of mature seeds is often hastened by squirrels, which eat bald cypress seeds, but usually drop several scales with undamaged seeds still attached to each cone they pick. Floodwaters spread the scales or cones along streams and are the most important means of seed dissemination.
Seedling development.
Germination is epigeal. Under swamp conditions, germination generally takes place on a sphagnum moss or a wet-muck seedbed. Seeds will not germinate under water, but some will remain viable for 30 months under water. By contrast, seeds usually fail to germinate on better drained soils because of the lack of surface water. Thus, a soil saturated but not flooded for a period of one to three months after seedfall is required for germination.
After germination, seedlings must grow fast enough to keep at least part of their crowns above floodwaters for most of the growing season. Bald cypress seedlings can endure partial shading, but require overhead light for good growth. Seedlings in swamps often reach heights of their first year. Growth is checked when a seedling is completely submerged by flooding, and prolonged submergence kills the seedling.
In nurseries, "Taxodium" seeds show an apparent internal dormancy that can be overcome by various treatments, usually including cold stratification or submerging in water for 60 days. Nursery beds are sown in spring with pretreated seeds or in fall with untreated seeds. Seedlings usually reach in height during their first (and usually only) year in the nursery. Average size of 1-0 nursery-grown seedlings in a seed source test including 72 families was tall and in diameter.
Control of competing vegetation may be necessary for a year or more for bald cypress planted outside of swamps. Five years after planting on a harrowed and bedded, poorly drained site in Florida, survival was high, but heights had increased only , probably because of heavy herbaceous competition. Seedlings grown in a crawfish pond in Louisiana, where weed control and soil moisture were excellent through June, averaged and diameter at breast heigh after five years. However, a replicate of the same sources planted in an old soybean field, where weed control and soil moisture were poor, resulted in the same diameter, but a smaller average seedling height of . When planted in a residential yard and weeded and watered, they averaged tall three years later.
Vegetative reproduction.
Bald cypress is one of the few conifer species that sprouts. Thrifty sprouts are generally produced from stumps of young trees, but trees up to 60 years old also send up healthy sprouts if the trees are cut during the fall or winter. However, survival of these sprouts is often poor, and those that live are usually poorly shaped and do not make quality sawtimber trees. Stumps of trees up to 200 years old may also sprout, but the sprouts are not as vigorous and are more subject to wind damage as the stump decays. In the only report on the rooting of bald cypress cuttings found in the literature, cuttings from trees five years old rooted better than those from older trees.
Ecology.
The seeds remain viable for less than one year, and are dispersed in two ways. One is by water: the seeds float and move on water until flooding recedes or the cone is deposited on shore. The second is by wildlife: squirrels eat seeds, but often drop some scales from the cones they harvest. Seeds do not germinate under water and rarely germinate on well-drained soils; seedlings normally become established on continuously saturated, but not flooded, soils for one to three months. After germination, seedlings must grow quickly to escape floodwaters; they often reach a height of 20–75 cm (up to 100 cm in fertilized nursery conditions) in their first year. Seedlings die if inundated for more than about two to four weeks. Natural regeneration is therefore prevented on sites that are always flooded during the growing season. Although vigorous saplings and stump sprouts can produce viable seed, most specimens do not produce seed until they are about 30 years old. In good conditions, bald cypress grows fairly fast when young, then more slowly with age. Trees have been measured to reach 3 m in five years, 21 m in 41 years, and 36 m in height in 96 years; height growth has largely ceased by the time the trees are 200 years old. Some individuals can live over 1,000 years. Determination of the age of an old tree may be difficult because of frequent missing or false rings of stemwood caused by variable and stressful growing environments.
Bald cypress trees growing in swamps have a peculiarity of growth called cypress knees. These are woody projections from the root system project above the ground or water. Their function was once thought to be to provide oxygen to the roots, which grow in the low dissolved oxygen waters typical of a swamp (as in mangroves). However, evidence for this is scant; in fact, roots of swamp-dwelling specimens whose knees are removed do not decrease in oxygen content and the trees continue to thrive. Another more likely function is structural support and stabilization. Bald cypress trees growing on flood-prone sites tend to form buttressed bases, but trees grown on drier sites may lack this feature. Buttressed bases and a strong, intertwined root system allow them to resist very strong winds; even hurricanes rarely overturn them.
Many agents damage "T. distichum" trees. The main damaging (in some cases lethal) agent is the fungus "Lauriliella taxodii", which causes a brown pocket rot known as "pecky cypress." It attacks the heartwood of living trees, usually from the crown down to the roots. A few other fungi attack the sapwood and the heartwood of the tree, but they do not usually cause serious damage. Insects such as the cypress flea beetle ("Systena marginalis") and the bald cypress leafroller ("Archips goyerana") can seriously damage trees by destroying leaves, cones or bark. Nutrias also clip and unroot young bald cypress seedlings, sometimes killing a whole plantation in a short amount of time.
Conservation.
In 2002, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources identified "T. distichum" as a state protected plant with the status of Threatened. Globally, the species is listed as of Least Concern by the IUCN.
Cultivation and uses.
The bald cypress is hardy and can be planted in hardiness zones 4 through 10 in the US. The species is a popular ornamental tree that is cultivated for its light, feathery foliage and orangey brown to dull red autumnal color. In cultivation it thrives on a wide range of soils, including well-drained sites where it would not grow naturally because juvenile seedlings cannot compete with other vegetation. Cultivation is successful far north of its native range, even to southern Canada. It is also commonly planted in Europe, Asia, and other temperate and subtropical locales. It does, however, require hot summers for good growth. When planted in locales with the cool summers of oceanic climates, growth is healthy but very slow; some specimens in northeastern England have only grown to 4–5 m tall in 50 years and do not produce cones. One of the oldest specimens in Europe was planted in the 1900s in the Arboretum de Pézanin in Burgundy, France.
Bald cypress has great merchantable yields. In virgin stands, yields from 112 to 196 m³/ha were common, and some stands may have exceeded 1,000 m³/ha.
Contemporary uses.
The lumber is valuable for timber framing, building materials, fence posts, planking in boats, river pilings, doors, blinds, flooring, shingles, garden boxes, caskets, interior trim and cabinetry. The odorless wood, which closely resembles that of other "Cupressus" species, has long been valued for its resistance to water.
Timber Framing.
Bald cypress timbers are commonly available in lengths up to 24 feet. This species enjoys predictable lead times for projects. The wood is a very light tan in color and weathers to a uniform silvery gray. Paint and stains adhere well to Bald cypress. Bald cypress most often sees use in outdoor structures such as timber frame pavilions, mid-size farmers markets, porches, exterior awnings and decorative trusses where the species’ weather resistance helps insure long life.
Prehistoric Wood.
Still usable prehistoric wood is often found in swamps as far north as New Jersey, and occasionally as far north as Connecticut, although it is more common in the southeastern states. This partially mineralized wood is harvested from swamps in the southeastern states, and is greatly prized for special uses such as for carvings. The fungus "Lauriliella taxodii" causes a specific form of the wood called "pecky cypress", which is used for decorative wall paneling.
The bald cypress was designated the official state tree of Louisiana in 1963. Some consider it to be a symbol of the southern swamps of the United States.
The bald cypress was used by Native Americans to create coffins, homes, drums and canoes. Joshua D. Brown, the first settler of Kerrville, Texas, made his living producing shingles from bald cypress trees that grew along the Guadalupe River of the Texas Hill Country. Beginning in the early 1990s, the bald cypress was harvested heavily to make paneling, mulch and shingles.


Sedum lineare

Sedum lineare also known as carpet sedum, needle stonecrop or sea urchin, is a sedum originating in East Asia.
It has been proposed as an ideal plant for the "greening" of flat-roofed buildings in Shanghai, China, due to factors such as its ability to tolerate cold and drought, little need for soil and its roots' lack of penetrating ability,


Kielmeyera coriacea

Kielmeyera coriacea (pau santo) is a medicinal plant native to Cerrado and Pantanal vegetation in Brazil. It is also used as a honey plant.


Degenia

Degenia is a monotypic plant genus in the family Brassicaceae containing the single species Degenia velebitica (). The yellow-flowered plant is endemic to Velebit and Kapela mountain ranges, and has become a symbol of the region.
Discovered by Dr. Árpád Degen on 17 July 1917, the "Degenia velebitica" is depicted on the reverse of the Croatian 50 lipa coin, minted since 1993.


Asplenium marinum

Asplenium marinum is a fern known as the sea spleenwort because of its preference for maritime habitats around the coasts of Europe from Italy in the South to Norway in the North.


Ormopteris

Ormopteris is a genus of ferns in the subfamily Cheilanthoideae of the family Pteridaceae. Species are native to Brazil and Venezuela.
Species.
, the "Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World" recognized the following species:


Alsophila dimorpha

Alsophila dimorpha, synonym Cyathea dimorpha, is a species of tree fern native to central and southeastern Sulawesi, where it grows at an altitude of 120–1700 m. The trunk is erect and 3–4 m tall. Fronds are pinnate to bipinnate and up to 2 m long. Fertile pinnules are reduced in size. The stipe is short and bears basal scales. The scales are narrow, glossy, dark and have pale edges. Indusia are absent.
The specific epithet "dimorpha" refers to the strong morphological differences between fertile and sterile pinnules. Sterile pinnules are larger, while fertile pinnules are narrow, reduced and lobed.


Mesostigma

Mesostigma viride is a species of freshwater green algae. It is now considered to be one of the earliest diverging members of green plants/algae (Viridiplantae).
Earlier studies were unable to resolve the position of the species, and it was often placed as a sister to all other green algae, as one of the basal members of the Streptophyta, or as close to "Chaetosphaeridium". More recent studies agree that "Mesostigma" and "Chlorokybus" form a clade, being the earliest diverging green plants.


Hesperolinon disjunctum

Hesperolinon disjunctum is a species of flowering plant in the flax family known by the common name Coast Range dwarf flax. It is endemic to California, where it has a disjunct distribution along the North and Central Coast Ranges.
It is a plant of serpentine soils in chaparral habitat.
Description.
This is an annual herb producing an erect stem up to 30 centimeters tall, somewhat thick and tough at the base. The glandular leaves are linear in shape and are alternately arranged along the stem. The inflorescence is a wide open cyme of flowers, each flower with glandular sepals and pink-veined white petals about half a centimeter long. The protruding stamens are tipped with pink anthers.


Preprophase

Preprophase is an additional phase during mitosis in plant cells that does not occur in other eukaryotes such as animals or fungi. It precedes prophase and is characterized by two distinct events:
Function of preprophase in the cell cycle.
Plant cells are fixed with regards to their neighbor cells within the tissues they are growing in. In contrast to animals where certain cells can migrate within the embryo to form new tissues, the seedlings of higher plants grow entirely based on the orientation of cell division and subsequent elongation and differentiation of cells within their cell walls. Therefore, the accurate control of cell division planes and placement of the future cell wall in plant cells is crucial for the correct architecture of plant tissues and organs.
The preprophase stage of somatic plant cell mitosis serves to establish the precise location of the division plane and future cell wall before the cell enters prophase. This is achieved through the formation of a transient microtubule structure, the preprophase band, and a so far unknown mechanism by which the cell is able to "memorize" the position of the preprophase band to guide the new cell wall growing during cytokinesis to the correct location. In gametophyte tissues during the reproductive phase of the plant life cycle, cell division planes may be established without the use of a preprophase band.
In highly vacuolated plant cells, preprophase may be preceded by the formation of a phragmosome. The function of the phragmosome is to suspend the cell nucleus in the center of the cell in preparation for mitosis. If a phragmosome is visible, the preprophase band will appear at its outer edge.
Preprophase band formation.
At the beginning of preprophase, the cortical microtubules of a plant cell disappear and aggregate into a dense ring underneath the plasma membrane. This preprophase band runs around the equatorial plane of the future mitotic spindle and marks the plane of cell division and future fusion site for the cell plate. It consists of microtubules and microfilaments (actin) and persists into prophase. Spindle formation occurs during prophase with the axis perpendicular to the plane surrounded by the preprophase band.
Microtubule nucleation.
In contrast to animal cells, plant cells do not possess centrosomes to organize their mitotic spindles. Instead, the nuclear envelope acts as a microtubule organizing center (MTOC) for spindle formation during preprophase. The first sign is a clear, actin-free zone appearing around the nuclear envelope. This zone fills with microtubules nucleating on the surface of the nucleus. The preprophase spindle forms by self-assembly of these microtubules in the cytoplasm surrounding the nuclear envelope. It is reinforced through chromosome (kinetochore)-mediated spindle assembly after the nuclear envelope breaks down at the beginning of prometaphase.
Transition into prophase.
During progression from preprophase into prophase, the randomly oriented microtubules align parallel along the nuclear surface according to the spindle axis. This structure is called the "prophase spindle". Triggered by nuclear membrane breakdown at the beginning of prometaphase, the preprophase band disappears and the prophase spindle matures into the metaphase spindle occupying the space of the former nucleus. Experiments with drugs destroying microfilaments indicate that actin may play a role in keeping the cellular "memory" of the position of the division plane after the preprophase band breaks down to direct cytokinesis in telophase.


Queensland tropical rain forests

The Queensland tropical rain forests ecoregion (WWF ID:AA0117) covers a portion of the coast of Queensland in northeastern Australia and belonging to the Australasian realm. The forest contains the world's best living record of the major stages in the evolutionary history of the world’s land plants, including most of the world's relict species of plants from the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana. The history of the evolution of marsupials and songbirds is also well represented.
Location and description.
The ecoregion covers of northeastern coastal Queensland, from the coast up a series of plateaus and tablelands to the mountains behind the coast. The ecoregion comprises three separate sections. The northern area, which includes Cairns, is the largest, from 15°30’ to 19°25’ south latitude. This northern section is also known as the Wet Tropics bioregion, and is just east of the Einasleigh Uplands. The middle section is centered on Mackay, Queensland, and the southern section is just south of Shoalwater Bay. These latter two sections are bounded on the west by the Brigalow tropical savanna ecoregion. Elevations in the ecoregion rise from sea level to 1,477 meters, with a mean of 301 meters.
Climate.
The climate of the ecoregion is a borderline tropical rainforest climate (Af) and "Dry-winter humid subtropical climate" (Köppen climate classification (Cwa)). The latter climate is characterized as having no month averaging below , at least one month averaging above , and four months averaging over . Precipitation in the wet summer months is ten time or more the average of the winter months. In this particular ecoregion, annual precipitation is highly variable, with annual averages between 1,200 and 8,000 mm. The rainy season is November to April.
Flora and fauna.
The Queensland tropical rain forests are designated one of the Global 200 ecoregions. The ecoregion is the largest remnant of Australia's rain forest flora, home to ancient assemblage of plants, called the Antarctic flora, presently characteristic of New Zealand and southern Chile. Fossil pollen records indicate closed forest covered most of Australia between 50 and 100 million years ago. These forests represent the closest living remnant of the vegetation type from which all of Australia's unique vegetation developed. The vegetation remained across Australia and Antarctica until about 15 million years ago.
Currently, about 65% of the ecoregion is closed forest of broadleaf evergreens. Conifers of the southern hemisphere family Araucariaceae are the characteristic tree species. In the northern section of the ecoregion, Kauri commonly form the forest canopy, with "Agathis robusta" most common at lower elevations, and "A. microstachya" and "A. atropurpurea" predominant at higher elevations. In the southern sections, "Araucaria cunninghamii" is predominant, with "Araucaria bidwillii" dominant in two small areas. Conifers in the family Podocarpaceae are also present, including genera "Podocarpus" and "Sundacarpus". The forests are thick with vines, ferns, epiphytes, and palms.
These forests are limited to areas of high rainfall and good soils. In waterlogged soils, the rainforest flora gives way to "Melaleuca" thickets, and on poor soils and in drier areas "Eucalyptus" becomes dominant. The rainforest flora is intolerant of fire, and where periods of drought have allowed devastating fires, the rainforest flora has retreated, allowing fire-tolerant "Eucalyptus" to become established. If a relatively wet period persists, the rainforest flora may reestablish itself. It is thought that the land management practices of the aboriginal Australians, which involve setting regular fires to keep the eucalyptus woodlands open, may have encouraged the expansion of eucalyptus forests at the expense of the rainforest flora. These rainforests seem to have retreated considerably since the arrival of the aboriginals' ancestors 50,000 years ago, and are presently limited to isolated pockets comprising less than 2% of the continent's area.
Animal biodiversity is high, also. 672 species of terrestrial vertebrates have been recorded in the ecoregion, 370 species of birds, 70 species of reptile, and 78 species of freshwater fish (of Australia's total of 180 fish species). 11% of the vertebrates are endemic to the region, and 22% of the reptiles. Most of the endemic species live about 400 meters in the rainforest.
Conservation.
These forests are particularly interesting because of their southern location and the high degree of endemism of their plant and animal species. Deforestation caused by logging, road building and farming has led to habitat fragmentation and diminishing populations of species such as spotted-tailed quoll "(Dasyurus maculatus)", cassowary "(Casuarius casuarius)", and ring-tail possum "(Hemibelideus lemuroides)". Introduced species also pose a serious threat to many native species.
In an effort to preserve the Daintree Rainforest north of the Daintree River it was decided by the Government of Queensland in 1993 to halt the spread of the electricity network north of that point, providing a limit to tourist development.
Protected areas include the following:
Tourism.
The forests, together with the Great Barrier Reef, have been identified and promoted as a major tourist attraction of Tropical North Queensland, one of five within the state. One of the most significant tourist attractions in the rain forests is the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.


Little leaf of brinjal

Little leaf of brinjal or eggplant ("Solanum melongena" L.) is one of the most serious diseases of brinjal in the areas of its cultivation.
Control Measure
codice_1
Insecticides can be sprayed for vector control.
Crop rotation ensure death of disease-causing pathogen.
Use of disease resistant crops.
Spray of varavion at regular interval of 15 days.
Tetracycline antibiotic can also be used to treat the disease.
Overview.
Little leaf of brinjal is known to cause heavy economic losses in India. As the name indicates, symptoms of the disease include shortening of the petioles and production of leaves which are much smaller in size. Petioles are so short that leaves seem to be glued to the stem. They become soft and glabrous and somewhat yellow in colour. Affected plants do not bear any flowers or fruits if infection is in early stages of plant growth. However, in cases of late season infections fruits may remain small, become hard and unfit for consumption or marketing. The disease is caused by a plant pathogenic mollicute, "Phytoplasma" (earlier known as mycoplasmalike organism or MLO) and is transmitted by the insect vector, "Hishimonus phycitis" which belongs to the group of leafhoppers.
Management of the insect vector by means of insecticides and cultivation of resistant varieties are the principal means of management of the disease. Newly formed leaves are further reduced in size.


Nepenthes

Nepenthes () is a genus of carnivorous plants, also known as tropical pitcher plants, or monkey cups, in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae. The genus comprises about 170 species, and numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids. They are mostly liana-forming plants of the Old World tropics, ranging from South China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines; westward to Madagascar (two species) and the Seychelles (one); southward to Australia (three) and New Caledonia (one); and northward to India (one) and Sri Lanka (one). The greatest diversity occurs on Borneo, Sumatra, and the Philippines, with many endemic species. Many are plants of hot, humid, lowland areas, but the majority are tropical montane plants, receiving warm days but cool to cold, humid nights year round. A few are considered tropical alpine, with cool days and nights near freezing. The name "monkey cups" refers to the fact that monkeys were once thought to drink rainwater from the pitchers. This is false; monkeys do not drink from them, and the pitchers are filled with digestive juices, rather than rainwater.
Description.
"Nepenthes" species usually consist of a shallow root system and a prostrate or climbing stem, often several metres long and up to or more, and usually or less in diameter, although this may be thicker in a few species (e.g. "N. bicalcarata"). From the stems arise alternate, sword-shaped leaves with entire leaf margins. An extension of the midrib (the tendril), which in some species aids in climbing, protrudes from the tip of the leaf; at the end of the tendril the pitcher forms. The pitcher starts as a small bud and gradually expands to form a globe- or tube-shaped trap. The shapes can evoke a champagne flute or a condom.
The trap contains a fluid of the plant's own production, which may be watery or more viscous, and is used to drown the prey. This fluid contains viscoelastic biopolymers that may be crucial to the retention of insects within the traps of many species. The viscoelastic fluid in pitchers is especially effective in the retention of winged insects. The trapping efficiency of this fluid remains high, even when significantly diluted by water, as inevitably happens in wet conditions.
The lower part of the trap contains glands which absorb nutrients from captured prey. Along the upper inside part of the trap is a slick, waxy coating which makes the escape of its prey nearly impossible. Surrounding the entrance to the trap is a structure called the peristome (the "lip"), which is slippery and often quite colorful, attracting prey, but offering an unsure footing. The prey-capture effectiveness of the peristome is further enhanced in moist environments, where condensation may cause a thin water film to form on the surface of the peristome. When wet, the slippery surface of the peristome causes insects to ‘aquaplane’, or slip and fall, into the pitcher. Above the peristome is a lid (the operculum); in many species, this keeps rain from diluting the fluid within the pitcher, the underside of which may contain nectar glands which attract prey.
"Nepenthes" species usually produce two types of pitchers, known as leaf dimorphism. Appearing near the base of the plant are the large, lower traps, which typically sit on the ground. The upper or aerial pitchers are usually larger, coloured differently, and possess different features from the lower pitchers. These upper pitchers usually form as the plant reaches maturity and the plant grows taller. To keep the plant steady, the upper pitchers often form a loop in the tendril, allowing it to wrap around nearby support. In some species (e.g. "N. rafflesiana"), different prey may be attracted by the two types of pitchers. This varied morphology also often makes identification of species difficult.
Prey usually consists of insects, but the largest species (e.g. "N. rajah" and "N. rafflesiana") may occasionally catch small vertebrates, such as rats and lizards. Records of cultivated plants trapping small birds have been made. Flowers occur in racemes or more rarely in panicles with male and female flowers on separate plants. They are insect-pollinated, the primary agents being flies (including blow flies, midges, and mosquitoes), moths, wasps, and butterflies. Their smells can range from sweet to musty or fungus-like. Seed is typically produced in a four-sided capsule which may contain 50–500 wind-distributed seeds, consisting of a central embryo and two wings, one on either side (though "N. pervillei" differs).
The genus is cytologically diploid, with all studied species having a chromosome number of "2n"=80. This high number is thought to reflect paleopolyploidy (likely 8x or 16x).
Taxonomy.
About 170 species of "Nepenthes" are currently recognised as valid. This number is increasing, with several new species being described each year.
Etymology.
The genus name "Nepenthes" was first published in 1737 in Carl Linnaeus's "Hortus Cliffortianus". It references a passage in Homer's "Odyssey", in which the potion "Nepenthes pharmakon" is given to Helen by an Egyptian queen. "Nepenthe" literally means "without grief" ("ne" = not, "penthos" = grief) and, in Greek mythology, is a drug that quells all sorrows with forgetfulness. Linnaeus explained:
If this is not Helen's "Nepenthes", it certainly will be for all botanists. What botanist would not be filled with admiration if, after a long journey, he should find this wonderful plant. In his astonishment past ills would be forgotten when beholding this admirable work of the Creator! [translated from Latin by Harry Veitch]
The plant Linnaeus described was "N. distillatoria", called" bāndurā" (බාඳුරා), a species from Sri Lanka.
"Nepenthes" was formally published as a generic name in 1753 in Linnaeus's famous "Species Plantarum", which established botanical nomenclature as it exists today. "Nepenthes distillatoria" is the type species of the genus.
The name "monkey cups" was discussed in the May 1964 issue of "National Geographic", in which Paul A. Zahl wrote:
The carriers called them "monkey cups," a name I had heard elsewhere in reference to "Nepenthes", but the implication that monkeys drink the pitcher fluid seemed farfetched. I later proved it true. In Sarawak, I found an orangutan that had been raised as a pet and later freed. As I approached it gingerly in the forest, I offered it a half-full pitcher. To my surprise, the ape accepted it, and with the finesse of a lady at tea, executed a delicate bottoms-up.
The plants are often called "kantong semar" (Semar's pocket) in Indonesia and "sako ni Hudas" (Judas' money bag) in the Philippines.
Evolution and phylogeny.
An absence of evidence of intermediate species, fossil or living (i.e. a missing link), does not allow forming a phylogenetical timeline for the development of the distinctive traits of modern "Nepenthes", which include its relatively rare strict dioecy and carnivorous pitchers. Although "Nepenthes" is distantly related to several modern genera, among these, even the carnivorous relatives [the sundews ("Drosera"), Venus flytrap ("Dionea muscipula"), waterwheel plant ("Aldrovanda"), and dewy pine ("Drosophyllum")], all lack those traits. Among known "Nepenthes", no protomodern characteristics or large variations are found, which suggests that all extant species radiated from a single close ancestor bearing all the modern traits. Phylogenetic comparisons of the chloroplast "matK "gene sequences between "Nepenthes" species and with related species support this conclusion, long genetic distance between "Nepenthes" and others, and abruptly diverging "pom-pom" grouping of the "Nepenthes" species .
Fossilized pollen of "Nepenthes"-like plants living on the northern Tethys Sea from 65 to 35 million years ago indicates that then-warmer Europe may have been where the proto-"Nepenthes" developed, and then escaped to Asia and India as Africa collided with Europe and the ensuing climate change wiped out the ancestral species in the original habitat. About 20 million years ago, Borneo, Sumatra, and Sulawesi and possibly even the Philippines were connected to mainland Asia, providing a bridge for the colonization of most sites of "Nepenthes" species radiation. The extensive landbridges in the area 20,000 years ago during the ice age would have provided access to the remaining sites of "Nepenthes" populations in Oceania. The main complication with this hypothesis is the presence of "Nepenthes" on the distant islands of Seychelles and Madagascar. The seeds were thought to have been transferred by seabirds and shorebirds, which rest during their migrations in swampy habitats and may have inadvertently picked up the seeds. This hypothesis is possibly reinforced by the success of the lowland swamp-dwelling "N. distillatoria" in colonizing so many locations.
Distribution and habitat.
The genus "Nepenthes" is mostly found within the Malay Archipelago, with the greatest biodiversity found on Borneo, Sumatra, and the Philippines, especially in the Borneo montane rain forests. The full range of the genus includes Madagascar ("N. madagascariensis" and "N. masoalensis"), the Seychelles ("N. pervillei"), Sri Lanka ("N. distillatoria"), and India ("N. khasiana") in the west to Australia ("N. mirabilis", "N. rowanae", and "N. tenax") and New Caledonia ("N. vieillardii") in the southeast. Most species are restricted to very small ranges, including some only found on individual mountains. These limited distributions and the inaccessibility of the regions often means some species go decades without being rediscovered in the wild (e.g. "N. deaniana", which was rediscovered 100 years after its initial discovery). About 10 species have population distributions larger than a single island or group of smaller islands. "Nepenthes mirabilis" has the distinction of being the most widely distributed species in the genus, ranging from Indochina and throughout the Malay Archipelago to Australia.
Because of the nature of the habitats that "Nepenthes" species occupy, they are often graded as either lowland or highland species, depending on their altitude above sea level, with the rough delineation between lowland and highland. Species growing at lower altitudes require continuously warm climates with little difference between day and night temperatures, whereas highland species thrive when they receive warm days and much cooler nights. "Nepenthes lamii" grows at a higher altitude than any other in the genus, up to .
Most "Nepenthes" species grow in environments that provide high humidity and precipitation and moderate to high light levels. A few species, including "N. ampullaria", prefer the dense, shaded forests, but most other species thrive on the margins of tree/shrub communities or clearings. Some species (e.g. "N. mirabilis") have been found growing in clear-cut forest areas, roadsides, and disturbed fields. Other species have adapted to growing in savanna-like grass communities. The soils in which "Nepenthes" species grow are usually acidic and low in nutrients, being composed of peat, white sand, sandstone, or volcanic soils. Exceptions to these generalities include species that thrive in soils with high heavy metal content (e.g. "N. rajah"), on sandy beaches in the sea spray zone (e.g. "N. albomarginata"). Other species grow on inselbergs and as lithophytes, while others, such as "N. inermis", can grow as epiphytes with no soil contact.
Ecological relationships.
The most obvious interaction between "Nepenthes" species and their environments, including other organisms, is that of predator and prey. "Nepenthes" species certainly attract and kill their prey, albeit passively, through active production of attractive colours, sugary nectar, and even sweet scents. From this relationship, the plants primarily gain nitrogen and phosphorus to supplement their nutrient requirements for growth, given these soil nutrients are typically lacking. The most frequent prey is an abundant and diverse group of arthropods, with ants and other insects topping the menu. Other arthropods found frequently include spiders, scorpions, and centipedes, while snails and frogs are more unusual, but not unheard of. The most uncommon prey for "Nepenthes" species includes rats found in "N. rajah". The composition of prey captured depends on many factors, including location, but can incorporate hundreds of individual insects and many different species. While many "Nepenthes" species are generalists in what they capture, at least one, "N. albomarginata", has specialised and almost exclusively traps termites and produces nearly no nectar. "Nepenthes albomarginata" gains its name from the ring of white trichomes directly beneath the peristome. These trichomes—or "hairs"—are palatable to termites and will attract them to the pitcher. In the course of collecting the edible trichomes, hundreds or thousands of termites will fall into the pitcher.
Symbioses.
"N. bicalcarata" provides space in the hollow tendrils of its upper pitchers for the carpenter ant "Camponotus schmitzi" to build nests. The ants take larger prey from the pitchers, which may benefit "N. bicalcarata" by reducing the amount of putrefaction of collected organic matter that could harm the natural community of infaunal species that aid the plant's digestion.
"N. lowii" has also formed a dependent relationship, but with vertebrates instead of insects. The pitchers of "N. lowii" provide a sugary exudate reward on the reflexed pitcher lid (operculum) and a perch for tree shrew species, which have been found eating the exudate and defecating into the pitcher. A 2009 study, which coined the term "tree shrew lavatories", determined between 57 and 100% of the plant's foliar nitrogen uptake comes from the faeces of tree shrews. Another study showed the shape and size of the pitcher orifice of "N. lowii" exactly match the dimensions of a typical tree shrew ("Tupaia montana"). A similar adaptation was found in "N. macrophylla", "N. rajah", "N. ampullaria", and is also likely to be present in "N. ephippiata".
Similarly, "N. hemsleyana", which is native to Borneo, has a symbiotic partnership with Hardwicke's woolly bat. During the day, a bat may roost above the digestive fluid inside the pitcher. While a bat is inside, it may defaecate, and the plant can get nitrogen from the droppings.
Infauna.
Organisms that spend at least part of their lives within the pitchers of "Nepenthes" species are often called "Nepenthes" infauna. The most common infaunal species, often representing the top trophic level of the infaunal ecosystem, are many species of mosquito larvae. Other infaunal species include fly and midge larvae, spiders, mites, ants, and even a species of crab ("Geosesarma malayanum"). Many of these species specialise to one pitcher plant species and are found nowhere else. These specialists are called nepenthebionts. Others, often associated with but not dependent on "Nepenthes" species, are called nepenthophiles. Nepenthexenes, on the other hand, are rarely found in the pitchers, but will often appear when putrefaction approaches a certain threshold, attracting fly larvae that would normally not be found in the pitcher infaunal community. The complex ecological relationship between pitcher plants and infauna is not yet fully understood, but the relationship may be mutualistic: the infauna is given shelter, food, or protection, and the plant that harbours the infauna receives expedited breakdown of captured prey, increasing the rate of digestion and keeping harmful bacterial populations repressed.
Antimicrobial properties.
"Nepenthes" digestive fluids are sterile before pitchers open and contain secondary metabolites and proteins that act as bactericides and fungicides after the pitcher opens. While the digestive fluid is being produced, the pitcher is not yet open, so there is no chance of microbial contamination. During pitcher development, at least 29 digestive proteins including proteases, chitinases, pathogenesis-related proteins and thaumatin-like proteins are produced in the pitcher fluid. In addition to breaking down prey, these can act as antimicrobial agents. When the pitchers open, the fluid is exposed to bacteria, fungal spores, insects and rain. Often pitchers have a lid that covers the trap, excepting a few (e.g. "N. lowii", "N. attenboroughii" and "N. jamban"), preventing rain water from entering. The lid inhibits rainwater from diluting the digestive fluid. Once the bacteria and fungi enter the fluid, secondary metabolites are produced in addition to antimicrobial proteins. Naphthoquinones, a class of secondary metabolite, are commonly produced, and these either kill or inhibit the growth and reproduction of bacteria and fungi. This adaptation could have evolved since "Nepenthes" plants that could produce secondary metabolites and antimicrobial proteins to kill bacteria and fungi were most likely more fit. Plants that produced antimicrobial compounds could prevent loss of valuable nutrients gained from insects within the pitcher. Since "Nepenthes" cannot digest certain bacteria and fungi, the bactericides and fungicides allow plants to maximize nutrient uptake.
Botanical history.
The earliest known record of "Nepenthes" dates back to the 17th century. In 1658, French colonial governor Étienne de Flacourt published a description of a pitcher plant in his seminal work "Histoire de la Grande Isle de Madagascar". It reads:
It is a plant growing about 3 feet high which carries at the end of its leaves, which are 7 inches long, a hollow flower or fruit resembling a small vase, with its own lid, a wonderful sight. There are red ones and yellow ones, the yellow being the biggest. The inhabitants of this country are reluctant to pick the flowers, saying that if somebody does pick them in passing, it will not fail to rain that day. As to that, I and all the other Frenchmen did pick them, but it did not rain. After rain these flowers are full of water, each one containing a good half-glass. [translated from French in "Pitcher-Plants of Borneo"]
Flacourt called the plant "Amramatico", after a local name. More than a century later, this species was formally described as "N. madagascariensis".
The second species to be described was "N. distillatoria", the Sri Lankan endemic. In 1677, Danish physician Thomas Bartholin made brief mention of it under the name "Miranda herba", Latin for "marvellous herb". Three years later, Dutch merchant Jacob Breyne referred to this species as "Bandura zingalensium", after a local name for the plant. "Bandura" subsequently became the most commonly used name for the tropical pitcher plants, until Linnaeus coined "Nepenthes" in 1737.
"Nepenthes distillatoria" was again described in 1683, this time by Swedish physician and naturalist Herman Niklas Grim. Grim called it "Planta mirabilis destillatoria" or the "miraculous distilling plant", and was the first to clearly illustrate a tropical pitcher plant. Three years later, in 1686, English naturalist John Ray quoted Grim as saying:
The root draws up moisture from the earth which with the help of the sun's rays rises up into the plant itself and then flows down through the stems and nerves of the leaves into the natural utensil to be stored there until used for human needs. [translated from Latin in "Pitcher-Plants of Borneo"]
One of the earliest illustrations of "Nepenthes" appears in Leonard Plukenet's "Almagestum Botanicum" of 1696. The plant, called "Utricaria vegetabilis zeylanensium", is undoubtedly "N. distillatoria".
Around the same time, German botanist Georg Eberhard Rumphius discovered two new "Nepenthes" species in the Malay Archipelago. Rumphius illustrated the first one, now considered synonymous with "N. mirabilis", and gave it the name "Cantharifera", meaning "tankard-bearer". The second, referred to as "Cantharifera alba", is thought to have been "N. maxima". Rumphius described the plants in his most famous work, the six-volume "Herbarium Amboinense", a catalogue of the flora of Ambon Island. However, it would not be published until many years after his death.
After going blind in 1670, when the manuscript was only partially complete, Rumphius continued work on "Herbarium Amboinensis" with the help of clerks and artists. In 1687, with the project nearing completion, at least half of the illustrations were lost in a fire. Persevering, Rumphius and his helpers first completed the book in 1690. However, two years later, the ship carrying the manuscript to the Netherlands was attacked and sunk by the French, forcing them to start over from a copy that had fortunately been retained by Governor-General Johannes Camphuijs. The "Herbarium Amboinensis" finally arrived in the Netherlands in 1696. Even then, the first volume did not appear until 1741, 39 years after Rumphius's death. By this time, Linnaeus's name "Nepenthes" had become established.
"Nepenthes distillatoria" was again illustrated in Johannes Burmann's "Thesaurus Zeylanicus" of 1737. The drawing depicts the end of a flowering stem with pitchers. Burmann refers to the plant as "Bandura zeylanica".
The next mention of tropical pitcher plants was made in 1790, when Portuguese priest João de Loureiro described "Phyllamphora mirabilis", or the "marvellous urn-shaped leaf", from Vietnam. Despite living in the country for around 35 years, it seems unlikely that Loureiro observed living plants of this species, as he stated the lid is a moving part, actively opening and closing. In his most celebrated work, "Flora Cochinchinensis", he writes:
[...] (the) leaf-tip ends in a long hanging tendril, twisted spirally in the middle, from which hangs a sort of vase, oblong, pot-bellied, with a smooth lip with a projecting margin and a lid affixed to one side, which of its own nature freely opens and closes in order to receive the dew and store it. A marvellous work of the Lord! [translated from French in "Pitcher-Plants of Borneo"]
"Phyllamphora mirabilis" was eventually transferred to the genus "Nepenthes" by Rafarin in 1869. As such, "P. mirabilis" is the basionym of this most cosmopolitan of tropical pitcher plant species.
Loureiro's description of a moving lid was repeated by Jean Louis Marie Poiret in 1797. Poiret described two of the four "Nepenthes" species known at the time: "N. madagascariensis" and "N. distillatoria". He gave the former its current name and called the latter "Nepente de l'Inde", or simply ""Nepenthes" of India", although this species is absent from the mainland. In Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's "Encyclopédie Méthodique Botanique", he included the following account:
This urn is hollow, as I have just said, usually full of soft, clear water, and then closed. It opens during the day and more than half the liquid disappears, but this loss is repaired during the night, and the next day the urn is full again and closed by its lid. This is its sustenance, and enough for more than one day because it is always about half-full at the approach of night. [translated from French in "Pitcher-Plants of Borneo"]
With the discovery of new species and Sir Joseph Banks' original introduction of specimens to Europe in 1789, interest in "Nepenthes" grew throughout the 19th century, culminating in what has been called the "Golden Age of "Nepenthes"" in the 1880s. However, the popularity of the plants dwindled in the early 20th century, before all but disappearing by World War II. This is evidenced by the fact that no new species were described between 1940 and 1966. The revival of global interest in the cultivation and study of "Nepenthes" is credited to Japanese botanist Shigeo Kurata, whose work in the 1960s and 1970s did much to bring attention to these plants.
Cultivation.
"Nepenthes" may be cultivated in greenhouses. Easier species include "N. alata", "N. ventricosa", "N. khasiana", and "N. sanguinea". These four species are highlanders ("N. alata" has both lowland and highland forms), some easy lowlander species are "N. rafflesiana", "N. bicalcarata", "N. mirabilis", and "N. hirsuta".
Highland forms are those species that grow in habitats generally higher in elevation, and thus exposed to cooler evening temperatures. Lowland forms are those species growing nearer to sea level. Both forms respond best to rainwater (but some tap water works as long as it is flushed monthly with rainwater or water low in dissolved solid and chemicals), bright light (though some species can grow in full sun), a well-drained medium, good air circulation and relatively high humidity, although easier species such as "N. alata" can adapt to lower humidity environments. Highland species must have night-time cooling to thrive in the long term. Chemical fertilisers are best used at low strength. Occasional feeding with frozen (thawed before use) crickets may be beneficial. Terrarium culture of smaller plants, such as "N. bellii", "N." × "trichocarpa" and "N. ampullaria", is possible, but most plants will get too large over time.
Plants can be propagated by seed, cuttings, and tissue culture. Seeds are usually sown on damp chopped "Sphagnum" moss, or on sterile plant tissue culture media once they have been properly disinfected. The seeds generally become nonviable soon after harvesting, so seed are not usually the preferred method of propagation. A 1:1 mixture of orchid medium with moss or perlite has been used for germination and culture. Seed may take two months to germinate, and two years or more to yield mature plants. Cuttings may be rooted in damp "Sphagnum" moss in a plastic bag or tank with high humidity and moderate light. They can begin to root in one to two months and start to form pitchers in about six months. Tissue culture is now used commercially and helps reduce collection of wild plants, as well as making many rare species available to hobbyists at reasonable prices. "Nepenthes" species are considered threatened or endangered plants and all of them are listed in CITES appendices 2, with the exception of "N. rajah" and "N. khasiana" which are listed in CITES appendix 1.
Hybrids and cultivars.
There are many hybrid "Nepenthes" and numerous named cultivars. Some of the more well-known, artificially produced hybrids and cultivars include:


Bonnetia jauaensis

Bonnetia jauensis is a species of flowering plant in the Bonnetiaceae family found only in Venezuela.


Salt-marsh communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system

This article gives an overview of the salt-marsh communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system.
Introduction.
The salt-marsh communities of the NVC were described in Volume 5 of "British Plant Communities", first published in 2000, along with the other maritime communities (those of shingle strandline and sand-dunes and maritime cliffs) and vegetation of open habitats.
In total, 28 salt-marsh communities have been identified.
The salt-marsh communities consist of four separate subgroups:
Other communities occurring on salt-marshes.
There are a number of other communities which occur on salt-marshes, but are not classified as salt-marsh communities within the NVC. Those listed in "British Plant Communities" are as follows:
List of salt-marsh communities.
The following is a list of the communities that make up this category:


Nepenthes northiana

Nepenthes northiana , or Miss North's pitcher-plant, is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo, where it grows at elevations ranging from 0 to 500 m above sea level. The specific epithet "northiana" honours Marianne North, who first illustrated the species. "Nepenthes northiana" is one of the most famous "Nepenthes", and its discovery in the latter half of the 19th century contributed to Sarawak's reputation as a land of spectacular exotic plants.
Botanical history.
"Nepenthes northiana" was first brought to the attention of the scientific community by Marianne North, who painted plants brought to her from the Bau area of Sarawak, Borneo. Harry Veitch, owner of James Veitch & Sons, recognised these as belonging to an as yet undescribed species and sent Charles Curtis to locate a sample and send seeds to the United Kingdom. The species was subsequently named after Marianne North in 1881 by Joseph Dalton Hooker. The type specimen, "M.North s.n.", was collected near Jambusan in Sarawak in 1876. It is deposited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
In her autobiography "Recollections of a Happy Life", the first edition of which bears a gilt outline of "N. northiana" on its cover, North wrote the following account of the species's discovery:
"Mr E. [Everett] went up a mountain near and brought me down some grand trailing specimens of the largest of all pitcher-plants, which I festooned round the balcony by its yards of trailing stems. I painted a portrait of the largest, and my picture afterwards induced Mr Veitch to send a traveller to seek the seeds, from which he raised plants and Sir Joseph Hooker named the species "Nepenthes northiana". These pitchers are often over a foot long, and richly covered with crimson blotches."
The type description, published in "The Gardeners' Chronicle", further elaborated on the discovery:
"The specimen from which Miss North's drawing was made was procured by Mr. Herbert Everett of the Borneo Company, who "traversed pathless forests amid snakes and leeches to find and bring it down to the artist." "Only those," writes Miss North, "who have been in such places can understand the difficulties of progress there. The specimens grew on the branches of a tree about 1000 feet above the sea on the limestone mountains of Sarawak. When I received them I tied them in festoons all round the verandah, and grumbled at having only one small half-sheet of paper left to paint them on.""
North's painting of "N. northiana" is now on display at the Marianne North Gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
In the decades following its discovery, "N. northiana" was featured in a number of botanical publications. In an 1882 issue of "The Gardeners' Chronicle", Frederick William Burbidge proposed that the taxon represented a natural hybrid between "N. sanguinea" and "N. veitchii":
"Your figure of Nepenthes Northiana was very good. Miss North's drawing, however, has, if I recollect right, a ground-tint of bright reddish-crimson on which darker blotches are laid. It is a fine thing, and, as I firmly believe, a natural hybrid between N. sanguinea × N. Veitchii. The oblique mouth of the urns would suggest N. Rajah as one of the parents, but then his highness only holds court, so far as we know at present, on Kina Balu, 250 miles further north, and never at a less altitude than 4500 feet, rising to near 10,000 feet.
In earlier times he may have been an inhabitant of the plains—at any rate no one can place the pitchers of N. Northiana, N. Veitchii, and N. sanguinea side by side without being struck by their affinity. Again, a glance at your engraving of N. Northiana reminds one of a long-urned form of N. Rajah in obliquity of mouth and its wavy-margined frill. The "cauline" pitchers of N. Rajah have never yet been figured. I was with Mr. Harry Veitch when Miss North first showed him the picture of N. Northiana, and it was a revelation to us both. I had the latitude and longitude of its habitat in my portfolio when I left Chelsea for Borneo, but unfortunately never had the chance of seeing Sarawak ; my lot was the wild north-west coast, among the pirate chiefs, and very good genial fellows I found them !"
Subsequent authors realised that Burbidge's hybrid hypothesis was erroneous when it became apparent that "N. sanguinea" is altogether absent from Borneo. In 1884, Eduard August von Regel published a short article on "N. northiana" in the journal "Gartenflora". Günther Beck von Mannagetta und Lerchenau described "N. spuria" in his 1895 monograph, "Die Gattung "Nepenthes"". This taxon is a "nomen illegitimum" and is now considered synonymous with "N. northiana". In his "Handleiding tot de kennis der flora van Nederlandsch Indië" of 1900, Jacob Gijsbert Boerlage mentioned a certain "N. nordtiana". This name is considered a "sphalma typographicum" (misprint) of "N. northiana".
The next major taxonomic treatment of the species came in 1908, when John Muirhead Macfarlane revised the genus in his monograph, "Nepenthaceae", and provided an emended description of "N. northiana".
A year later, R. Jarry-Desloges described the variety "Nepenthes northiana" var. "pulchra". It was distinguished by its vibrant colouration, having purplish red pitchers with a more striking red and yellow striped peristome. By comparison, the standard variety was said to have mostly yellowish pitchers with brown or red blotches. "Nepenthes northiana" var. "pulchra" is not considered taxonomically valid today.
"Nepenthes decurrens".
"Nepenthes decurrens" was described by John Muirhead Macfarlane in 1925. The description was based on "Hewitt 100", a specimen collected by John Hewitt from the Baram River in Sarawak around September, 1907. Like the type specimen of "N. northiana", it is deposited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
In his seminal 1928 monograph "The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies", B. H. Danser treated the two taxa as separate species, although with some hesitation. He explained the taxonomic situation as follows:
"I have seen type material of this species ["N. decurrens"] in the Herbarium of the Sarawak Museum: 2 pitcher-bearing leaves, torn from the stem in such a way, that the manner, in which they are inserted on it, is no longer visible.
The pitchers show a great resemblance with those of the drawing of "N. Northiana" in The Gardeners' Chronicle, 1881, 2, between p. 724 and 725. This drawing shows 2 keels on the lid and wings over the whole pitchers, even over the curved part, but these are insignificant differences. According to the descriptions, the stems of "N. Northiana" are less thick than those of "N. decurrens", and the leaves are sessile, but this too is not so important a difference as it seems. The most important difference is in the inflorescences. "N. Northiana" has a loose-flowered triangular raceme, with 2 to 3 mm long pedicels, "N. decurrens" has a long and coarse raceme, with long pedicels (the description of both inflorescences is very imperfect). Therefore it is impossible for me to determine the 3 above mentioned inferior pitchers, I found in the Sarawak Herbarium, and collected by Everett in 1892. This Mr. Everett may be the same which collected "N. Northiana" for Marianne North and therefore it seems possible that the 3 pitchers mentioned are the basal ones of the latter species. They are ovate-ellipsoidal, resp. 23, 24 and 26 cm high, 10, 11 and 10 cm wide, widest about, or somewhat below the middle ; the peristomes are as in "N. decurrens", resp. 3, 4 and 2 cm broad, the mouth is very oblique, occupying about half the height of the pitcher, the lid has one median keel, but is crumpled, and the form, though not well visible, seems to be that of "N. decurrens"."
Subsequent authors have not considered these differences to be sufficient for species status and "N. decurrens" is now treated as a heterotypic synonym of "N. northiana".
Description.
"Nepenthes northiana" is a climbing plant. The stem may attain a length of 10 m and is up to 15 mm in diameter. Internodes are up to 25 cm long and cylindrical to triangular in cross section.
The leaves of this species are chartaceous and sessile to sub-petiolate. The lamina is oblong-obovate in shape and up to 40 cm long by 10 cm wide. It has an acute apex and is gradually attenuate towards the base. The base is semi-amplexicaul and decurrent into a pair of wings. Up to 4 longitudinal veins are present on either side of the midrib. Pinnate veins are indistinct. Between 30 and 60 nectar glands are present on the lower surface of the lamina. Tendrils are up to 100 cm long.
Rosette and lower pitchers are generally ovoid, sometimes being slightly cylindrical in the upper part. They are some of the largest in the genus, reaching 40 cm in height and 15 cm in width. Exceptionally large pitchers can hold more than a quart (946 ml) of fluid. A pair of fringed wings (≤15 mm) runs down the front of the pitcher. The waxy zone of the inner surface is reduced. The pitcher mouth is ovate, slightly raised towards the rear, and has an oblique insertion. The impressive peristome of this species is greatly expanded at the sides (≤25 mm wide) and often has undulate margins. Its inner edge is lined with short but distinct teeth. The lid or operculum is ovate to oblong in shape, lacks appendages, and has an acute apex. An unbranched spur (≤20 mm long) is inserted near the base of the lid. Upper pitchers are similar to their lower counterparts but differ in being infundibular throughout. The wings are often retained in aerial pitchers, although they may be reduced to ribs.
"Nepenthes northiana" has a racemose inflorescence. The peduncle is up to 60 cm long, while the rachis is up to 40 cm long, although male inflorescences are generally shorter. Partial peduncles are mostly two-flowered and reach 50 mm in length. The seeds of "N. northiana" are quite atypical of the genus in that they have short appendages, a large embryo, and are unusually woody in texture. Their structure prevents them from being carried great distances by wind. A study of 120 pollen samples taken from a herbarium specimen ("J.H.Adam 2378", collected at an altitude of 30 m) found the mean pollen diameter to be 29.8 μm (SE = 0.4; CV = 6.0%).
The species lacks a distinct indumentum, as all parts of the plant are virtually glabrous. The stem and leaves are light green. The pitchers are greenish-white in colour with numerous red blotches. The peristome is white to red with darker stripes.
Ecology.
"Nepenthes northiana" is endemic to the Kuching Division of Sarawak, particularly the hills around the village of Bau. The species has an altitudinal distribution of 0 to 500 m above sea level and is restricted to limestone substrates.
"Nepenthes northiana" generally grows in exposed sites on near-vertical limestone cliffs with permanent water seepage. Less commonly it occurs in secondary vegetation on small hills. It is sympatric with other limestone flora such as "Alocasia longiloba" var. "lowii".
The conservation status of "N. northiana" is listed as Vulnerable on the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species based on an assessment carried out in 2000. This agrees with the informal classification of the species made by botanist Charles Clarke in 1997. However, it differs from the assessment by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, which classified "N. northiana" as "endangered".
Quarrying activity has damaged several of the hills on which "N. northiana" grows, although this has apparently not affected the plants directly. In addition, natural populations of "N. northiana" have suffered from over-collection in recent years. Plants of this species have a high commercial value and are thus highly sought after by collectors. In their 1996 monograph "Pitcher-Plants of Borneo", Anthea Phillipps and Anthony Lamb wrote that "N. northiana" "has been over-collected nearly to the point of extinction". Despite this, the short-term future of the species appears to be secure, as most remaining plants are inaccessible to collectors.
Related species.
"Nepenthes northiana" is very similar to "N. mapuluensis", a species known from only a handful of limestone peaks in East Kalimantan, on the other side of Borneo. Although there are few morphological characters separating these two taxa, there seem to be several stable differences that can be used to distinguish between them. Compared to "N. northiana", the leaves on the climbing stems of "N. mapuluensis" are more linear, the pitchers darker in colour, and the upper pitchers narrower. It is also worth noting that "N. northiana" is known only from the Bau area of Sarawak, which lies several hundred kilometres away from the only known populations of "N. mapuluensis".
"Nepenthes northiana" has also been compared to "N. macrovulgaris". The two species have a similarly shaped lamina and petiole, but "N. northiana" differs in that the climbing stem can be triangular in cross section, as opposed to strictly cylindrical in "N. macrovulgaris". In addition, the latter species does not have decurrent leaf bases.
"Nepenthes hurrelliana" and "N. veitchii" are superficially similar to "N. northiana", but both of these species are smaller and less vividly coloured.
Natural hybrids.
"Nepenthes northiana" is known to hybridise with three other "Nepenthes" species.
"N. albomarginata" × "N. northiana".
"Nepenthes × cincta" is a rare plant and, due to the localised distribution of "N. northiana", only grows at a few sites in Bau, Sarawak, usually on a substrate of limestone. The traits of "N. albomarginata" are very dominant in this hybrid; the wide flared peristome of its larger parent species ("N. northiana") is almost completely lost. Pitchers are narrowly infundibulate (funnel-shaped) throughout and range in colouration from cream to dusky purple with red or black spots.
"N. gracilis" × "N. northiana".
"Nepenthes ×bauensis" is intermediate in appearance between its two parent species. It displays the clumping habit and vine growth of "N. gracilis", but can be distinguished from that species on the basis of its larger leaves and stems. The influence of "N. northiana" is most obvious in the pitcher morphology. In particular, the peristome is wider than in "N. gracilis" and has scattered red bands. Pitchers are up to 15 cm high and may be pale green to purplish-red in colour.
Like its parent species, "N. × bauensis" is a lowland plant that grows at an elevation of around 100 m. It is terrestrial in nature and inhabits swampy areas surrounding the limestone hills to which "N. northiana" is endemic.
This hybrid appears to be very rare and only a few plants have been found. It is known from a single location.
"N. mirabilis" × "N. northiana".
"Nepenthes mirabilis" × "N. northiana" is a relatively rare natural hybrid and was only discovered in 2007.
Cultivation.
"Nepenthes northiana" has a reputation amongst "Nepenthes" growers for being difficult to cultivate. For some time it was speculated that a potting medium involving limestone was necessary to successfully cultivate the species, but this is apparently not the case. It appears to grow well in low light conditions, with direct sunlight resulting in brown patches of dead tissue on the leaves and a decline or cessation in pitcher production. The species is also sensitive to fluctuations in relative humidity and grows best in moist environments.
In ', Peter D'Amato writes that peat and "Sphagnum" moss stunt the growth of "N. northiana". He notes that a good alkaline medium for this species consists of two parts coarse vermiculite to one part each of perlite, pumice, and sand. Other growers have reported that the choice of growing medium is apparently of little consequence.
Notes.
"Folia mediocria" sessilia, lamina elliptica v. obovata, nervis longitudinalibus utrinque 4, basi lata semiamplexicauli in alas 2 decurrente ; "ascidia rosularum" ignota ; "ascidia inferiora" subovata, alis 2 fimbriatis ; peristomio applanato v. expanso, 10-50 mm lato, costis crebris, dentibus brevibus ; operculo ovato-oblongo, facie inferiore non appendiculato ; "ascidia superiora" infundibuliformia, alis 2 angustis fimbriatis, peristomio angustiore quam in ascidiis inferioribus, costis crebris, operculo angustiore quam in ascidiis inferioribus, facie inferiore inappendiculata ; "inflorescentia" racemus longus pedicellis 2-4 mm longis 2- v. 1-floris ; "indumentum" parcum (v. 0 ?).
"Folia mediocria" petiolata, lanceolata, nervis longitudinalibus utrinque 5-6, vagina in alas 2 basi peltatas decurrente ; "ascidia rosularum" et "inferiora" ignota ; "ascidia superiora" magna, tubulosa v. infundibuliformia ; parte inferiore costis 2 prominentibus, os versus alis 2 fimbriatis ; peristomio expanso, 25-60 mm lato, costis c. 1 mm distantibus, dentibus vix longioribus quam latis ; operculo ovato, facie inferiore plana v. prope basin obtuse carinata ; "inflorescentia" racemus longus pedicellis longis fere omnibus 2-floris ; "indumentum" in caulibus foliisque fere 0, in ascidiis adpressum parcum in inflorescentiis tenue densum ferrugineum.


Encephalartos latifrons

Encephalartos latifrons is a species of cycad that is native to Eastern Cape province in South Africa at elevations of 200 and 600 meters.
Description.
It is an arborescent cycad, with an erect or decumbent stem, up to 4.5 m tall and 30-45 cm in diameter.
The leaves, pinnate, of a bright green color, arranged in a crown at the apex of the trunk, are 1–1,5 m long, supported by a 10-20 cm long petiole, curved downwards; they are composed of numerous pairs of large leathery leaflets, up to 15 cm long, arranged on the rachis with an acute angle, partially overlapping, with the lower margin presenting from 3 to 4 triangular lobes.
It is a dioecious species, with male specimens that have from 1 to 3 sub-cylindrical, sessile cones, about 30–50 cm long and 8–17 cm broad, olive-green in color, and female specimens with 1-3 cylindrical cones, erect, about 50–60 cm long and 23–25 cm wide, olive green in color, with macrosporofilli about 8 cm long.
The seeds are coarsely ovoid, 2.5-3.0 cm long, covered with a dark red flesh.
Conservation.
In August 2014 thirteen "Encephalartos latifrons" cycads were stolen from Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town, South Africa. The estimated value of all thirteen was at least R200,000 (US18,675). The plants were planted over 100 years ago as part of a research and reproduction program of this particular species of Encephalartos that no longer naturally reproduces in the wild. Encephalartos is highly valued as a garden or ornamental plant in many parts of the world and it is thought the plants were stolen to be sold on the black market.


Tecticornia

Tecticornia is a genus of succulent, salt tolerant plants largely endemic to Australia. Taxa in the genus are commonly referred to as samphires. In 2007, the genus "Halosarcia", along with three other Australian genera ("Pachycornia", "Sclerostegia" and "Tegicornia") was incorporated into the genus.
Description.
The species of "Tecticornia" grow as annual or perennial herbs, subshrubs or small shrubs. Stems are branched, glabrous and appear jointed. The opposite leaves are fleshy, glabrous, connate in the lower part and cup-like or collar-like stem-clasping, with minute (0–3 mm long) two-lobed to triangular leaf blades.
The spike-shaped inflorescences consist of opposite bracts, mostly connate and stem-clasping, free in some species. Their blades are cup- or collar-like or deltoid to semi-circular scales. In the axil of each bract, there are three to five (rarely one or seven) flowers, free or sometimes fused to each other, to the bract, and to the inflorescence axis. The flowers are hermaphrodite, rarely unisexual. They consist of a 2-3-lobed perianth of connate tepals, one stamen, and an ovary with two stigmas.
In fruit, the perianth remains membranous or becomes crustaceous, spongy, or horny. The fruit wall (pericarp) may be membranous, fleshy, crustaceous, or woody. The seed is disc-shaped or wedge-shaped, its seed coat with smooth or reticulate, tuberculate or longitudinally ribbed surface. The seed contains the curved embryo and copious perisperm (feeding tissue).
Distribution.
All species of "Tecticornia" are distributed in Australia. Only one species, "Tecticornia indica" (Syn. "Halosarcia indica", "Arthrocnenum indicum") has a wider range outside this continent along the tropical coasts of the Indian Ocean to eastern and western tropical Africa.
Systematics.
The first publication of "Tecticornia" was made in 1880 by Joseph Dalton Hooker. The type species of this genus is "Tecticornia cinerea" , which is a synonym of "Tecticornia australasica". "Tecticornia" used to be a small genus with just three species, until in 2007, the genera "Halosarcia", "Pachycornia", "Sclerostegia" and "Tegicornia" were included.
Phylogenetical research of the subfamily Salicornioideae revealed that the "Tecticornia/Halosarcia/Pachycornia/Sclerostegia/Tegicornia" lineage is a sister group of "Sarcocornia/Salicornia".
In 2016, "Tecticornia" comprises about 44 species, eleven species were described recently. (distributions as given by "Australian Plant Census" (2008).
Uses.
Young twigs of "Tecticornia indica" can be cooked and eaten as a vegetable. In Madagascar, they are pickled in vinegar and used as a spice.


Heliotropium amplexicaule

Heliotropium amplexicaule is a species of heliotrope known by several common names, including clasping heliotrope, blue heliotrope, and summer heliotrope. It is native to South America, especially Argentina, but it is known on several other continents where it is an introduced species, and in some areas such as eastern Australia, a noxious weed.
This is a clumpy perennial herb growing branching, hairy stems to about half a meter in maximum height. It has abundant foliage of oblong wavy-edged green leaves four to nine centimeters long. The curving terminal spike inflorescences hold several tiny bright purple flowers with rounded lobes and tubular yellow throats. The fruits are paired rough-surfaced nutlets.
Biological pest control is being investigated for reducing the spread of this plant in New South Wales and surrounding areas in Australia. The blue heliotrope leaf beetle, "Deuterocampta quadrijuga", has shown promise, as has the flea beetle now called blue heliotrope flea beetle ("Longitarsus" spp.).
Toxicity.
"Heliotropium amplexicaule" contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids and is poisonous. This plant competes with desirable pastures and causes toxicity to stock.


Lastarriaea coriacea

Lastarriaea coriacea is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family known by the common name leather spineflower. It is native to California and adjacent northern Mexico where it is a common plant of many habitat types. This is an annual herb forming a patch of stems growing flat on the ground or rising slightly to a maximum height near 15 centimeters. The small leaves are located basally, where the stems emerge from the ground. They are generally hairy and linear in shape, and not more than 3 centimeters long. The stems branch into wide inflorescences bearing pointed bracts and flowers with spiky awns.


Dunaliellaceae

Dunaliellaceae is a family of algae in the order Chlamydomonadales.


Balsaminaceae

The Balsaminaceae (commonly known as the balsam family) are a family of dicotyledonous plants, comprising two genera: "Impatiens", which consists of 1000+ species, and "Hydrocera", consisting of 1 species. The flowering plants may be annual or perennial. They are found throughout temperate and tropical regions, primarily in Asia and Africa, but also North America and Europe.
Notable members of the family include jewelweed and busy Lizzie.


Dryandra ser. Armatae

Dryandra" ser. "Armatae is an obsolete series within the former genus "Dryandra" (now "Banksia" ser. "Dryandra"). It was first published by George Bentham in 1870, and was given a new circumscription by Alex George in 1996, but was ultimately discarded in 2007 when Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele sunk "Dryandra" into "Banksia".
According to Bentham.
Bentham's definition of "D." ser. "Armatae" was "Flower-heads usually large, mostly terminal, enclosed in floral leaves longer than the flowers. Involucres broad. Perianths above 1 in. long. Stigmatic end of the style slender, often scarcely distinct. Leaves with prickly teeth or lobes.". The placement and circumscription of the series may be summarised as follows:
According to George.
Bentham's arrangement stood until 1996, when Alex George published his revision of "Dryandra". George gave "D." ser. "Armatae" a different and somewhat broader circumscription, encompassing 20 species, including just four of the seven included there by Bentham. The species included are mostly erect shrubs with large conspicuous yellow flowers heads, easily detached follicles and a notched seed wing.
George's placement and circumscription of "D." ser. "Armatae", as amended in 1999 and 2005, may be summarised as follows:
Recent developments.
Since 1998, Austin Mast has been publishing results of ongoing cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for the subtribe Banksiinae. His analyses have provided compelling evidence of the paraphyly of "Banksia" with respect to "Dryandra"; that is, it seems that "Dryandra" arose from within the ranks of "Banksia". Early in 2007, Mast and Kevin Thiele initiated a rearrangement of "Banksia" by sinking "Dryandra" into it as "B." ser. "Dryandra". This transfer necessitated the setting aside of George's infrageneric arrangement of "Dryandra"; thus "D." ser. "Armatae" is no longer current. Mast and Thiele have foreshadowed publishing a full arrangement once DNA sampling of "Dryandra" is complete.


Anchistea

Anchistea is a genus of leptosporangiate ferns in the family Blechnaceae. It has only one species, Anchistea virginica (synonym Woodwardia virginica) the Virginia chain fern, which has long creeping, scaly, underground stems or rhizomes giving rise to tall (up to about 4 feet, 120 centimetres) widely separated, deciduous, single leaves. In contrast, the leaves of "Osmundastrum cinnamomeum", which can be mistaken for "A. virginica", grow in a group from a crown. Also in contrast to "O. cinnamomeum" the leaves are monomorphic without distinct fertile fronds. The lower petiole or stipe is dark purple to black, shiny and swollen, the upper rachis is dull green. The leaf blade is green and lanceolate, composed of 12 to 23 paired, alternate pinnatifid pinnae. The pinnae are subdivided into 15 to 20 paired segments that are ovate to oblong. The lower rachis is naked for about half its length. The sori or spore-producing bodies are found on the underside of the pinnae and are long and form a double row which outlines the major veins of the pinnae. In common with all ferns, "A. virginica" exhibits a gametophyte stage in its life cycle (alternation of generations) and develops a haploid reproductive prothallus as an independent plant. The spores are produced in red-brown sori which line the spaces (areolae) between the costa and costules. Further photographs can be found at the Connecticut Botanical Society and Ontario Ferns websites.
Taxonomy.
"Anchistea virginica" was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1771 as "Blechnum virginicum". It was transferred to "Woodwardia" by James Edward Smith in 1793, and to "Anchistea" by Carl Presl in 1851. Some sources retain it in "Woodwardia", but the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I) retains Presl's genus, making it the sole species in "Anchistea".
"Anchistea virginica" has been found as a fossil in the Middle Miocene of Central Washington state. At that time it apparently grew in similar habitats and was associated with similar species to the present.
Distribution.
Endemic to eastern North America from Florida to Nova Scotia and west to Michigan and Illinois. "A. virginica" is mostly found on the Atlantic coastal plain and Piedmont although it also grows in the eastern Great Lakes region as far west as Illinois. The Flora of North America website has a distribution map.
Ecology and conservation.
"Anchistea virginica" grows in the wet soils of open wet swampy woods, acid bogs, and along streams and roadside ditches, avoiding calcareous substrates. "A. virginica" is an important constituent of the field layer of flatwoods, Atlantic white cedar ("Chamaecyparis thyoides") swamp forest and bay ("Magnolia virginiana") forests.
Cultivation and uses.
The plant is occasionally cultivated as a greenhouse or garden ornamental. Hardy to USDA Zone 3.


Aloinopsis schooneesii

Aloinopsis schooneesii is a species of flowering plant in the genus "Aloinopsis", in the ice plant family Aizoaceae, native to the eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


Deinanthe

Deinanthe is a genus consisting of a few species of rare herbaceous-habit rhizomatous plants found in the mountain woodlands of East Asia, ranging from China to Japan. They are handsome clump-forming perennials good for shade, woodland and rock gardens. These attractive deciduous plants have relatively large "fishtail" leaves (cleft at the apex). Deinanthes grow at a slow rate to be bushy and shrub-like, 2 ft tall and wide. The leaves attain 3 to 4 inches in length, being deep green, roughly textured, deep veined, cordate at their bases and with serrate margins. The shoots emerge from stout, knobby rhizomes. Leaves are easily damaged in direct sun exposure. Flowering occurs in late summer to early fall. The delicate, waxy, nodding cup-shaped flowers in rich to pale purple-blue, rose or white, are borne in loose terminal clusters. Resembling gargantuan fertile hydrangea flowers, with numerous yellowish to pale blue anthers, they are occasionally accompanied by sterile flowers, as in the lacecap hydrangeas. Roots and leaves are edible.


Grammitis wattsii

 Grammitis wattsii is a fern in the family Polypodiaceae. The specific epithet honours the Reverend W. W. Watts (1856–1920), a prominent Australian cryptogamist active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Description.
The plant is an epiphytic fern. It has an erect or shortly creeping rhizome with dense, chestnut brown, narrow pointed scales. Its simple fronds combine a 0.5–5 cm long stipe with a narrowly elliptic-linear lamina 5–20 cm long and 0.4–1.2 cm wide.
Distribution and habitat.
The fern is endemic to Australia’s subtropical Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea; it is confined to the cloud forest on the upper slopes and summits of Mounts Lidgbird and Gower.