Bromus laevipes

Bromus laevipes is a species of brome grass known by the common name Chinook brome.
It is native to western North America from Washington to Baja California, where it grows in many types of habitat.
Description.
It is a perennial grass which may exceed 1.5 meters in height. The leaf blades may be nearly 2 centimeters wide at the bases. The inflorescence is an open array of spikelets, the lower ones drooping or nodding. The spikelets are flattened and usually hairy or downy.


Corallorhiza

Corallorhiza, the coralroot, is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family. Except for the circumboreal "C. trifida", the genus is restricted to North America (including Mexico, Central America and the West Indies).
Most species are putatively parasitic, relying entirely upon mycorrhizal fungi within their coral-shaped rhizomes for sustenance. Because of this dependence on myco-heterotrophy, they have never been successfully cultivated. Most species are leafless and rootless. Most species produce little or no chlorophyll, and do not utilize photosynthesis. An exception is the yellowish green species "Corallorhiza trifida", which has some chlorophyll and is able to fix CO2. However, this species also depends primarily on fungal associations for carbon acquisition.
List of species.
Many species names have been proposed that are now considered synonyms of other species, or members of other genera. Species accepted as members of "Corallorhiza" as of May 2014:


Dryandra ser. Aphragma

Dryandra" ser. "Aphragma is an obsolete series within the former genus "Dryandra" (now "Banksia" ser. "Dryandra"). It was first published at sectional rank by Robert Brown in 1830, and was retained at that rank until 1999, when Alex George demoted it to a series. It was discarded in 2007 when Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele sank "Dryandra" into "Banksia".
According to Brown.
"Aphragma" was first published by Brown in his 1830 "Supplementum primum prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae". Brown's arrangement divided "Dryandra" into three groups according to what Brown perceived to be variations in the number of seed separators. He allowed for these groups to be treated at subgenus or section rank, but they are now treated as having been published as sections.
"D." sect. "Aphragma" was defined as containing four species which Brown thought lacked seed separators. The epithet "Aphragma" is from the Greek "a-" ("without") and "phragma" ("barrier"). The placement and circumscription of "D." sect. "Aphragma" in Brown's 1830 arrangement may be summarised as follows:
According to Meissner.
In 1856, Carl Meissner published a revision of "Dryandra". He retained all three of Brown's sections, and the circumscription given to "D." sect. "Aphragma" was much the same, the only differences being the demotion of "D. blechnifolia" to a variety of "D. pteridifolia", and the inclusion of "D. drummondii" (now "B. drummondii"), which had been published in 1848. The placement and circumscription of "D." sect. "Aphragma" in Meissner's arrangement thus looks like this:
According to Bentham.
"D." sect. "Aphragma" was retained by George Bentham in his 1870 arrangement, making it the only one of Meissner's infrageneric taxa not to be discarded. However, Bentham reasoned that the single seed separator in "D." sect. "Eudryandra" was formed by the joining together of the outer seed coat of each seed; and therefore both "D. bipinnatifida", in which there appears to be two plates, and "D." sect. "Aphragma", in which there appears to be none, represent failure of the seed coats to join. On these grounds he transferred "D. bipinnatifida" into "D." sect. "Aphragma". Thus "D." sect. "Aphragma" was redefined as containing those species in which "Outer integuments of the two seeds not connate or readily separable from each other." He also noted that the members of this section have large involucres with many broad bracts, giving them "a different aspect from all others of the genus".
The placement and circumscription of "D." sect. "Aphragma" in Bentham's arrangement is as follows:
Bentham's arrangement would stand for well over a hundred years, with one minor exception. In 1903 Otto Kuntze challenged "Dryandra" on the grounds that the name "Josephia" had preceded it. In the process of transferring "Dryandra" into "Josephia", Kuntze published the name "Josephia" sect. "Aphragma" . This was rejected, however, and "J." sect. "Aphragma" is now considered a nomenclatural synonym of "D." ser. "Aphragma".
According to George.
In 1996, Alex George demoted "D." sect. "Aphragma" to a series within "D." subg. "Dryandra". He did not accept the previous definitions of the series, but nonetheless accepted the basic circumscription as sound; he instead used a range of flower, seed and leaf characters. The placement and circumscription of "D." ser. "Aphragma" in George's arrangement, 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. "Aphragma" is no longer current. Mast and Thiele have foreshadowed publishing a full arrangement once DNA sampling of "Dryandra" is complete.


Cerastium glomeratum

Cerastium glomeratum is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names sticky mouse-ear chickweed and clammy chickweed. It is probably native to Eurasia but it is known on most continents as an introduced species. It grows in many types of habitat. The blooming period is February, March, April, and May.
Description.
This is an annual herb growing from a slender taproot. It produces a branched, hairy stem up to 40 or 45 centimeters tall. The hairy leaves are up to 2 or 3 centimeters long and are gland-tipped. The inflorescence bears as few as 3 or as many as 50 small flowers clustered with short cymes. The flower has five hairy green sepals which are occasionally red-tipped, and five white two-lobed petals which are a few millimeters long and generally shorter than the sepals. Some flowers lack petals. The fruit is a capsule less than a centimeter long which is tipped with ten tiny teeth.
Habitat.
Frequent in waste places, walls, banks and arable land.
Uses.
The leaves and shoots were used as a wild food in ancient China. In Nepal, the juice of this plant was applied to the forehead to relieve headaches. The juice could also be dropped into the nostrils to treat nosebleeds.
The leaves can also be boiled and eaten.


Prostantheroideae

Prostantheroideae is a subfamily of plants in the family Lamiaceae.
Genera include:


Sporobolus compositus

Sporobolus compositus, the composite dropseed or tall dropseed, is a native North American prairie grass growing from two to four feet tall. Also called rough dropseed and meadow dropseed, it is common on the Great Plains, and found in most states in the United States.
It flowers from August to September. The name derives from the readily falling grain. Dropseed has little value as food; its palatability decreases with its age.


Calystegia soldanella

The morning glory Calystegia soldanella (syn. "Convolvulus soldanella") is a species of bindweed known by various common names such as seashore false bindweed, shore bindweed, shore convolvulus and beach morning glory. It is a perennial vine which grows in beach sand and other coastal habitats in temperate regions across the world. It is also known as 'The Prince's Flower' after Prince Charles Edward Stuart who sowed it on the Island of Eriskay, Scotland, when he landed there in 1745 to lead the Jacobite rising.[E. Dwelly Gaelic Dictionary (1911)]
The plant bears fleshy stems, kidney-shaped leaves, and attractive morning glory flowers with corollas delicate pink to vivid lavender. They are insect-pollinated.
Distribution.
In North America "Calystegia soldanella" is found on the west coast and selected areas of the east coast. In the United Kingdom it is widespread on the sandy coasts of England and Wales, less common in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is also widespread around the coast of Ireland.


Lobosphaeropsis

Lobosphaeropsis is a genus of green algae, specifically of the Chlorellaceae.


Populus trichocarpa

Populus trichocarpa, the black cottonwood, western balsam-poplar or California poplar, is a deciduous broadleaf tree species native to western North America. It is used for timber, and is notable as a model organism in plant biology.
Description.
It is a large tree, growing to a height of and a trunk diameter over , which makes it the largest poplar species in the Americas. It is normally fairly short-lived, but some trees may live up to 400 years. A cottonwood in Willamette Mission State Park near Salem, Oregon, holds the national and world records. Last measured in April, 2008, this black cottonwood was found to be standing at tall, around, with 527 points.
The bark is grey and covered with lenticels, becoming thick and deeply fissured on old trees. The bark can become hard enough to cause sparks when cut with a chainsaw. The stem is grey in the older parts and light brown in younger parts. The crown is usually roughly conical and quite dense. In large trees, the lower branches droop downwards. Spur shoots are common. The wood has a light coloring and a straight grain.
The leaves are 7–20 cm long with a glossy, dark green upper side and glaucous, light grey-green underside; larger leaves, up to 30 cm long, may be produced on stump sprouts and very vigorous young trees. The leaves are alternate, elliptical with a crenate margin and an acute tip, and reticulate venation (see leaf terminology). The petiole is reddish. The buds are conical, long, narrow, and sticky, with a strong balsam scent in spring when they open.
"P. trichocarpa" has an extensive and aggressive root system, which can invade and damage drainage systems. Sometimes, the roots can even damage the foundations of buildings by drying out the soil.
Reproduction.
Flowering and fruiting.
"P. trichocarpa" is normally dioecious; male and female catkins are borne on separate trees. The species reaches flowering age around 10 years. Flowers may appear in early March to late May in Washington and Oregon, and sometimes as late as mid-June in northern and interior British Columbia, Idaho, and Montana. Staminate catkins contain 30 to 60 stamens, elongated to 2 to 3 cm, and are deciduous. Pistillate catkins at maturity are 8 to 20 cm long with rotund-ovate, tricarpellate subsessile fruits 5 to 8 mm long. Each capsule contains many minute seeds with long, white, cottony hairs.
Seed production and dissemination.
The seed ripens and is disseminated by late May to late June in Oregon and Washington, but frequently not until mid-July in Idaho and Montana. Abundant seed crops are usually produced every year. Attached to its cotton, the seed is light and buoyant and can be transported long distances by wind and water. The pollen can be an allergen. Although highly viable, longevity of "P. trichocarpa" seed under natural conditions may be as short as two weeks to a month. This can be increased with cold storage.
Seedling development.
Moist seedbeds are essential for high germination, and seedling survival depends on continuously favorable conditions during the first month. Wet bottomlands of rivers and major streams frequently provide such conditions, particularly where bare soil has been exposed or new soil laid down. Germination is epigeal (above ground). "P. trichocarpa" seedlings do not usually become established in abundance after logging unless special measures are taken to prepare the bare, moist seedbeds required for initial establishment. Where seedlings become established in great numbers, they thin out naturally by age five because the weaker seedlings of this shade-intolerant species are suppressed.
Vegetative reproduction.
Due to its high levels of rooting hormones, "P. trichocarpa" sprouts readily. After logging operations, it sometimes regenerates naturally from rooting of partially buried fragments of branches or from stumps. Sprouting from roots also occurs. The species also has the ability to abscise shoots complete with green leaves. These shoots drop to the ground and may root where they fall or may be dispersed by water transport. In some situations, abscission may be one means of colonizing exposed sandbars.
Habitat.
Black cottonwood grows on alluvial sites, riparian habitats, and moist woods on mountain slopes, at elevations of 0–2100(–2750) meters. It often forms
extensive stands on bottomlands of major streams and rivers at low elevations along the Pacific Coast,
west of the Cascade Range. In eastern Washington and other dry areas, it is restricted to protected
valleys and canyon bottoms, along streambanks, and edges of ponds and meadows. It grows on a variety
of soils from moist silts, gravels, and sands to rich humus, loams, and occasionally clays.
Black cottonwood is a pioneer species that grows best in full sunlight and commonly establishes on
recently disturbed alluvium. Seeds are numerous and widely dispersed because of their cottony tufts, enabling the species to colonize even burn sites, if
conditions for establishment are met. Seral communities dominated or codominated by cottonwood are maintained by periodic flooding or
other types of soil disturbance. Black cottonwood has low drought tolerance; it is flood-tolerant but
cannot tolerate brackish water or stagnant pools.
Distribution.
The native range of "P. trichocarpa" covers large sections of western North America. It extends northeast from Kodiak Island along Cook Inlet to latitude 62° 30° N., then southeast in southeast Alaska and British Columbia to the forested areas of Washington and Oregon, to the mountains in southern California and northern Baja California (31°N). It is also found inland, generally on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, in British Columbia, western Alberta, western Montana, and northern Idaho. Scattered small populations have been noted in southeastern Alberta, eastern Montana, western North Dakota, western Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada. It grows up to elevations of 2100 m.
"P. trichocarpa" has been one of the most successful introductions of trees to the otherwise almost treeless Faroe Islands.
The species was imported from Alaska to Iceland in 1944 and has since become one of the most widespread trees in the country.
Cultivation.
It is also grown as an ornamental tree, valued for its fast growth and scented foliage in spring, detectable from over 100 m distance. The roots are however invasive, and it can damage the foundations of buildings on shrinkable clay soils if planted nearby (Mitchel 1996).
Branches can be added to potted plants to stimulate rooting.
Use as a model species.
"Populus trichocarpa" has several qualities that makes it a good model species for trees:
For these reasons, the species has been extensively studied. Its genome sequence was published in 2006 (see "Genome" below). More than 121,000 expressed sequence tags have been sequenced from it. The wide range of topics studied by using "P. trichocarpa" include the effects of ethylene, lignin biosynthesis, drought tolerance, and wood formation.
Lumber.
"P. trichocarpa" wood is light-weight and although not particularly strong, is strong for its weight. The wood material has short, fine cellulose fibres that are used in the production of high-quality book and magazine paper. The wood is also excellent for production of plywood. Living trees are used as windbreaks.
This species grows very quickly; trees in plantations in Great Britain have reached tall in 11 years, and tall in 28 years. It can reach suitable size for pulp production in 10–15 years and about 25 years for timber production.
Uses.
Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest used components of "P. trichocarpa" for treatments in traditional medicine. Because of its salicin content, it was used raw or in salves to treat various ailments. The wood, roots and bark were used for firewood, canoe making, rope, fish traps, baskets and structures. The gum-like sap was used as a glue or as waterproofing. Commercial extracts are produced from the fragrant buds for use as a perfume in cosmetics.
Genome.
General information.
The sequence of "P. trichocarpa" is that of an individual female specimen "Nisqually-1", named after the Nisqually River in Washington in the United States, where the specimen was collected. The sequencing was performed at the Joint Genome Institute using the shotgun method. The depth of the sequencing was about 7.5 x (meaning that each base pair was sequenced on average 7.5 times). Genome annotation was done primarily by the Joint Genome Institute, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Umeå Plant Science Centre, and Genome Canada.
Prior to the publication of "P. trichocarpa" genome the only available plant genomes were those of thale cress and rice, both of which are herbaceous. "P. trihocarpa" is the first woody plant genome to be sequenced. Considering the economic importance of wood and wood products, the availability of a tree genome was necessary. The sequence also allows evolutionary comparisons and the elucidation of basic molecular differences between herbaceous and woody plants.
Doty et al. (2016) found the first direct evidence of nitrogen fixation in the wild "P. trichocarpa" (a nonleguminous tree).
Somatic mosaicism.
Genome-wide analysis of 11 clumps of "P. trichocarpa" trees reveals significant genetic differences between the roots and the leaves and branches of the same tree. The variation within a specimen is as much as found between unrelated trees. These results may be important in resolving debate in evolutionary biology regarding somatic mutation (that evolution can occur within individuals, not solely among populations), with a variety of implications.
Nomenclature.
"Trichocarpa" is Greek for "hairy fruits". These scientific names are now considered synonymous with "P. trichocarpa":


Bauhinia racemosa

Bauhinia racemosa, commonly known as the bidi leaf tree, is a rare medicinal species of flowering shrub with religious significance. It is a small crooked tree with drooping branches that grows tall and flowers between February and May. It is native to tropical Southeast Asia.
Religious significance.
In Maharashtrian families it is customary to exchange leaves of the Aapta tree on the Hindu festive day of Dussehra. An act known as exchanging "Gold"—pointing to the special significance of the plant on that particular day. This is also why the tree is often referred to as "Sonpatta" (literal translation: "leaves of gold").
Other uses.
The leaves are used in the production of "beedi", a thin Indian cigarette.


Napoleon Oak

The Napoleon Oak was formerly the largest oak in Poland and one of the largest in Europe. It was a monumental tree with single-stemmed, hollow trunk. Its girth was 1.3 meter and its height 10.425 meters, with a total height of 28 meters (in 2007) and a volume of about 130 m³. The age of the tree was estimated at 600–700 years. It was set on fire by vandals (at least the third time in history) and collapsed in May 2010.
Name of the tree is connected to Napoleon Bonaparte, who allegedly stopped by this oak in 1812, when his army went to Russia.
This oak grew in Zabór, Lubusz Voivodeship.


Phytophthora medicaginis

Phytophthora medicaginis is an oomycete plant pathogen that causes root rot in alfalfa and chickpea. It is a major disease of these plants and is found wherever they are grown. "P. medicaginis" causes failure of stand establishment because of seedling death. "Phytophthora medicaginis" is part of a species complex with "Phytophthora megasperma".
Hosts and symptoms.
"P. medicaginis" is an water mould pathogen that causes root rot and damping off of seedlings. "P. medicaginis" is specific to alfalfa and chickpea and can reside in soil or water, but since it is a water mold, it requires free water to infect another plant. This disease is most prevalent in newly seeded fields that experience flooding but can also be found in mature plants. "P. medicaginis" commonly causes seedling death but if this pathogen is present in mature crops, "P. medicaginis" causes root rot which limits the plant's ability to acquire nutrients and water. This leads to secondary symptoms such as chlorosis, wilting, stunting, root decay, lesions and death. This disease is difficult to identify but reddish-brown or black root lesions will exist and oospores, sporangia, zoospores, antheridia, and oogonia are spore types that will be visible under a microscope. An ELISA test can confirm the presence of "Phytophthora", but to confirm the species, a PCR test is effective. Several host factors will affect disease development including damage/stress to the plant and also the degree of resistance of host cultivar.
Disease cycle.
The disease cycle “starts” in the early spring as the oospores begin to germinate. Oospores are thick walled survival structures that allow the pathogen to survive winter. The oospores are then stimulated to germinate in the presence of free water and root exudates. Germination produces zoospores and sporangia which can then release more zoospores that infect other seeds. This is the asexual part of the cycle. This production of sporangia and zoospores happens until the end of the season when oogonia and antheridia engage in homothallic sexual reproduction to produce oospores once again. Spore types are disseminated via water such as during flooding. A cool environment also favors disease transmission.
Management.
An integrated disease management program incorporating host resistance with disciplined cultural, chemical, and biological methods is the best way to control "P. medicaginis". The first several weeks are especially critical in the management of "P. medicaginis" as infected seeds die in a short amount of time. Control of alfalfa and chickpea is mostly possible using effective water management, use of resistant cultivars, proper crop rotation, and seed application of fungicides such as metalaxyl. Effective water management is aimed at keeping the plants as dry as possible while still getting them enough water. Several ways to do this include assuring good drainage, avoiding excessive irrigation, and allowing plants to be dried by the wind. Oospores can be spread by way of cultural practices on machinery, boots, and hooves. This spread can be limited by using proper sanitation before moving from an infected field to a disease free field. All of these control methods are aimed at stopping the initial infection of the seed/plant; water management also functions to limit the spread of zoospores because they may be spread by floods. Stopping the initial infection is important because this disease affects plants early on in their development as it quickly causes root rot and damping off. "P. medicaginis" can reside in fields as oospores for up to 3.5 years so the crop rotation must be at least 3 years long.


Buchloe (Poaceae)


Anastrophyllum

Anastrophyllum is a genus of liverworts belonging to the family Anastrophyllaceae.
The genus has cosmopolitan distribution.
Species:


Euonymus angulatus

Euonymus angulatus is a species of tree in the family Celastraceae. They can grow up to tall and have dull purple flowers. They grow in medium elevation evergreen forests between . It is endemic to India, where it is known from Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. It is threatened by habitat loss.


Alpine saxifrage

Alpine saxifrage is a common name for several different plants and may refer to:


Acanthodium

Acanthodium is a genus of mosses belonging to the family Sematophyllaceae.
The species of this genus are found in Southerneast Asia.
Species:


Lauraceae

The flowering plant family Lauraceae, the laurels, includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur mainly in warm temperate and tropical regions, especially Southeast Asia and South America. Many are aromatic evergreen trees or shrubs, but some, such as "Sassafras", are deciduous, or include both deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs, especially in tropical and temperate climates. The genus "Cassytha" is unique in the Lauraceae in that its members are parasitic vines.
Overview.
The family has a worldwide distribution in tropical and warm climates. The Lauraceae are important components of tropical forests ranging from low-lying to montane. In several forested regions, Lauraceae are among the top five families in terms of the number of species present.
The Lauraceae give their name to habitats known as laurel forests, which have many trees that superficially resemble the Lauraceae, though they may belong to other plant families such as Magnoliaceae or Myrtaceae. Laurel forests of various types occur on most continents and on many major islands.
Although the taxonomy of the Lauraceae is still not settled, conservative estimates suggest some 52 genera worldwide, including 3,000 to 3,500 species. Compared to other plant families, the taxonomy of Lauraceae still is poorly understood. This is partly due to its great diversity, the difficulty of identifying the species, and partly because of inadequate investment in taxonomic work.
Recent monographs on small and medium-sized genera of Lauraceae (up to about 100 species) have revealed many new species. Similar increases in the numbers of species recognised in other larger genera are to be expected.
Description.
Most of the Lauraceae are evergreen trees in habit. Exceptions include some two dozen species of "Cassytha", all of which are obligately parasitic vines.
The fruits of Lauraceae are drupes, one-seeded fleshy fruit with a hard layer, the endocarp, surrounding the seed. However, the endocarp is very thin, so the fruit resemble a one-seeded berry. The fruit in some species (particularly in the genera "Ocotea" and "Oreodaphne") are partly immersed or covered in a cup-shaped or deep thick cupule, which is formed from the tube of the calyx where the peduncle joins the fruit; this gives the fruit an appearance similar to an acorn. In some "Lindera" species, the fruit have a hypocarpium at the base of the fruit.
Distribution and uses.
Because the family is so ancient and was so widely distributed on the Gondwana supercontinent, modern species commonly occur in relict populations isolated by geographical barriers, for instance on islands or tropical mountains. Relict forests retain endemic fauna and flora in communities of great value in inferring the palaeontological succession and climate change that followed the breakups of the supercontinents.
These genera include some of the best-known species of particular commercial value:
Loss of habitat and overexploitation for such products has put many species in danger of extinction as a result of overcutting, extensive illegal logging, and habitat conversion.
Conversely, some species, though commercially valuable in some countries, are regarded as aggressive invaders in other regions. For example, "Cinnamomum camphora", though a valued ornamental and medicinal plant, is so invasive as to have been declared a weed in subtropical forested areas of South Africa.
Popular culture.
A laurel wreath, a round or horseshoe-shaped wreath made of connected laurel branches and leaves, is an ancient symbol of triumph in classical Western culture originating in Greek mythology, and is associated in some countries with academic or literary achievement.
Ecology.
Lauraceae flowers are protogynous, often with a complex flowering system to prevent inbreeding. The fruits are an important food source for birds, on which some Palaeognathae are highly dependent. Other birds that rely heavily on the fruit for their diets include members of the families Cotingidae, Columbidae, Trogonidae, Turdidae, and Ramphastidae, amongst others. Birds that are specialised frugivores tend to eat the whole fruit and regurgitate seeds intact, thereby releasing the seeds in favourable situations for germination (ornithochory). Some other birds that swallow the fruit pass the seed intact through their guts.
Seed dispersal of various species in the family is also carried out by monkeys, arboreal rodents, porcupines, opossums, and fishes. Hydrochory occurs in "Caryodaphnopsis".
The leaves of some species in the Lauraceae have domatia in the axils of their veins. The domatia are home to certain mites. Other lauraceous species, members of the genus "Pleurothyrium" in particular, have a symbiotic relationship with ants that protect and defend the tree. Some "Ocotea" species are also used as nesting sites by ants, which may live in leaf pockets or in hollowed-out stems.
Defense mechanisms that occur among members of the Lauraceae include irritant or toxic sap or tissues that repel or poison many herbivorous organisms.
Trees of the family predominate in the world's laurel forests and cloud forests, which occur in tropical to mild temperate regions of both northern and southern hemispheres. Other members of the family however, occur pantropically in general lowland and Afromontane forest, and in Africa for example there are species endemic to countries such as Cameroon, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Congo. Several relict species in the Lauraceae occur in temperate areas of both hemispheres. Many botanical species in other families have similar foliage to the Lauraceae due to convergent evolution, and forests of such plants are called laurel forest. These plants are adapted to high rainfall and humidity, and have leaves with a generous layer of wax, making them glossy in appearance, and a narrow, pointed-oval shape with a 'drip tip', which permits the leaves to shed water despite the humidity, allowing transpiration to continue. Scientific names similar to "Daphne" (e.g., "Daphnidium", "Daphniphyllum") or "laurel" (e.g.,"Laureliopsis", "Skimmia laureola") indicate other plant families that resemble Lauraceae.
Some Lauraceae species have adapted to demanding conditions in semiarid climates, but they tend to depend on favorable edaphic conditions, for example, perennial aquifers, periodic groundwater flows, or periodically flooded forests in sand that contains hardly any nutrients. Various species have adapted to swampy conditions by growing pneumatophores, roots that grow upward, that project above the levels of periodic floods that drown competing plants which lack such adaptations.
Paleobotanists have suggested the family originated some 174±32 million years ago (Mya), while others do not believe they are older than the mid-Cretaceous. Fossil flowers attributed to this family occur in Cenomanian clays (mid-Cretaceous, 90-98 Mya) of the Eastern United States ("Mauldinia mirabilis"). Fossils of Lauraceae are common in the Tertiary strata of Europe and North America, but they virtually disappeared from central Europe in the Late Miocene. Because of their unusual fragility, the pollens of Lauraceae do not keep well and have been found only in relatively recent strata.
Deciduous Lauraceae lose all of their leaves for part of the year depending on variations in rainfall. The leaf loss coincides with the dry season in tropical, subtropical, and arid regions.
Laurel wilt disease, caused by the virulent fungal pathogen "Raffaelea lauricola", a native of southern Asia, was found in the southeast United States in 2002. The fungus spreads between hosts via a wood-boring beetle, "Xyleborus glabratus", with which it has a symbiotic relationship. Several Lauraceae species are affected. The beetle and disease are believed to have arrived in the US via infected solid wood packing material, and have since spread to several states.
Classification.
Classification within the Lauraceae is not fully resolved. Multiple classification schemes based on a variety of morphological and anatomical characteristics have been proposed, but none are fully accepted. According to Judd et al. (2007), the suprageneric classification proposed by van der Werff and Richter (1996) is currently the authority. However, due to an array of molecular and embryological evidence that disagrees with the groupings, it is not fully accepted by the scientific community. Their classification is based on inflorescence structure and wood and bark anatomy. It divides Lauraceae into two subfamilies, Cassythoideae and Lauroideae. The Cassythoideae comprise a single genus, "Cassytha", and are defined by their herbaceous, parasitic habit. The Lauroideae are then divided into three tribes: Laureae, Perseeae, and Cryptocaryeae.
The subfamily Cassythoideae is not fully supported. Backing has come from "matK" sequences of chloroplast genes while a questionable placement of "Cassytha" has been concluded from analysis of intergenetic spacers of chloroplast and nuclear genomes. Embryological studies also appear contradictory. One study by Heo et al. (1998) supports the subfamily. It found that "Cassytha" develops an "ab initio" cellular-type endosperm and the rest of the family (with one exception) develops a nuclear-type endosperm. Kimoto et al. (2006) suggest "Cassytha" should be placed in the tribe Cryptocaryeae because it shares a glandular anther tapetum and an embryo sac protruding from the nucellus with other members of the Cryptocaryeae.
The tribes Laureae and Perseeae are not well supported by any molecular or embryological studies. Sequences of the "matK" chloroplast gene, as well as sequences of chloroplast and nuclear genomes, reveal close relationships between the two tribes. Embryological evidence does not support a clear division between the two tribes, either. Genera such as "Caryodaphnopsis" and "Aspidostemon" that share embryological characteristics with one tribe and wood and bark characteristics or inflorescence characteristics with another tribe blur the division of these groups. All available evidence, except for inflorescence morphology and wood and bark anatomy, fails to support separate tribes Laureae and Perseeae.
The tribe Cryptocaryeae is partially supported by molecular and embryological studies. Chloroplast and nuclear genomes support a tribal grouping that contains all the genera circumscribed by van der Weff and Richter (1996), as well as three additional genera. Partial support for the tribe is also attained from the "matK" sequences of chloroplast genes as well as embryology.
Challenges in Lauraceae classification
The knowledge of the species comprising the Lauraceae is incomplete. In 1991, about 25-30% of neotropical Lauraceae species had not been described. In 2001, embryological studies had only been completed on individuals from 26 genera yielding a 38.9% level of knowledge, in terms of embryology, for this family. Additionally, the huge amount of variation within the family poses a major challenge for developing a reliable classification.
Phytochemistry.
The adaptation of Lauraceae to new environments has followed a long evolutionary journey which has led to many specializations, including defensive or deterrent systems against other organisms.
Phytochemicals in the Lauraceae are numerous and diverse. Benzylisoquinoline alkaloids include aporphines and oxoaporphines, as well as derivatives of morphinans. Essential oils include terpenoids, benzyl benzoates, allylphenols, and propenylphenols. Lignans and neolignans are present, along with "S"-methyl-5-O-flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, cinnamoylamides, phenylpyrroles, styryl pyrones, polyketides (acetogenins), furanosesquiterpenes, and germacranolidous, heliangolidous, eudesmanolidous and guaianolidous sesquiterpene lactones.
Genera.
Recent taxonomic revisions of the family include these genera:
These genera have traditionally been considered separate within Lauraceae, but have not been included in the most recent treatments:


Eriogonum prattenianum

Eriogonum prattenianum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name Nevada City buckwheat.
Description.
"Eriogonum prattenianum" is a small shrub growing up to about half a meter tall when erect in form or growing in a clump or mat lined with oval-shaped woolly leaves. The inflorescence arises on a slender scape and bears a rounded cluster of yellow flowers.
Distribution.
"Eriogonum prattenianum" is endemic to California, where it can be found in many scattered disjunct populations in the Sierra Nevada and its foothills.
Taxonomy.
There are two varieties of this species. The more common var. "prattenianum" occurs in scattered populations in the mountains and foothills, while the uncommon var. "avium" is limited to granite outcrops in the Sierra Nevada slopes of Madera and Fresno Counties. The latter is generally a smaller plant than the former.


Mycopteris

Mycopteris is a genus of ferns in the family Polypodiaceae, subfamily Grammitidoideae, according to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). It is known from the American tropics.
Description.
Most members of the genus are epiphytes, although some grow on soil or on rocks.
Taxonomy.
The genus was first described by Michael Sundue in 2014 to receive some of the species of the genus "Terpsichore". When that genus was described by Alan R. Smith in 1993, he divided it into five informal groups. Subsequent morphological and molecular studies showed that "Terpsichore" was polyphyletic, but its groups were largely monophyletic and could furnish the basis of new genera. These genera were described over the next several years; Sundue's new genus "Mycopteris", encompassing the "T. taxifolia" group, was the last group to be removed from "Terpsichore sensu lato".
The name "Mycopteris" is derived from the Greek roots "myco"-, "fungus", and "-pteris", "fern", referring to the near-universal association of these ferns with the ascomycete fungus "Acrospermum". Sundue initially placed seventeen species in the genus, one of which was newly described and another elevated from a variety. He suggested that another five to ten species might be described after the completion of a monograph on the genus. In 2017, he described a new species, "Mycopteris martiniana", from Mexico.
Species.
, the "Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World" accepted the following species:
Distribution.
Members of the genus are found from Mexico east into the East Indies and south to Bolivia.


Nymphaea capensis

Nymphaea capensis (Cape blue waterlily) is an aquatic flowering plant of the water lily family Nymphaeaceae.
Native to Africa, the plant is found growing abundantly in freshwater habitats in tropical regions of Africa, and as an introduced species in Australia, the state of Florida, and other tropical areas. This plant's bulb can survive relatively long periods of time without rainfall in a dry river bed. During the rain season, as the riverbed or bog fills up, the bulb will sprout leaves and flowers.
The Cape blue waterlily grows best in full sun to semi-sun and in relatively shallow water.


Epidendrum smaragdinum

Epidendrum smaragdinum is an epiphytic sympodial orchid native to the Neotropics. It has been found at 0.5 km above sea level in Napo, Ecuador It is also known from Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Description.
"E. smaragdinum" is a reed-stemmed "Epidendrum" which produces slender, cane-like stems which show no tendency to swell into pseudobulbs, and which are covered by tubular imbricating sheathes which, on the upper part of the stem, bear alternate leaves. "E. smaragdinum" stems grow as tall as 0.4 m, and the linear-lanceolate, often red-spotted leaves grow as long as 8 cm.
As with other members of "E". subg. "Amphiglottium", the peduncle grows from the apex of the stem, and is covered with close, imbricating sheathes. The racemose inflorescence bears only a few small bright green to white flowers at one time. The linear-oblong acute sepals are nearly 1 cm long; the lateral sepals are nearly half as wide as they are long. The petals are nearly liner, pointed at the end, and somewhat shorter than the sepals.
The lip has a few red-brown spots and is adnate to the column to its apex. Dodson & Dodson 1989 describes the lip as subreniform; Reichenbach 1861 as cordate. As with other members of "E". sect. Schistochila, the lip bears two lateral lobes and an apical lobe; in the case of "E. smaragdinum", the apical lobe is divided in two, producing a roughly triangular lip with four points at its end. As with the other members of "E". subsect. "Integra", the margin of the lip is neither lacerate nor fringed. The lip bears two tooth-like processes on either side of the column, and a central keel. The anther contains four pollinia.
Synonymy.
Dodson & Dodson 1989 list three synonyms for "E. smaragdinum." Kew, however, accepts "E. pachyrachis" and "E. alfredii" as separate species.


Poa sieberiana

Poa sieberiana, commonly known as grey tussock-grass and snow grass, is a species of tussock grass that is endemic to Australia.
The species was formally described in 1827 by German botanist Kurt Sprengel in "Systema Vegetabilium".


Calamagrostis ophitidis

Calamagrostis ophitidis, the serpentine reedgrass, is a species of bunch grass in the family Poaceae.
It is endemic to California, where it grows in the serpentine soils of the mountain slopes north of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Description.
It is a perennial grass forming clumps reaching heights between 60 centimeters and three feet/one meter. The inflorescence is a dense, thinly bushy array of rough, pale-colored spikelets.


Eric Vernon Watson

Eric Vernon Watson (1914-1999) was a British bryologist.
Watson was born 12 May 1914 in Cranleigh, Surrey, the second of three brothers. His younger brother, Donald (1918-2005) was a Scottish ornithologist and a wildlife artist. His father, James George Watson, was a Scottish banker and financial manager who was away in Africa, so he was raised largely by his mother, Mary Vernon. Eric attended Cranleigh School with his brothers, but in 1931, when his father died, the family moved to Edinburgh and Eric went to Edinburgh University to read Botany (B.Sc. in 1935). He stayed on at Edinburgh to take a Ph.D. studying under Prof Sir William Wright Smith. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1938, his thesis "Studies in the anatomy of anomalous monocotyledons" winning him the Hutton Balfour prize for Botany. He developed an interest in Bryology at Edinburgh, helped by William Young (1865-1947), Keeper of the bryological herbarium at the Royal Botanic Garden. Eric together with his brother Donald were among the first members of the newly founded Scottish Ornithologists' Club in 1933. Eric and Donald helped to set up a bird observatory on the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth, and Eric assisted in building the first ‘Heligoland trap’ for catching and ringing migrant birds.
After Edinburgh he then worked (1938-9) at Liverpool University as a demonstrator, which is where he met his future wife, Joyce Edwards (1920-2009). In 1939 he took a Commonwealth Fellowship at Harvard for two years, returning as senior lecturer at Harper Adams Agricultural College, Newport, Shropshire (1941-46). He joined the staff at the University of Reading in 1946 as a lecturer, later senior lecturer, until he retired in 1979. He would lead bryophyte forays and was also a keen ornithologist, being a founder member of the Reading Bird Club, gardener, golfer, and watercolour artist, exhibiting at the Reading Guild of Artists.
He joined the British Bryological Society in 1946, became its president in 1964 and then became an honorary member. He was a member of the Botanical Society of the British Isles for almost 50 years.
His book "British Mosses and Liverworts", which went into three editions, was for many years the standard work on the bryophyte flora for the British Isles. His second book "Structure and Life of Bryophytes", which also went into three editions, introduced the morphology of mosses and liverworts.
He and Joyce were married in 1944 in Ulverston, and had four daughters. He died at his home in Goring from Leukemia, 25 October 1999. His personal bryophyte collection was left to the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.


Kihansia

Kihansia is a genus of parasitic plants in the Triuridaceae, lacking chlorophyll and obtaining nutrients from fungi in the soil. It contains only one known species, Kihansia lovettii, endemic to the Ulanga District of Tanzania.


Chionanthus rugosus

Chionanthus rugosus grows as a tree up to tall, with a trunk diameter of up to . The bark is greyish. The fruit is green, ovoid, up to long. The specific epithet "rugosus" is from the Latin meaning "rough", referring to the fruit. Its habitat is lowland mixed dipterocarp forest. "C. rugosus" is endemic to Borneo.


Eucalyptus tortilis

Eucalyptus tortilis is a species of mallet and a gimlet that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, creamy white flowers and hemispherical to cup-shaped fruit.
Description.
"Eucalyptus tortilis" is a mallet and a gimlet, that typically grows to a height of , has fluted stems and does not form a lignotuber. It has smooth, shiny greenish or copper-coloured bark. The adult leaves are the same shade of glossy green on both sides, lance-shaped, long and wide tapering to a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven on an unbranched peduncle up to long, the individual buds on pedicels up to long. Mature buds are an elongated oval shape, long and wide with a conical to beaked operculum. Flowering occurs in May and the flowers are creamy white.
Taxonomy and naming.
"Eucalyptus tortilis" was first formally described in 1991 by Lawrie Johnson and Ken Hill in the journal "Telopea" from specimens collected east of Norseman in 1983. The specific epithet ("tortilis") is a Latin word meaning "twisted", referring to the twisted gimlet trunk.
"E. tortilis" is one of the nine gimlet species. Six of these, including "E. tortilis" have buds in groups of seven, the others being "E. campaspe", the mallee "E. effusa", "E. jimberlanica", "E. salubris", "E. ravida" and "E. terebra". The other three gimlets have flower buds in groups of three.
Distribution and habitat.
This gimlet is found on flats and rises between Kalgoorlie and Esperance in the Goldfields-Esperance region where it grows in calcareous loamy soils.
Conservation status.
This eucalypt is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.


Abies pindrow

Abies pindrow, the pindrow fir or west Himalayan fir, is a fir native to the western Himalaya and adjacent mountains, from northeast Afghanistan east through northern Pakistan and India to central Nepal.
Description.
It is a large evergreen tree growing to tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to . It has a conical crown with level branches.
The shoots are greyish-pink to buff-brown, smooth and glabrous (hairless). The leaves are needle-like, among the longest of any fir, long, flattened in cross-section, glossy dark green above, with two whitish stomatal bands on the underside; they are arranged spirally on the shoots, but twisted at the base to lie in a flat plane either side of the shoot. The cones are broad cylindric-conic, long and broad, dark purple when young, disintegrating when mature to release the seeds 5–7 months after pollination.
The closely related Gamble's fir occurs in the same area but on somewhat drier sites; it differs in shorter leaves 2–4 cm long with less obvious stomatal bands and arranged more radially round the shoot. The cones are very similar.
Recent research, however, has shown that "Abies gamblei" is not related to "Abies pindrow". At West Himalayan locations in Himachal state in India visited by members of the Dendrological Atlas team, at around 3000 m the latter species is replaced by "Abies gamblei", showing no intermediate forms. Such areas included Churdhar and the upper Sangla Valley at elevations between 3000 and 3400 m where these species have morphologically and ecologically clearly separated. Elevation-wise, pindrow fir occurs between (although mostly between 2400 and 3000 m) and "Abies gamblei" from . Some references of naming (in error) "Abies spectabilis" in the western Himalayas, most probably are true for "Abies gamblei", but to confirm this would require further research.
Distribution and habitat.
"A. pindrow" grows at altitudes of in forests together with Cedrus deodara, Picea smithiana and Pinus wallichiana typically occupying cooler, moister north-facing slopes.
Uses.
The pindrow fir is used to a small extent for timber in its native range. It is occasionally grown as an ornamental tree in large gardens in western Europe, but demands high humidity and rainfall to grow well. The name "pindrow" derives from the tree's name in Nepali.


Gentiana saponaria

Gentiana saponaria, the soapwort gentian or harvestbells, is a tall flowering plant in the Gentianaceae family.
Description.
Similar to the "bottle" gentians like "Gentiana clausa" and "Gentiana andrewsii", it has paired, lanceolate leaves on unbranched stalks, blue or purple blooms, and a stout taproot. The flowers are pollinated by bumblebees.
Distribution and habitat.
It is native to eastern North America south of the Great Lakes, from Wisconsin to New York, and south to Texas and Florida. It is rare in its range, usually found in undisturbed sandy soils.


Coryphantha pycnacantha

Coryphantha pycnacantha is a cactus species endemic to central Mexico.
It is native to the states of Hidalgo, Puebla, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz
It grows on deep lava soils, and is an IUCN Red List Endangered species.


Leptosporangiate fern

The Polypodiidae, commonly called leptosporangiate ferns, formerly Leptosporangiatae, are one of four subclasses of ferns, and the largest of these, being the largest group of living ferns, including some 11,000 species worldwide. The group has also been treated as the class Pteridopsida or Polypodiopsida, although other classifications assign them a different rank. Older names for the group include Filicidae and Filicales, although at least the "water ferns" (now the Salviniales) were then treated separately.
The leptosporangiate ferns are one of the four major groups of ferns, with the other three being the eusporangiate ferns comprising the marattioid ferns (Marattiidae, Marattiaceae), the horsetails (Equisetiidae, Equisetaceae), and whisk ferns and moonworts. There are approximately 8465 species of living leptosporangiate ferns, compared with about 2070 for all other ferns, totalling 10535 species of ferns. Almost a third of leptosporangiate fern species are epiphytes.
These ferns are called "leptosporangiate" because their sporangia arise from a single epidermal cell and not from a group of cells as in eusporangiate ferns (a polyphyletic lineage). The sporangia are typically covered with a scale called the indusium, which can cover the whole sorus, forming a ring or cup around the sorus, or can also be strongly reduced to completely absent. Many leptosporangiate ferns have an annulus around the sporangium, which ejects the spores.
Taxonomy.
The leptosporangiate ferns were first recognized as a group, the "Leptosporangiateen", by Karl Ritter von Goebel in 1881, who placed the eusporangiate ferns with seed plants and vascular plants into a coeval "Eusporangiateen". As this classification artificially split the ferns, Christian Luerssen subdivided the homosporous ferns only into Eusporangiatae and Leptosporangiatae in 1884–9. The latter group was treated at a variety of ranks in subsequent systems of classification. The subclass "Polypodiidae" was first published and used for the homosporous leptosporangiate ferns by Cronquist, Takhtajan and Zimmermann in 1966, typified on "Polypodium" . Other contemporary classifications used the name "Filicidae" for this subclass.
Smith et al. (2006) carried out the first higher-level classification of ferns based on molecular phylogenetics. They included heterosporous water ferns (Salviniales) (placed in a separate subclass by Cronquist et al. due to their highly modified morphology) within the leptosporangiate ferns, which they elevated to the rank of class as the Polypodiopsida (published by Cronquist et al. to include all ferns).
The common ancestor of Salviniales, Cyatheales and Polypodiales went through a whole genome duplication.
Later classifications renamed the group Polypodiidae, initially as a subclass of Equisetopsida "sensu lato". This subclass comprises leptosporangiate ferns as opposed to the remaining three subclasses which are informally referred to as eusporangiate ferns. The following diagram shows a likely phylogenic relationship between subclass Polypodiidae and the other Equisetopsida subclasses in that system
In 2014, Christenhusz and Chase grouped all the fern subclasses together as Polypodiophyta and in 2016 the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group (PPG) adopted the class Polypodiopsida "sensu lato" for the four fern subclasses. The following cladogram shows the phylogenic relationship between the subclasses according to the PPG. The first three small subclasses being informally grouped as eusporangiate ferns, in contrast to the Polypodiidae or leptosporangiate ferns. Polypodiidae is shown as a sister group of Marattiidae.
Subdivision.
In both the Christenhusz and Chase, and the PPG classification, the extant Polypodiidae are divided into seven orders, 44 families, 300 genera, and an estimated 10,323 species.
These seven orders are phylogenetically related as follows (Christenhusz and Chase 2014 "in italics", where it differs):
Phylogenetic relationships.
The following phylogram shows a likely relationship between the other vascular plant classes and the leptosporangiate ferns. It was formerly unclear about the relationship between Equisetopsida, Psilotopsida, and Marattiopsida, but recent studies have shown that Equisetopsida is most likely sister to Psilotopsida.
Discussion of molecular classification.
There has been some challenge to recent molecular studies, claiming that these provide a skewed view of the phylogenetic order because they do not take into account fossil representatives. However, the molecular studies have clarified relations among families that had already been thought to be polyphyletic before the advent of molecular information but that were left in their polyphyletic ranks because there was not enough information to do otherwise. The classification of ferns using these molecular studies, which have generally supported one another, reflects the best information available at present, because traditional morphological characters are not always informative in elucidating evolutionary relationships among ferns.
Extinct families.
The leptosporangiate ferns have a substantial fossil record. For example, fossils assigned to the Dicksoniaceae, a member of the Cyatheales, are known from the Lower Jurassic (). A number of other extinct families have been described. They are not included in the classification systems used for extant ferns, and so most cannot be assigned to orders used in these systems. Taylor et al. (2009) use the order "Filicales", which corresponds to four Polypodiidae orders in more modern systems: Hymenophyllales, Gleicheniales, Schizaeales and Cyatheales. The unplaced families include:


Perianth

The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepals when called a perigone. The term "perianth" is derived from Greek περί (, "around") and άνθος (, "flower"), while "perigonium" is derived from περί () and γόνος (, "seed, sex organs").
In the mosses and liverworts (Marchantiophyta), the perianth is the sterile tubelike tissue that surrounds the female reproductive structure (or developing sporophyte).
Flowering plants.
In flowering plants, the perianth may be described as being either dichlamydeous/heterochlamydeous in which the calyx and corolla are clearly separate, or homochlamydeous, in which they are indistinguishable (and the sepals and petals are collectively referred to as tepals). When the perianth is in two whorls, it is described as biseriate. While the calyx may be green, known as sepaloid, it may also be brightly coloured, and is then described as petaloid. When the undifferentiated tepals resemble petals, they are also referred to as "petaloid", as in petaloid monocots, orders of monocots with brightly coloured tepals. Since they include Liliales, an alternative name is lilioid monocots. The corolla and petals have a role in attracting pollinators, but this may be augmented by more specialised structures like the corona (see below).
When the corolla consists of separate tepals the term apotepalous is used, or syntepalous if the tepals are fused to one another. The petals may be united to form a tubular corolla (gamopetalous or sympetalous). If either the petals or sepals are entirely absent, the perianth can be described as being monochlamydeous.
Both sepals and petals may have stomata and veins, even if vestigial. In some taxa, for instance some magnolias and water lilies, the perianth is arranged in a spiral on nodes, rather than whorls. Flowers with spiral perianths tend to also be those with undifferentiated perianths.
Corona.
An additional structure in some plants (e.g. "Narcissus", "Passiflora" (passion flower), some "Hippeastrum", Liliaceae) is the corona (paraperigonium, paraperigon, or paracorolla), a ring or set of appendages of adaxial tissue arising from the corolla or the outer edge of the stamens. It is often positioned where the corolla lobes arise from the corolla tube.
The pappus of Asteraceae, considered to be a modified calyx, is also called a corona if it is shaped like a crown.


Selenipedieae


Puccinellia

Puccinellia is a genus of plants in the grass family, known as alkali grass or salt grass.
These grasses grow in wet environments, often in saline or alkaline conditions. They are native to temperate to Arctic regions of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Selected species.
"Puccinellia agrostidea" Sorensen Bent alkali grass or tundra alkali grass

"Puccinellia ambigua" Sorensen - Alberta alkali grass

"Puccinellia americana" Sorensen - American alkali grass

"Puccinellia andersonii" Swallen - Anderson's alkali grass

"Puccinellia angustata" (R.Br.) Rand & Redf. - Narrow alkali grass

"Puccinellia arctica" (Hook.) Fern. & Weath. - Arctic alkali grass

"Puccinellia bruggemannii" Sorensen - Prince Patrick alkali grass

"Puccinellia convoluta" (Hornem.) Hayek -

"Puccinellia coreensis" Honda - Korean alkaligrass

"Puccinellia deschampsioides" Sorensen - Polar alkali grass

"Puccinellia distans" (Jacq.) Parl. - Spreading alkali grass, weeping alkali grass or reflexed saltmarsh-grass

"Puccinellia fasciculata" (Torr.) E.P.Bicknell - Torrey alkali grass or Borrer's saltmarsh-grass

"Puccinellia fernaldii" (A.Hitchc.) E.G.Voss = "Torreyochloa pallida var. "fernaldii"

"Puccinellia festuciformis" (Host) Parl. -

"Puccinellia groenlandica" Sorensen - Greenland alkali grass

"Puccinellia howellii" J.I.Davis - Howell's alkali grass

"Puccinellia hultenii" Swallen - Hulten's alkali grass

"Puccinellia interior" Sorensen - Interior alkali grass

"Puccinellia kamtschatica" Holmb. - Alaska alkali grass

"Puccinellia kurilensis" (Takeda) Honda - Dwarf alkali grass

"Puccinellia langeana" (Berlin) T.J.Sorensen ex Hultén -

"Puccinellia laurentiana" Fern. & Weath. - Tracadigash Mountain alkali grass

"Puccinellia lemmonii" (Vasey) Scribn. - Lemmon's alkali grass

"Puccinellia limosa" (Schur) Holmb. -

"Puccinellia lucida" Fern. & Weath. - Shining alkali grass

"Puccinellia macquariensis" (Cheeseman) Allan & Jansen

"Puccinellia macra" Fern. & Weath. - Bonaventure Island alkali grass

"Puccinellia maritima" (Huds.) Parl. - Seaside alkali grass or common saltmarsh-grass

"Puccinellia nutkaensis" (J.Presl) Fern. & Weath. - Nootka alkali grass

"Puccinellia nuttalliana" (J.A.Schultes) A.S.Hitchc. - Nuttall's alkali grass

"Puccinellia parishii" A.S.Hitchc. - Bog alkali grass or Parish's alkali grass

"Puccinellia perlaxa" (N.G.Walsh) N.G.Walsh & A.R.Williams - Plains saltmarsh-grass

"Puccinellia phryganodes" (Trin.) Scribn. & Merr. - Creeping alkali grass

"Puccinellia poacea" Sorensen - Floodplain alkali grass

"Puccinellia porsildii" Sorensen - Porsild's alkali grass

"Puccinellia pumila" (Vasey) A.S.Hitchc. - Dwarf alkali grass

"Puccinellia pungens" (Pau) Paunero -

"Puccinellia rosenkrantzii" Sorensen - Rosenkrantz's alkali grass

"Puccinellia rupestris" (With.) Fern. & Weath. - British alkali grass or stiff saltmarsh-grass

"Puccinellia simplex" Scribn. - California alkali grass

"Puccinellia stricta" (Hook.f.) C.Blom - Australian saltmarsh-grass

"Puccinellia sublaevis" (Holmb.) Tzvelev - Smooth alkali grass

"Puccinellia tenella" Holmb. ex Porsild - Tundra alkali grass

"Puccinellia tenuiflora" (Griesb.) Scribn. & Merr. -

"Puccinellia vaginata" (Lange) Fern. & Weath. - Sheathed alkali grass

"Puccinellia vahliana" (Liebm.) Scribn. & Merr. - Vahl's alkali grass

"Puccinellia wrightii" (Scribn. & Merr.) Tzvelev - Wright's alkali grass


Lithocarpus edulis

Lithocarpus edulis, the Japanese stone oak, is a species of stone-oak native to Japan. It is an evergreen tree growing up to 15 metres tall. The nuts are edible for people but taste bitter. The nuts contain tannins, however soaking them in water removes them. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant.
References.
The Plant List


Tuctoria

Tuctoria is a genus of three species of grass in the family Poaceae. Spiralgrass is a common name for plants in this genus. These are bunchgrass species that are found in vernal pools of central California and Baja California, Mexico. The plants are annuals that germinate under water in the spring and grow submerged for weeks. After the pools dry down, the grasses initiate a new set of foliage that lasts for one to two months until flowering and fruiting are complete.
Taxonomy.
The genus was circumscribed by John R. Reeder in 1982. Along with "Orcuttia" and "Neostapfia", "Tuctoria" is one of three genera in the tribe Orcuttieae, previously outlined by Reeder in 1965. All three "Tuctoria" species were formerly assigned to "Orcuttia", the type genus of Orcuttieae. Reeder erected "Tuctoria" after determining that the three species were more closely related among themselves than to any of the other "Orcuttia" species. Shared features include chromosome numbers, the spiral arrangement of spikelets on the rachis, the absence of juvenile leaves, the presence of lodicules, and the presence of an epiblast in the seed embryos. The name "Tuctoria" is an anagram of "Orcuttia".
Recent (2010) molecular phylogenetic analysis suggests that "Tuctoria" is not monophyletic as currently circumscribed, and is in need of taxonomic revision.
Description.
"Tuctoria" species have their spikelets spirally arranged on the axis; lemmas are entire (with a smooth, even margin) or denticulate (finely toothed), and often have a centrally placed short, sharp tip (mucro). The inflorescence is not cylindrical (as in "Neostapfia"), and the spikelets are laterally flattened. The lemmas are narrower, the tip is mucronate or otherwise entire or denticulate. The caryopsis is not sticky, and the brown embryo is visible throughout the light-colored pericarp.
Species.
There are three species in "Tuctoria".
Ecology and distribution.
"Tuctoria" species are endemic to seasonal pools in the southwestern US. Like all species in tribe Orcuttieae, the growth of "Tuctoria" species is initiated underwater. When pools dry, the plants undergo a metamorphosis whereby aquatic foliage is replaced with terrestrial foliage. The terrestrial foliage has Kranz anatomy, indicating the use of C-4 photosynthesis. This adaptation help the plants survive the longs periods of drought-like conditions experienced when the pools dry. In years with little rainfall, their seed banks remain dormant until a season of rainfall that is adequate to fill the pool basins. In "T. greenei", germination is almost entirely dependent upon a combination of anaerobic conditions and light. This strategy helps the plant begin germination when pool basins are filled with water. In years of low precipitation, the soil subsurface is likely to be anaerobic or hypoxic, and inhibit germination.
"Tuctoria greenei" is of high conservation concern in California, as vernal pool systems are in decline due to agricultural development and urban expansion.


Siparunaceae

Siparunaceae is a family of flowering plants in the magnoliid order Laurales. It consists of two genera of woody plants, with essential oils: "Glossocalyx" in West Africa and "Siparuna" in the neotropics. "Glossocalyx" is monospecific ("Glossocalyx longicuspis") and "Siparuna" has about 74 known species.
Until the 1990s, most taxonomists placed "Glossocalyx" and "Siparuna" in the family Monimiaceae. The monograph of Monimiaceae by William R. Philipson in 1993 was the last major work to do so. In the 1990s, molecular phylogenetic studies of DNA sequences showed that Monimiaceae, as then circumscribed, was paraphyletic. When the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group published their APG system in 1998, the old Monimiaceae was divided into three separate families: Siparunaceae, Atherospermataceae, and Monimiaceae sensu stricto. This classification remained unchanged in the APG III system of 2009 and the APG IV system of 2016.
The families Siparunaceae, Gomortegaceae, and Atherospermataceae form one of the three major clades that constitute the order Laurales. Siparunaceae is sister to the clade composed of Gomortegaceae and Atherospermataceae.
In 1898, Janet Russell Perkins began a series of articles on Monimiaceae, but only two were ever completed. The second of these was mis-titled as part III on its first page (compare to table of contents therein) and covers the genus "Siparuna".


Recchia

Recchia is a genus of trees in the family Surianaceae. It is native to tropical habitats of Mexico.
Species.
It includes the following species:


Gymnostomum boreale

Gymnostomum boreale is a species of moss in the family Pottiaceae. It is endemic to Russia.


Diplacus bolanderi

Diplacus bolanderi is a species of monkeyflower known by the common name Bolander's monkeyflower.
Distribution.
It is endemic to California, where it grows in the chaparral and other habitat in the coastal and inland mountains and foothills from the North Coast Ranges to the Sierra Nevada to the Transverse Ranges.
Description.
"Diplacus bolanderi" is a hairy annual herb producing an erect stem reaching maximum heights anywhere from 2 to 90 centimeters. The lance-shaped to oval leaves are up to 6 centimeters long and arranged in opposite pairs about the stem. The base of the flower is encapsulated by a hairy ribbed calyx of sepals with pointed lobes. The flower has a tubular throat and a wide, five-lobed mouth. It is 1 to 3 centimeters long and pink in color, usually with blotches of white in the throat.


Silver fern

Alsophila dealbata, synonym Cyathea dealbata, commonly known as the silver fern or silver tree-fern, or as ponga or punga (from Māori or ), is a species of medium-sized tree fern, endemic to New Zealand. The fern is usually recognisable by the silver-white colour of the under-surface of mature fronds. It is a symbol commonly associated with the country both overseas and by New Zealanders themselves.
Description.
This fern is known to grow to heights of or more (though it occasionally takes a rare creeping form). The crown is dense, and mature fronds tend to be about long and have a silver-white colouration on the undersides. This distinctive silver colouration has made them useful for laying along tracks for night walking. The scales are a dark brown and are often twisted and glossy. Rhizomes very rarely prostrate, usually erect, forming a woody trunk up to tall, in diameter, covered in light brown or white projecting stipe bases; bearing scales near the apex.
Habitat.
Arriving relatively late in New Zealand's history during the Pliocene epoch (around 5.0–1.8 million years ago), the silver fern occurs on the main islands of New Zealand—although absent from the west and south regions of the South Island—and on the Chatham Islands to the east. Its primary habitat is subcanopy areas of drier forests and in open scrub, although it is occasionally found on bush margins and in more open areas, and has been recorded from amongst rushes in a dune slack.
The fern is known to grow well in well-drained humus, and once established, it will tolerate drier conditions. It does best when sheltered from winds and should be protected from frost.
In culture.
The earliest use of the silver fern as an official emblem was by the New Zealand Army during the Second Boer War. Since then, the silver fern has been used by the New Zealand Expeditionary Force during both world wars, and all Commonwealth war graves of fallen New Zealand soldiers have the silver fern engraved on their tombstones. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, Egyptians took exception to New Zealand and Canadian peacekeepers having the Union Flag on their uniforms. Canadian troops wore the Maple Leaf whereas the New Zealand contingent wore a silver fern symbol. New Zealand peacekeepers have since used both the silver fern and kiwi symbols for different deployments to differentiate from their Australian and British counterparts.
Additionally, several British Army units wear the silver fern, normally as a battle honour granted for serving with New Zealand troops. For example, the Queen’s Royal Hussars, the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry and the Warwickshire Yeomanry, all of whom fought with 2nd New Zealand Division at the Second Battle of El Alamein.
The silver fern has long been used on dairy products, including the logo of New Zealand Natural, and was trademarked as early as 1885. It is a logo for many other organisations, such as (heavily stylised) the rail operator KiwiRail. The Silver Fern is also the name of a class of railcar.
Silver fern fronds appear on the coat of arms of New Zealand. Some alternative flags for New Zealand, such as the silver fern flag, utilise the fern. The official proposal of the 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums featured the silver fern. The silver fern is also used extensively within politics and printed material, such as the logo of the New Zealand Labour Party.
The Silver Fern was first discovered by the Māori people, who are the indigenous people of New Zealand. According to the legend of the Māori people, the Silver Fern “once lived in the sea” and the Māori hunters would “...use the silver underside of the fern leaves to find their way home…”. When bent at an angle, the leaves of the fern would catch the moonlight and “illuminate a path through the forest”
The "koru" symbol is inspired by the shape of an unfurling silver fern frond. It is found extensively in Māori art, from carving to the official Māori flag, and is used in a stylised form as the logo for national airline Air New Zealand. Its circular shape conveys the idea of perpetual movement, and its inward coil suggests a return to the point of origin.
In short, the fern has become one of the most widely recognized symbols of New Zealand, next to the kiwi—however, it is not an official national symbol.
Use in sport.
The silver fern has been used as a symbol by New Zealand national sports teams, in various stylised forms, since it was first worn by players in the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team which toured Britain. "Silver Ferns" is the name of the national netball team, and most other national women's sports teams have nicknames based on the term "Ferns", such as Black Ferns (women's rugby union), Tall Ferns (women's basketball) and Football Ferns (women's association football).
National sport teams using the silver fern include:
The silver fern is also extensively used as part of the official symbols of New Zealand Olympics teams.
Controversy.
In 1991, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union obtained trade marks for the name “All Blacks” and its own stylised fern, however the scope of the application was broader because they sought to register any 'fern'. In 2005, after a legal case lasting four years, the union failed in its bid to stop anyone else using any fern logo on any black jersey.


Notelaea microcarpa

Notelaea microcarpa is a bush or small crooked tree from the Olive Family, found in eastern Australia. Two varieties are recognised; var. "microcarpa", the velvet mock olive and var. "velutina" known as the gorge mock olive.
The habitat is in the under-storey of eucalyptus woodland, north of the Hunter Region, north to Queensland. Often on rocky sites, associated with the White Box. The gorge mock olive is often found in the drier fire free gully rainforests, in the north of New South Wales. It may grow to ten metres tall, at an altitude of between 500 and 700 metres above sea level. Sites include Oxley Wild Rivers National Park and Chaelundi National Park.
This plant first appeared in the scientific literature in 1810, in the "Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae", authored by the prolific Scottish botanist, Robert Brown.


Cucumis hystrix

Cucumis hystrix is a monoecious climbing vine in the family Cucurbitaceae. The specific epithet ("hystrix") is New Latin for "spiny".
Distribution.
"Cucumis hystrix" is native to northern Thailand, northern Laos, northern Vietnam, Myanmar, southeastern India, and China.
Description.
The leaves and petioles of the plant are hairy and the leaves have 3-5 lobes and are cordate at the bases with acute apexes. The flowers are solitary and yellow in color and their petals measure 8-10 millimeters in length in males. The fruit is pendent and yellow-green in color and ovate in shape and is covered in spike-like pustules. They contain numerous seeds. It flowers and fruits from September through December. It grows in scrub jungles, forests edges, and along roadsides up to 5905.5 feet (1800 m) in elevation.
Hybridization.
It has shown strong resistance against downy mildew and other diseases that affect members of the genus "Cucumis" and has been successfully hybridized with "Cucumis sativus" to create a disease-resistant cucumber plant.


Olearia arborescens

Olearia arborescens, also known as common tree daisy is a common shrub or small tree of New Zealand. It grows in lowland to alpine scrubland in the North Island from East Cape southwards, and throughout the South and Stewart Islands.
The leaves of the plant are wide, oval-shaped, wavy and toothed, and are greyish underneath. "O. arborescens" produces white bunched flowers in spring to summer.


Baloghia inophylla

Baloghia inophylla is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia. It is also known as the brush bloodwood, as it occurs in brushes, (a nineteenth-century term for rainforest), as well as bloodwood, as the clear sap is blood red. Other common names include ivory birch and scrub bloodwood.
Distribution.
Brush bloodwood occurs on the eastern coast of Australia from Mount Dromedary (36° S) near Narooma in southern New South Wales to Coen (13° S) in far north Queensland. It also occurs in New Caledonia, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. The habitat is most types of rainforest except the cool temperate forests.
Description.
It is a medium-sized tree, reaching in height and with a trunk diameter of . The trunk is usually cylindrical, though some tree bases are fluted. The bark is creamy brown, with reddish and brown markings. The bark also features raised squarish plates of bark.
Leaves are thick and glossy, 7 to 13 cm long. They are opposite, simple, not toothed, mostly oblong in shape, though at other times elliptical or oval. Identification of this species is made easier when noticing the blunt leaf point and nearly horizontal leaf veins. At the base of the leaf are two swollen glands. Leaf stalks are long, and somewhat channelled on the upper side.
Creamy pink flowers occur on racemes in the months of May to January. The five-petaled flower is fragrant, relatively large and attractive. Male and female flowers form on separate racemes.
The fruit matures from February to May, though occasionally at other times of the year. It is a brown roundish capsule 12 to 18 mm long. Inside are three cells, with a single mottled brown seed inside, 8 mm long, although many capsules contain no seeds. Fresh seed germinates reliably, and cuttings strike well.
Uses.
The sap forms a red pigment.


Rhodellophyceae

Rhodellophyceae is a grouping of red algae.


Potamogeton ogdenii

Potamogeton ogdenii, common name Ogden's pondweed, is a perennial plant native to North America.
Conservation status in the United States.
It is listed as endangered in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York.


Plant taxonomy

Plant taxonomy is the science that finds, identifies, describes, classifies, and names plants. It is one of the main branches of taxonomy (the science that finds, describes, classifies, and names living things).
Plant taxonomy is closely allied to plant systematics, and there is no sharp boundary between the two. In practice, "plant systematics" involves relationships between plants and their evolution, especially at the higher levels, whereas "plant taxonomy" deals with the actual handling of plant specimens. The precise relationship between taxonomy and systematics, however, has changed along with the goals and methods employed.
Plant taxonomy is well known for being turbulent, and traditionally not having any close agreement on circumscription and placement of taxa. See the list of systems of plant taxonomy.
Background.
Classification systems serve the purpose of grouping organisms by characteristics common to each group. Plants are distinguished from animals by various traits: they have cell walls made of cellulose, polyploidy, and they exhibit sedentary growth. Where animals have to eat organic molecules, plants are able to change energy from light into organic energy by the process of photosynthesis. The basic unit of classification is species, a group able to breed amongst themselves and bearing mutual resemblance, a broader classification is the genus. Several genera make up a family, and several families an order.
"Plantae", the Plant Kingdom.
The plant kingdom is divided according to the following:
Identification, classification and description of plants.
Three goals of plant taxonomy are the identification, classification and description of plants. The distinction between these three goals is important and often overlooked.
1.Plant identification is a determination of the identity of an unknown plant by comparison with previously collected specimens or with the aid of books or identification manuals. The process of identification connects the specimen with a published name. Once a plant specimen has been identified, its name and properties are known.
2.Plant classification is the placing of known plants into groups or categories to show some relationship. Scientific classification follows a system of rules that standardizes the results, and groups successive categories into a hierarchy. For example, the family to which the lilies belong is classified as follows:
The classification of plants results in an organized system for the naming and cataloging of future specimens, and ideally reflects scientific ideas about inter-relationships between plants. The set of rules and recommendations for formal botanical nomenclature, including plants, is governed by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants abbreviated as ICN.
3.Plant description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper using ICN guidelines. The names of these plants are then registered on the International Plant Names Index along with all other validly published names.
Classification systems.
These include;
Online databases.
See


Araucaria biramulata

Araucaria biramulata, the biramule araucaria, or piggyback araucaria, is a species of conifer in the family Araucariaceae.
It is found only in New Caledonia on the main island of Grande Terre. "Araucaria biramulata" is a medium-large tree reaching 30 meters in height. As with several other endemic New Caledonian araucaria species, it is threatened by habitat loss with a fragmented wild population of less than 10,000 mature trees, and ongoing decline in remaining populations, with the main threats being forest fires and mining activities. Piggyback araucaria gets its common name from the unusual growth habit of mature trees, where they often develop a second growth tip halfway up the trunk, giving the appearance of a smaller tree "piggybacking" on the side of a larger one.


Gemina

Gemina is a genus of green alga.
Species.
Some species include:


Eryngium giganteum

Eryngium giganteum, with the common name Miss Willmott's ghost, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae.
The short-lived herbaceous perennial thistle is native to the Caucasus and Iran in Western Asia.
Description.
"Eryngium giganteum" grows to . It produces branched heads of pale green conical flowerheads surrounded by spiny bracts in summer. The flowers turn blue at maturity. It usually dies after flowering and is therefore normally grown as a biennial.
Cultivation.
It is cultivated as an ornamental plant for use in gardens. Both the species and its cultivar 'Silver Ghost' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
The common name refers to Ellen Willmott, who is said to have carried seeds at all times, planting them in the gardens of fellow horticulturalists.


Saxifragopsis

Saxifragopsis is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the saxifrage family containing the single species Saxifragopsis fragarioides, which is known by the common name strawberry saxifrage. This plant is sometimes included in genus "Saxifraga". It is native to the northwestern United States, where it is mostly limited to the Klamath Mountains of southern Oregon and northern California, with some disjunct occurrences known from Washington. It grows in rocky mountain habitat, such as talus. This is a mat-forming perennial herb growing from a thick, woody caudex and system of rhizomes. Leaves are mostly located at ground level, the toothed oval blade attached to the long petiole by a joint and easily broken off. Smaller, reduced leaves are located along the stem. The inflorescence arises on an erect, hairy, glandular peduncle and is made up of many small clusters of white-petaled flowers.


Erythranthe nasuta

Erythranthe nasuta is a species of monkeyflower. It was formerly known as "Mimulus nasutus".
"Erythranthe guttata" is pollinated by bees, such as "Bombus impatiens". Inbreeding reduces flower quantity and size and pollen quality and quantity. "E. guttata" also displays a high degree of self-pollination. "E. nasuta" evolved from "E. guttata" in central California between 200,000 and 500,000 years ago and since then has become primarily a self-pollinator. Other differences have occurred since then, such as genetic code variations and variations in plant morphology. "E. guttata" prefers a wetter habitat than "E. nasuta".


Farfugium japonicum

Farfugium japonicum (syn. "Ligularia tussilaginea") is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, also known as leopard plant, green leopard plant or tractor seat plant. It is native to streams and seashores of Japan, where it is called "tsuwabuki" (石蕗).
Description.
It is a rhizomatous evergreen perennial, growing in a loose clump about tall and wide, with large round or kidney-shaped leaves that are slightly fleshy in texture. Daisy-like yellow flowers, across, are borne in loose clusters in autumn and winter.
Cultivation.
"F. japonicum" is grown as an ornamental plant for garden planting and containers. The variegated cultivars are often used to brighten shade garden settings. "Farfugium japonicum" var. "giganteum" is a very large leaved selection. Some cultivars have shiny green leaves variegated with irregular creamy white or yellow markings, which are leathery and large, 4-10 in (10.2-25.4 cm) across, with wavy or toothed margins, held aloft on long stalks. Others are an even green without the white or yellow markings.
The cultivar 'Aureomaculatum' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. It is hardy in coastal or mild areas, but requires protection from cold winds.
Toxicity.
"Farfugium japonicum" contains tumorigenic pyrrolizidine alkaloids.


Cupressoideae


Glyptopetalum lawsonii

Glyptopetalum lawsonii is a species of plant in the family Celastraceae. It is endemic to Tamil Nadu in India.


Chaenorhinum

Chaenorhinum is a genus consisting of four species of annual and perennial herbs native to Turkey and the Mediterranean, where they thrive in dry stony areas and scree. They are closely related to snapdragons. The leaves are linear to oblong or rounded, opposite at the base. The flowers resemble snapdragons, being typically zygomorphic, hooded, lobed and spurred. They are borne in terminal racemes or singly in the leaf axils of the branching stems.


Vulcanodinium rugosum

Vulcanodinium rugosum is a species of dinoflagellate first described in 2011 based on samples collected from the French coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It is thecate and its specific epithet is a reference to the striated appearance of its surface. It is the type species of the genus "Vulcanodinium". Molecular phylogenetics suggests that it belongs in the order Peridiniales. Studies of the species in culture suggest it has at least two stages in its life cycle, one motile, thecate, and likely planktonic, and one nonmotile, athecate, and likely epibenthic. The species is photosynthetic and seems to prefer warm saline environments. It is found at least in warm Pacific and Mediterranean waters, and is likely globally distributed.
"V. rugosum" is notable as the source organism for a family of marine macrocyclic neurotoxins known as pinnatoxins, first identified in association with molluscs of the genus "Pinna". Production of toxin, and the distribution of pinnatoxin types, appears to depend on both environmental conditions and strain.


Calystegia collina

Calystegia collina is a species of morning glory known by the common name Coast Range false bindweed. It is endemic to the Coast Ranges of northern and central California, where it grows on slopes and in woodlands, often on serpentine soils.
Description.
"Calystegia collina" is a rhizomatous perennial herb with densely hairy stems and foliage. The stem lies flat and generally does not climb as many other morning glories do. It reaches a maximum length of about 30 centimeters. The small leaves are kidney-shaped or deeply lobed and are wavy or crinkly along the edges.
The inflorescence holds a single white flower 2 to 5 centimeters wide when fully open.


Eucalyptus praecox

Eucalyptus praecox, or brittle gum, is a tree native to central New South Wales.


Engelhardia

Engelhardia is a genus of seven species of trees in the family Juglandaceae, native to southeast Asia from northern India east to Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines. The genus name is commonly misspelled "Engelhardtia", a "correction" made by the original author Carl Ludwig Blume in 1829 and persistent until today, as it was thus entered in the "Index Kewensis"; the original spelling is "Engelhardia".
Fossil record.
"Engelhardia" pollen has been found in deposits of Miocene Age in Denmark. †"Engelhardia orsbergensis" leaf fossils have been uncovered from rhyodacite tuff of Lower Miocene age in Southern Slovakia near the town of Lučenec. †"Engelhardia orsbergensis" and †"Engelhardia macroptera" fossils have been uncovered from late Miocene strata in Iceland.


Erythroxylum coca

Erythroxylum coca is one of two species of cultivated coca.
Description.
The coca plant resembles a blackthorn bush, and grows to a height of 2–3 m (7–10 ft). The branches are straight, and the leaves, which have a green tint, are thin, opaque, oval, and taper at the extremities. A marked characteristic of the leaf is an areolated portion bounded by two longitudinal curved lines, one line on each side of the midrib, and more conspicuous on the under face of the leaf.
The flowers are small, and disposed in little clusters on short stalks; the corolla is composed of five yellowish-white petals, the anthers are heart-shaped, and the pistil consists of three carpels united to form a three-chambered ovary. The flowers mature into red berries.
Unlike "Erythroxylum novogranatense, Erythroxylum coca" requires very acidic soil conditions. Soil acidity and water acidity need to be below pH 5.5, with the optimal value being pH 3.5, similar to that of Rhododendron potting soils. At pH 6.5 and above, chlorosis and leaf distortion occur.
The leaves are sometimes eaten by the larvae of the moth "Eloria noyesi".
Taxonomy.
Among the genus "Erythroxylum", cocaine-rich leaves are obtained from four taxa:
Amazonian coca.
"Erythroxylum coca" var. "ipadu", also known as Amazonian coca, is closely related to "Erythroxylum coca" var. "coca", from which it originated relatively recently. "E. coca" var. "ipadu" does not escape cultivation or survive as a feral or wild plant like "E. coca" var. "coca" It has been suggested that due to a lack of genetic isolation to differentiate it from "E. coca" var. "coca", "E. coca" var. "ipadu" may be better defined as a distinct cultivar than a taxonomic variety.
Unlike the other species of coca which are propagated through seeds, "E. coca" var. "ipadu", which rarely produce seeds, is propagated through stem cuttings which remain viable for several weeks if kept moist.
Since Amazonian coca is vegetatively propagated, entire plantations may be populated from the same clone. "E. coca" var. "ipadu" is specially adapted to the shifting agriculture of semi-nomadic Amazonian peoples. Since cuttings of "E. coca" var. "coca" do not easily root, it is likely that "E. coca" var. "ipadu" has been artificially selected for its ease of vegetative propagation.
In contrast to the Andean "E. coca" var. "coca", Amazonian "E. coca" var. "ipadu" is typically a weaker plant evidenced by the fact that after a few years plants lose their vigor and easily fall prey to disease or insect infestation. Overharvesting can speed up this process.
Amazonian coca is prepared differently than the other three cultivated cocas. After fire-toasting the leaves dry, they are pulverized. Once sifted, the powder is combined with ashes from plants which serve as the necessary alkaline admixture for coca chewing.


Alyssopsis

Alyssopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae.


Dale Hadley Vitt

Dale Hadley Vitt (born February 9, 1944) is an American bryologist and peatland ecologist, recognized as a leading expert on peatlands. From 1989 to 1991 he was the president of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society.
Biography.
Dale Vitt grew up in Washington, Missouri in a financially struggling family due to the death of his father when Dale was eleven years old. After graduating from high school in 1962, he worked for a year at the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation (which was renamed in 1967 McDonnell Douglas) on manufacturing for Project Gemini. In autumn 1963 he matriculated at Southeast Missouri State University and graduated there with B.S. in December 1966. He then matriculated at the University of Michigan and graduated in 1967 with M.S. and in 1970 with Ph.D. His doctoral dissertation, supervised by Howard A. Crum, is entitled "The Family Orthotrichaceae (Musci) in North America, North of Mexico". While still a graduate student, in the winter of 1969–1970 Vitt went on a two-and-a-half month expedition to the New Zealand outlying island named Campbell Island.
At the University of Alberta, Vitt was from 1970 to 1975 an assistant professor, from 1975 to 1980 an associate professor, and from 1980 to 2000 a full professor. He became in 1970 a curator at the University of Alberta's Cryptogamic Herbarium and has continued the curatorial appointment to the present. From 1992 to 2000 he was the director of the Devonian Botanic Garden, now called the University of Alberta Botanic Garden. From 2000 to 2011 at Southern Illinois University, he was a professor and chair of the plant biology program. He retired as professor emeritus in 2011. He was a visiting professor in 1971 at the University of Michigan Biological Station and in 1981 at the University of Minnesota and at the University of New South Wales.
Vitt has collected mosses not only in the United States and Canada, but also in the Canary Islands, Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Fiji, Brazil, Peru, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, China, Japan, and Asiatic Russia. He has been a co-collector with Richard Edward Andrus, Diana Gail Horton, and Timo Juhani Koponen. In July 1971 while collecting mosses on Devon Island, Vitt suffered two broken ribs from an encounter with a musk ox. In the winter of 1971–1972 he went to the Auckland Islands on a two-month expedition led by Henry Imshaug. On this expedition Vitt climbed a tree to escape an attack from a sea lion.
On September 4, 1966 in Madison, Missouri, he married Sandra Faye Mouser. She served as his office/lab manager and assisted him in organizational and editorial work. They have two sons.


Gonocarpus montanus

Gonocarpus montanus is a shrub in the watermilfoil family Haloragaceae native to eastern Australia and New Zealand. Common names include mountain raspwort.


Rubiales

Rubiales was an order of flowering plants in the Cronquist system, including the families Rubiaceae and Theligonaceae. The latest APG system (2009) does not recognize this order and places the families within Gentianales.


Ceratozamia zoquorum

Ceratozamia zoquorum is a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae endemic to northwestern Chiapas, Mexico.


Copernicia gigas

Copernicia gigas is a palm which is endemic to eastern Cuba.


Phyllospadix iwatensis

Phyllospadix iwatensis is a plant species found along the seacoasts of Japan, Korea, China (Hebei, Liaoning, Shandong), and the Russian Far East (Sakhalin, Primorye and the Kuril Islands). It was first discovered in 1929 near on the Miyako Peninsula in Iwate Prefecture in Japan, in northeastern Honshu. It occurs in the intertidal zone along the shore.
"Phyllospadix iwatensis" is a perennial herb spreading by means of rhizomes. Leaves are long and thin, up to 150 cm long but rarely more than 5 mm across.


Anthocerotophyta


Elaeocarpus fraseri

Elaeocarpus fraseri is a species of flowering plant in the Elaeocarpaceae family. It is endemic to Peninsular Malaysia.


Townsendia condensata

Townsendia condensata is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names cushion Townsend daisy and cushion townsendia. It is native to North America where it is known from many scattered occurrences in the mountains of the western United States and Alberta in Canada. It is mainly limited to the alpine climates of high mountain peaks, where it grows in meadows, tundra, and barren, rocky talus. It grows alongside other alpine plants such as "Eriogonum androsaceum".
This is a petite biennial or perennial herb taking a clumped form just a few centimeters tall, its herbage growing on a caudex and taproot unit. The leaves are 1 or 1.5 centimeters long, rounded, and coated in woolly hairs. The inflorescence is generally a solitary flower head 1 to 3 centimeters wide with rough-haired, lance-shaped phyllaries. The head contains many yellow disc florets and many white, pinkish, or purplish ray florets each measuring up to 16 millimeters in length. The fruit is a hairy achene tipped with a deciduous pappus of bristles.
One variety of this species, var. "anomala", the North Fork Easter-daisy, is endemic to the Absaroka Mountains of Wyoming, mostly in the drainage of the North Fork of the Shoshone River.


Budawangia

Budawangia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. The sole species is Budawangia gnidioides from New South Wales. The genus was formally described in 1992.
In 2015 it was proposed that "Budawangia" and the related genus "Rupicola" be merged into the larger genus "Epacris", which was found to be paraphyletic to the former two. "Budawangia gnidioides" would be renamed "Epacris gnidioides".
As at 2020, the Australian Plant Names Index lists "Epacris gnidioides (Summerh.) E.A.Br." as the accepted name for the Australian Plant Census.