Picea aurantiaca

Picea aurantiaca is a species of conifer in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is endemic to China, where it is only known from western Sichuan. Its common name is orange spruce.
This tree grows on steep mountain slopes on the edges of forests. It grows in a cold subalpine climate up to about 3800 to 4000 meters in maximum elevation. It can be found alongside "Picea likiangensis" var. "rubescens", "Abies squamata", "Larix potaninii", and birches.
This species is closely related to "Picea asperata" and it is sometimes treated as a variety.


Scytothamnales

Scytothamnales is an order of brown algae (class Phaeophyceae).


Eriogonum evanidum

Eriogonum evanidum is a rare species of wild buckwheat known by the common name vanishing wild buckwheat. It is native to southern California and Baja California, where it has been collected from widely scattered areas. Most historical occurrences are now extirpated and the plant has not been collected since 1967. Some sources suggest that it is probably extinct. The plant was described as a new species in 2004 using specimens that were set aside from a collection of "Eriogonum foliosum" on the basis of some morphological characteristics. The specimens came from several locations in the southern California mountains, including Bear Valley in the San Bernardino Mountains and Pine Valley east of San Diego.
This is an annual herb producing thin, erect stems about 10 or 20 centimeters tall surrounded at the base by small, woolly leaves up to a centimeter long by a centimeter wide. The flowering stem branches from the main stem and is a few centimeters long. It is studded with tiny clumps of yellowish flowers each around a millimeter long.


Sedella leiocarpa

Sedella leiocarpa is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common names Lake County mock stonecrop and Lake County stonecrop. It is endemic to Lake County, California, where it is known from only about ten occurrences in two locations. It is a resident of drying vernal pools and rocky clay flats, where it grows in colonies. It is a federally listed endangered species. This is an annual herb growing no more than four centimeters high. It is a tiny erect reddish or yellow succulent plant with sparse leaves each a few millimeters long. The flowers have yellow to reddish petals 3 or 4 millimeters long.


Heliamphora chimantensis

Heliamphora chimantensis is a species of marsh pitcher plant endemic to the Chimantá Massif in Venezuela. Specifically, it has been recorded from Apacará and Chimantá Tepuis. It is thought to be more closely related to the southern growing "H. tatei" and "H. neblinae" than to any of the other species found in the Gran Sabana and its tepuis. All other species known from this region have between 10 and 15 anthers, while "H. tatei", "H. neblinae" and "H. chimantensis" have around 20. However, the anthers of "H. tatei" and the closely related "H. neblinae" (once thought to be a variety of the former) are 7–9 mm long, while those of "H. chimantensis" only reach 5 mm in length.


Cyathium

A cyathium (plural: cyathia) is one of the specialised pseudanthia ("false flowers") forming the inflorescence of plants in the genus "Euphorbia" (Euphorbiaceae). A cyathium consists of:
The flower-like characteristics of the cyathia are underlined by brightly coloured nectar glands and often by petal-like appendages to the nectar glands, or brightly coloured, petal-like bracts positioned under the cyathia. The paired petal-like bracts of "Euphorbia" section "Goniostema" are called "cyathophylls". here female to male flower ratio is 1:α
The cyathia are sometimes solitary, but are usually in cymes, inflorescences of the second order, in pseudumbels, on dichotomously branched stalks or in so-called simple cymes which consist of one central and two lateral cyathia.
In one group of Madagascan species in the subfamily Euphorbia section Goniostema ("E. aueoviridiflora", "E. capmanambatoensis", "E. iharanae", "E. leuconeura", "E. neohumbertii", "E. viguieri") there is a tendency for a further pseudanthium to grow from the cyme. Probably as an adaptation to pollination by birds, the cyathia have become specialised: Most cyathia have upright cyathophylls which surround them protectively, but render the nectar glands inaccessible. To compensate, between them are naked sterile cyathia whose only job is to produce nectar.


Sparganium glomeratum

Sparganium glomeratum, the clustered bur-reed, is a species of bur-reed. It is a water plant native to high elevation lakes and marshes of Europe, Asia, and North America. North American populations were doubted as introduced due to its scarce and scattered populations, but a recent herbarium survey found more localities of the species in the central of Canada, concluding the species as circumpolar species.


Draba caswellii

Draba caswellii, also known as Caswell's draba, is a species of plant of the "Draba" genus. It is endemic to the Kluane National Park in the Yukon, Canada. It is listed as critically imperiled by NatureServe.


Amentotaxus

Amentotaxus is a genus of conifers (catkin-yews) comprising five species, treated in either the Cephalotaxaceae, or in the Taxaceae when that family is considered in a broad sense. The genus is endemic to subtropical Southeast Asia, from Taiwan west across southern China to Assam in the eastern Himalaya, and south to Vietnam. The species are evergreen shrubs and small trees reaching 2–15 m tall.
The leaves are spirally arranged on the shoots, but twisted at the base to lie in two flat ranks (except on erect leading shoots); they are linear-lanceolate, 4–12 cm long and 6–10 mm broad, soft in texture, with a blunt tip, green above, and with two conspicuous white stomatal bands below. They differ from the related genus "Cephalotaxus" in the broader leaves, and from "Torreya" by the blunt, not spine-tipped leaves.
The species can be either monoecious or dioecious; when monoecious, the male and female cones are often on different branches. The male (pollen) cones are catkin-like, 3–15 cm long, grouped in clusters of two to six together produced from a single bud. The female (seed) cones are single or grouped a few together on short stems; minute at first, they mature in about 18 months to a drupe-like structure with the single large nut-like seed 1.5–3 cm long surrounded by a fleshy covering, orange to red at full maturity; the apex of the seed usually protrudes slightly out of the fleshy covering.
The oldest fossils that are recognisable to the genus are from the Middle-Late Jurassic Daohugou Bed of China.


Asterales

Asterales is an order of dicotyledonous flowering plants that includes the large family Asteraceae (or Compositae) known for composite flowers made of florets, and ten families related to the Asteraceae.
The order is a cosmopolite (plants found throughout most of the world including desert and frigid zones), and includes mostly herbaceous species, although a small number of trees (such as the giant Lobelia and the giant Senecio) and shrubs are also present.
Asterales are organisms that seem to have evolved from one common ancestor. Asterales share characteristics on morphological and biochemical levels. Synapomorphies (a character that is shared by two or more groups through evolutionary development) include the presence in the plants of oligosaccharide inulin, a nutrient storage molecule used instead of starch; and unique stamen morphology. The stamens are usually found around the style, either aggregated densely or fused into a tube, probably an adaptation in association with the plunger (brush; or secondary) pollination that is common among the families of the order, wherein pollen is collected and stored on the length of the pistil.
Taxonomy.
The name and order Asterales is botanically venerable, dating back to at least 1926 in the Hutchinson system of plant taxonomy when it contained only five families, of which only two are retained in the APG III classification. Under the Cronquist system of taxonomic classification of flowering plants, Asteraceae was the only family in the group, but newer systems (such as APG II and APG III) have expanded it to 11. In the classification system of Dahlgren the Asterales were in the superorder Asteriflorae (also called Asteranae).
The order Asterales currently includes 11 families, the largest of which are the Asteraceae, with about 25,000 species, and the Campanulaceae ("bellflowers"), with about 2,000 species. The remaining families count together for less than 1500 species. The two large families are cosmopolitan, with many of their species found in the Northern Hemisphere, and the smaller families are usually confined to Australia and the adjacent areas, or sometimes South America.
Only the Asteraceae have composite flower heads; the other families do not, but share other characteristics such as storage of inulin that define the 11 families as more closely related to each other than to other plant families or orders such as the rosids.
The phylogenetic tree according to APG III for the Campanulid clade is as below.
Biogeography.
The core Asterales are Stylidiaceae (six genera), APA clade (Alseuosmiaceae, Phellinaceae and Argophyllaceae, together 7 genera), MGCA clade (Menyanthaceae, Goodeniaceae, Calyceraceae, in total twenty genera), and Asteraceae (about sixteen hundred genera). Other Asterales are Rousseaceae (four genera), Campanulaceae (eighty four genera) and Pentaphragmataceae (one genus).
All Asterales families are represented in the Southern Hemisphere; however, Asteraceae and Campanulaceae are cosmopolitan and Menyanthaceae nearly so.
Evolution.
Although most extant species of Asteraceae are herbaceous, the examination of the basal members in the family suggests that the common ancestor of the family was an arborescent plant, a tree or shrub, perhaps adapted to dry conditions, radiating from South America. Less can be said about the Asterales themselves with certainty, although since several families in Asterales contain trees, the ancestral member is most likely to have been a tree or shrub.
Because all clades are represented in the southern hemisphere but many not in the northern hemisphere, it is natural to conjecture that there is a common southern origin to them. Asterales are angiosperms, flowering plants that appeared about 140 million years ago. The Asterales order probably originated in the Cretaceous (145 – 66 Mya) on the supercontinent Gondwana which broke up from 184 – 80 Mya, forming the area that is now Australia, South America, Africa, India and Antarctica.
Asterales contain about 14% of eudicot diversity. From an analysis of relationships and diversities within the Asterales and with their superorders, estimates of the age of the beginning of the Asterales have been made, which range from 116 Mya to 82Mya. However few fossils have been found, of the Menyanthaceae-Asteraceae clade in the Oligocene, about 29 Mya.
Fossil evidence of the Asterales is rare and belongs to rather recent epochs, so the precise estimation of the order's age is quite difficult. An Oligocene (34 – 23 Mya) pollen is known for Asteraceae and Goodeniaceae, and seeds from Oligocene and Miocene (23 – 5.3 Mya) are known for Menyanthaceae and Campanulaceae respectively.
Economic importance.
The Asterales, by dint of being a super-set of the family Asteraceae, include some species grown for food, including the sunflower ("Helianthus annuus"), lettuce ("Lactuca sativa") and chicory ("Cichorium"). Many are also used as spices and traditional medicines.
Asterales are common plants and have many known uses. For example, pyrethrum (derived from Old World members of the genus "Chrysanthemum") is a natural insecticide with minimal environmental impact. Wormwood, derived from a genus that includes the sagebrush, is used as a source of flavoring for absinthe, a bitter classical liquor of European origin.


Cardamine nuttallii

Cardamine nuttallii is a species of cardamine known by the common name Nuttall's toothwort. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California, where it grows in moist mountain habitats.
Description.
"Cardamine nuttallii" is a perennial herb growing from a small, white rhizome. It produces a thin, unbranching stem under 20 centimeters tall. The leaves are smooth or lobed along the edges and sometimes divided into a few smaller leaflets. The inflorescence bears generally more than one pale purple, pink, or occasionally white flowers with petals each over a centimeter long. The fruit is a silique up to 4 centimeters long.
Varieties.
There are four varieties of this plant. The rare "Cardamine nuttallii" var. "gemmata" is endemic to the "Sequoia sempervirens" redwood forests of northern California and southern Oregon.


List of Banksia ser. Dryandra species

"Banksia" ser. "Dryandra" is a large series in the plant genus "Banksia". It was treated at genus rank as "Dryandra" until 2007, when molecular evidence of paraphyly presented by Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele, the genus Dryandra was sunk into "Banksia" as a series within "B." subg. "Banksia".
Before 2007, 94 "Dryandra" species were recognised. In the transfer into "Banksia", "D. prionotes" was overlooked, and "B. subulata" (awled honeypot) was transferred "incertae sedis" rather than in "B." ser. "Dryandra". "D. prionotes" has since been transferred into "Banksia" as "Banksia prionophylla", but it was not explicitly placed in "B." ser. "Dryandra". The series therefore now consists of 92 species.
This is a list of "Banksia" ser. "Dryandra" species:
See also.
Prior to the 2007 transfer into "Banksia", a number of rich infrageneric arrangements of "Dryandra" had been published; see:


Lithocarpus confertus

Lithocarpus confertus is a tree in the beech family Fagaceae. The specific epithet "" is from the Latin meaning "crowded", referring to the inflorescences and infructescences.
Description.
"Lithocarpus confertus" grows as a tree up to tall with a trunk diameter of up to . The greyish brown bark is scaly or lenticellate. The coriaceous leaves measure up to long. Its dark brown or purplish acorns are ovoid and measure up to across.
Distribution and habitat.
"Lithocarpus confertus" is endemic to Borneo. Its habitat is dipterocarp, peat swamp and lower montane forests from to altitude.


Tulipa sprengeri

Tulipa sprengeri, or Sprenger's tulip, is a wild tulip from the Pontic coast of Turkey. It is quite rare and possibly extinct in the wild, but widely cultivated as an ornamental.
Daniel Hall put it into the Kolpakowskiana group, later in the "solitary species". Wessel Marais placed it in section Tulipa because of its naked filament. Genetically, it seems to belong to the section Eriostemones, even if it does not have a hairy filament, normally seen as a defining characteristic, whereas glabrous filaments are typical of the Tulipa-group. It is diploid. The "locus typicus" is Amasya.
Identification and synonyms.
The plant is easy to identify.<br>
Synonyms:
Description.
The tunic of the bulb is papery, glabrous, chestnut-coloured and only slightly hairy near the stem. The five to six leaves are linear-lanceolate, channeled, bright green and up to 25 cm long. The stem is 20-30, sometimes up to 40 cm long. There is only one flower per bulb, the buds are upright and bright green.
The flower is bright red without a basal blotch. The obovate tepals are long and pointed, the oblong-elliptic outer tepals slightly shorter and light brown or yellowish on the outside, sometimes there is a green seem along the midrib, widening towards the tip. They are very narrow on the base, often leaving a gap. The flower itself is funnel-, later star-shaped. The filaments are glabrous, bright red at the top, pale yellow at base, 19–22 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide at tip, the swollen base is 3–4 mm wide. The anthers are yellow.
In England, it flowers in May and early June, the latest of the species tulips. The flowering time in the wild is unknown.
History.
The plant was introduced to Europe by the German gardener Mühlendorff in 1892, who discovered it near Amasya. It is named after Carl Sprenger, a commercial gardener, who also published a description of the plant. The first scientific description was produced by J. Gilbert Baker in 1894 in The Gardeners' Chronicle. Mühlendorff sent bulbs to the nursery of Damman&Cie near Naples in Italy, which then supplied numerous bulbs to European gardeners between 1895 and 1898. The Armenian teacher J. J. Manissadijan from Merzifon supplied bulbs to the Dutch company Van Tubergen and John Hoog. He also sold other rare plants, like "Iris gatesii" to Dutch commercial gardeners. Obviously, too many bulbs were taken from the wild, and the plant became extinct. Later, he had to flee the country. The Englishman Edward Whittall from Izmir seems to have supplied Damman & Sprenger as well. No wild plants have been recorded since the First World War.
There are no descriptions of the wild habitat of the plant.
Sprenger's tulip is grown in over 30 Botanical gardens, among them Kew, Kopenhagen, Bonn and Edinburgh, it is also widely available from commercial nurseries. M. Rix believes that it may yet be rediscovered in the wild.
The Atatürk Arboretum in Istanbul has initiated a reintroduction project in co-operation with Kew Gardens. Genetic studies have shown that the tulips grown at Kew have retained a relatively wide genetic diversity. The story of the single misplaced bulb supplied by J. J. "Manissaadjian" to Van Tubergen therefore seems spurious.
Cultivation.
Sprenger's tulip is easy to grow. It can be naturalised. It also successfully self-seeds, the seeds need to be stratified. The plant needs only four years till flowering-stage. The plant needs a sunny but not too hot or semi-shady position. It should be planted 10–15 cm deep in well-drained, fairly fertile, humus-rich but not too dry soil. It may need protection from strong winds, but is frosthardy to - 10 °C, as long as the soil is not waterlogged or excessively wet. The plant tends to root very deeply and can thus be difficult to eradicate.
It received the RHS Award of Garden Merit in 1948 and 1993.
It rarely hybridizes because of the late flowering time. The bulbs dislike being disturbed and are difficult to move.
The plant suffers excessively from aphids.


Jan Frederik Veldkamp

Jan Frederik Veldkamp (31 March 1941, Amsterdam - 12 November 2017) was a Dutch botanist.


Armeria duriaei

Armeria duriaei is a flowering plant in the family Plumbaginaceae. It is endemic to mountains of north-western Spain and adjacent regions of Portugal. Its flowers are usually pink, or rarely white.


Juniperus jaliscana

Juniperus jaliscana, known commonly as the Jalisco juniper, is a species of conifer in the cypress family, Cupressaceae.
It is endemic to Mexico, where it is known from only two locations, in Durango and Jalisco.


Epilobium cleistogamum

Epilobium cleistogamum is a species of willowherb known by the common name selfing willowherb. This plant is endemic to central California where it is a resident of vernal pools and mudflats. It is a small annual plant with fuzzy pointed green leaves. Some of the leaves have hairs which are knobby and gland-tipped. The flowers are usually cleistogamous, that is, they self-pollinate without opening. Some of the flowers do open to reveal pinkish-purple to nearly white, deeply notched petals. The fruit is a tough four-sided capsule about a centimeter long.


Labordia kaalae

Labordia kaalae, the Waianae Range labordia, is a species of flowering plant in the Loganiaceae family.
It is endemic to the Waianae Mountains on Oahu island in Hawaii.
It is an endangered species, threatened by habitat loss.


Selaginella erythropus

Selaginella erythropus is a species of plant in the Selaginellaceae family, endemic to the Yucatan and Belize to Colombia and was introduced to Tanzania. It grows up to 30–40 cm in height with a bright red main stem. It likes plentiful water and humidity and enjoys temperatures of 50-75 degrees Fahrenheit (10-24 degrees Celsius). The top of the plant is green and the undersides of the leaves are a bright, ruby red color. It is a species of spike moss (also known as clubmoss) which is related to the fern family. Spike mosses reproduce through spores just like ferns do.


British NVC community H2

NVC community H2 ("Calluna vulgaris - Ulex minor" heath) is one of the heath communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of five communities categorised as lowland dry heaths.
It has a localised distribution in southern England. There are three subcommunities.
Community composition.
The following constant species are found in this community:
Two rare species, Bristle Bent ("Agrostis curtisii") and Hairy Greenweed ("Genista pilosa"), are associated with the community.
Distribution.
This community is confined to southern England, from Dorset to Surrey and Kent, with the greatest concentrations occurring in the New Forest, Hampshire.
Subcommunities.
There are three subcommunities:


Gentiana olivieri

Gentiana olivieri (Chinese: xie wan que qin jiao) is a plant species in the genus "Gentiana" found in Asia.
Bioassay-directed fractionation techniques led to isolation of isoorientin as the main hypoglycemic component in "G. olivieri".


Aristolochia sipho

Aristolochia sipho is an ornamental plant in the family Aristolochiaceae.


Pseudobryum

Pseudobryum is a genus of mosses belonging to the family Mniaceae.
Species:


Diphasiastrum tristachyum

Diphasiastrum tristachyum, commonly known as blue clubmoss, blue ground-cedar, ground pine, deep-rooted running-pine or ground cedar, is a North American and Eurasian species of clubmoss. In North America, it has been found from Newfoundland west to Manitoba, and south as far as Georgia and Alabama. In Eurasia, it ranges from southern Norway and Sweden south to France and Italy and it also occurs in the Caucasus.
The name tristachyum means three branched.
Description.
"Diphasiastrum tristachyum" is a perennial species of clubmoss. It grows from creeping underground stems which are often deeply buried at 5–12 cm deep; at nodes from this stem the above ground stems emerge. The upright stems can be tall or higher. From the main stem, several fan shaped "leaves" emerge, these are not true leaves but rather branched stems which appear to almost look like leaves, each branches 4-6 times. The stems all grow to a similar height at the top of the plant, giving it a flat topped appearance which is a diagnostic character for this species. The peduncle is ~9 cm long and often branches twice near the top to form four strobili; the strobili are ~6 cm long and 3-4mm in diameter with a rounded tip. The strobili contain the sporophyll which are 2.2-3.5 X 1.6-3mm in size, light yellow, deltoid shaped, with a long sharp pointed tip, the edges are rough and chaffy; the spore case is almost round and the spores themselves are convex on their sides.
The branches are 1-2.2mm wide and square with rounded angles when viewed in cross-section. The blue-green leaves are scale like, four-ranked and lanceolate to subulate. It can be distinguished from similar species by annual constrictions along these branches.
Ground cedar prefers dry and sandy areas with poor soils, this allows it to grow in barrens and other xeric sites. It can tolerate sterile acidic soils which are often found within coniferous forests. Ground cedar also prefers to grow in open areas where other plants are not growing densely. Plants growing in the shade are more diffusely branched than those which grow in bright sun, but branchlets are always more rounded than those of either "D. complanatum" or "D. digitatum".
Hybrids.
"D. tristachyum" forms many hybrids with other species in the genus "Diphasiastrum"


Begonia brevirimosa

Begonia brevirimosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Begoniaceae. It is native to New Guinea. The pink variegation occurs naturally. It grows as a plant up to 3 m tall. It is a common house plant and is abundant in the understory of tropical rain forest habitats.
It has also been introduced as an occasional ornamental in the U.S states of Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and even parts of California. It's pink leaves are a unique characteristic of this species.


Plant-specific insert

The plant-specific insert (PSI) or plant-specific sequence (PSS) is an independent domain, exclusively found in plants, consisting of approximately 100 residues, found on the C-terminal lobe on some aspartic proteases (AP) called phytepsins. The PSI, as an independent entity separate from its parent AP, is homologous to saposin and belongs to the saposin-like protein family (SAPLIP).
Although the PSI is grouped along proteins in the SAPLIP family, the PSI does not contain a proper saposin-like domain. This is due to a circular permutation of the N- and C-termini of the PSI, in which the termini are "swapped". This has led to the PSI being termed a "swaposin" (a play-on-words of "swap" and "saposin") although the tertiary structure still remains homologous to saposin and other members of the SAPLIP family.
Structure.
Among plants, APs between different species are generally homologous exhibiting high sequence identity whilst maintaining a similar tertiary structure to pepsin. As such, plant APs preserve the zymogenic form of the mature AP common to other aspartic proteases in which the zymogen is kept inactive until removal of the prosegment from the active cleft.
Processing.
The zymogenic form of plant APs contain the primary sequence of the PSI, although not all plant APs contain a PSI region. The PSI itself is composed of approximately 100 residues and is found in the C-terminal primary structure of zymogenic plant APs, forming an independent domain from the characteristic bilobal tertiary structure of aspartic proteases. In the case of Procardosin A, the zymogenic form of Cardosin A (the major AP found in cardoon), the PSI is first removed before activation of the mature enzyme occurs in which the prosegment is cleaved during proteolytic processing.
Tertiary structure.
The crystal structure of prophytepsin (from barley) was the first known structure to elucidate the molecular topology of any PSI. The crystal structure of prophytepsin derived PSI revealed that the overall length and position of the helices found in PSI is conserved with those of NK-lysin, another member of the SAPLIP group. Moreover, sequence alignment between NK-lysin and PSI reveals that the relative positions of the disulfide bridges are also conserved, a common trait among SAPLIPS.
Several crystal structures exist, containing the coordinates of the zymogenic parent AP and the SAPLIP domain of the PSI, for cardoon and barley. In these crystal structures, the PSI domain takes on a “closed” tertiary structure similar to that of NK-lysin and saposin. The X-ray crystallographic structure of potato PSI, recombinantly expressed separately from its parent AP, revealed a tertiary structure similar to the open structure of saposin C and forms a homodimer at pH 7.4.
The first helix on the N-terminal end of the open structure of potato PSI also shows similarity in its tertiary structure to the hemagglutinin fusion peptide, exhibiting a similar boomerang motif. As well, this helix shares the overall helix-kink-helix shape with hemagglutinin induced by the presence of a tryptophan; this revelation is important as it suggests a reason for the N-terminal side helix interaction with phospholipid bilayers. That is, it is implied that this helix-kink-helix motif is critical for the fusogenic and membrane interactions of this helix.
Function.
The underlying function of proteins belonging to the SAPLIP group is to interact with membrane bilayers, either by perturbation (without permeabilization), permeabilization of the membrane or binding to the membrane. Notable members of the SAPLIP family include granulysin (antimicrobial), pulmonary surfactant-associated protein B (pulmonary surfactant regulation) and the saposins (sphingolipid degradation) of which SAPLIPs are named after.
Specific to the PSI, it has been shown that PSI is involved in mediating interactions of the PSI, both alone and in combination with the PSI’s parent enzyme, with phospholipid membranes at acidic pH (~pH 4.5). Specifically, the PSI is involved in vacuolar targeting and membrane perturbation; this enables both the storage and movement of the AP into protein storage compartments within vacuoles contained in both leaves and roots of barley and cardoon. This is similar to the function of the SapB domain in human AOAH.
Like other members of the SAPLIP family, the PSI confers antimicrobial activity. Potato PSI overexpressed separately in "A. thalina" increases resistance to the pathogen "Botrytis cinerea", both by its own antifungal activity and by its ability to induce plant defenses. Potato PSI also has selective cytotoxic activity against pathogens and cancer cells (but not human T cells, RBC, or plant cells). It retains its antimicrobial activity when attached back into the parent AP.
Atomic force microscopy experimentation on potato PSI expressed separately from its parent AP has revealed that anionic phospholipid membranes are rearranged by PSI in a similar fashion to that observed with saposin C. As well, PSI from potato has also been shown to exhibit Michaelis-Menten-like kinetics, elucidated from large unilamellar vesicle (LUV) disruption assays in a dose-dependent manner, a feature unique among SAPLIPs. The Michaelis-Menten-like kinetics coupled with the PSIs independent function from its parent AP has thus led to the revelation that the PSI is the first known example of an “enzyme within an enzyme”.


Parsonsia straminea

Parsonsia straminea, commonly known as common silkpod or monkey rope, is a woody vine of the dogbane family, Apocynaceae. It occurs in the states of New South Wales and Queensland in Australia.
Taxonomy.
Prolific botanist Robert Brown collected the species between October and November 1804 from the Hunter and Williams Rivers in New South Wales. He described the species as "Lyonsia straminea" in his 1810 work "Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen". Brown noted that it was closely related to "Parsonsia", differing only in the structure of the capsule. The genus name commemorated mathematician and botanist Israel Lyons, who had published a survey of Cambridge flora. The species name "straminea" is Latin for "straw-coloured". Ferdinand von Mueller reclassified it in "Parsonsia" in 1868.
Description.
"Parsonsia straminea" is a vine, whose woody stems can reach in diameter, and extend for into the tree canopy. The species climbs by twining, aided by its adventitious roots. The plant exudes a clear pale brown sap when cut or damaged. The leathery adult leaves are arranged oppositely (arising in pairs) along the stems and are yellowish green on their upper surface and pale grey-green (glaucous) on the undersurface. They are long by wide—generally larger if growing in more shade—and elliptic to oblong-ovate in shape, with a round or heart-shaped (cordate) base. The fragrant pale yellow flowers are produced in panicles from November to June, peaking over February. These are followed by slender pods which are in length, which split to release the seed from September to December. The feathery seeds are carried by the wind and dispersed.
Distribution and habitat.
"Parsonsia straminea" occurs along Australia's east coast, from northeastern Queensland south to southern New South Wales as far south as Mount Gulaga. It grows in shady spots in rainforest and rainforest margins, as well as floodplains, on fertile basalt- and sandstone-based soils.
Ecology.
"Parsonsia straminea" is foraged upon by caterpillars of the common crow ("Euploea core") and the Cairns hamadryad ("Tellervo zoilus" subsp. "zoilus").
Cultivation.
"Parsonsia straminea" can grow in a range of soil types and aspects. It can be used to cover fences and screens, though could smother nearby plants. It can be propagated by cuttings or layering.


Bombacaceae

Bombacaceae were long recognised as a family of flowering plants or Angiospermae. The family name was based on the type genus "Bombax". As is true for many botanical names, circumscription and status of the taxon has varied with taxonomic point of view, and currently the preference is to transfer most of the erstwhile family Bombacaceae to the subfamily Bombacoideae within the family Malvaceae in the order Malvales. The rest of the family were transferred to other taxa, notably the new family Durionaceae. Irrespective of current taxonomic status, many of the species originally included in the Bombacaceae are of considerable ecological, historical, horticultural, and economic importance, such as balsa, kapok, baobab and durian.
Current taxonomy.
Recent phylogenetic research has shown that Bombacaceae as traditionally circumscribed (including tribe Durioneae) is not a monophyletic group. Bombacaceae is no longer recognized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group I 1998, II 2003 and Kubitzki system 2003 at the rank of family, the bulk of the taxa in question being treated as subfamilies Bombacoideae and Helicteroideae within family Malvaceae "sensu lato". A close relationship between Bombacaceae and Malvaceae has long been recognized but until recently the families have been kept separate in most classification systems, and continue to be separated in many references, including the reference work in classification of flowering plants: Heywood "et al." 2007 and Takhtajan 2009, but have been lumped together in Angiosperm Phylogeny Website.
Heywood "et al." say "although closely related to Malvaceae, molecular data supports their separation. Only pollen and habit seem to provide a morphological basis for the separation." On the other hand, they say: "One approach is to lump them [the families in the core Malvales, including Bombacaceae] all into a 'super' Malvaceae, recognizing them as subfamilies. The other, taken here, is to recognize each of these ten groups as families."
As circumscribed in its traditional sense, the family Bombacaceae includes around 30 genera (25 genera after Heywood "et al." ) with about 250 species of tropical trees, some of considerable girth, so called "bottle trees". Many species grow to become large trees, with "Ceiba pentandra" the tallest, reaching a height to 70 m. Several of the genera are commercially important, producing timber, edible fruit or useful fibres. The family is noted for some of the softest hardwoods commercially traded, especially balsa, "Ochroma lagopus". The fruit of the durian, "Durio zibethinus" is famous, tasting better than it smells. At one time the fibre from the kapok tree, "Ceiba pentandra" was used in making lifebuoys. The baobabs or "bottle trees" ("Adansonia" spp.) are important icons in certain parts of Africa, Australia and Madagascar, noted for their immensely stout trunk development, a mechanism for enhancing water storage.


Tetraplasandra

Tetraplasandra is an obsolete genus of flowering plants in the ivy family, Araliaceae. They are small to medium trees, (rarely shrubs or large trees) of mesic to wet forests.
Some authors have recognized as many as 19 species in "Tetraplasandra", while others have recognized as few as six. In 2007, the authors of a scientific paper recommended that the genus be divided into nine species. In 2010, all of these nine species were included in "Polyscias" subgenus Tetraplasandra, a subgenus of 21 species in the large genus "Polyscias", which will comprise about 250 species, when about 90 undescribed species are published.
The range of variation in "Tetraplasandra" is unusually large for a genus in Araliaceae Most of the species were originally described in other genera which were later merged with "Tetraplasandra".
The type species for the genus is "T. hawaiensis".
As defined by in 1970, "Tetraplasandra" is endemic to Hawaii and occurs on six of the eight main islands. Niihau and Kahoolawe are low-lying and dry; consequently, they do not support "Tetraplasandra". "T. oahuensis", "T. kavaiensis", and "T. hawaiensis" are found on six, five, and four of the islands, respectively. The other species are single-island endemics.
"T. oahuensis" and "T.kavaiensis" have done well in cultivation in Southern California. They are sensitive to heat, but very tolerant of shade, and they need some wind protection. In horticulture, "T. kavaiensis" has often been misidentified as "T. meiandra". True "T. meiandra" is now treated as a synonym of "T. oahuensis".
"T. gymnocarpa", a rare tree of Oahu, is considered an oddity, since it is the only species in Araliaceae whose flowers have a completely superior ovary.
The genus "Tetraplasandra" has long been known as a close relative of the obsolete genera "Gastonia", "Reynoldsia", and "Munroidendron". This was confirmed by a pollen study in 1971. In 2010, "Arthrophyllum", "Cuphocarpus", "Gastonia", "Reynoldsia", "Munroidendron", and "Tetraplasandra" were all sunk into "Polyscias", raising the number of species in that genus from about 100 to 159.
Four Hawaiian names are applied to groups of "Tetraplasandra" species. "T. hawaiensis" is known as ohe. "T. kavaiensis" and "T. gymnocarpa" are called oheohe. "T. waimeae" is called ohe kikoola. "T. oahuensis" and "T. lydgatei" are called ohe mauka. The related name, ohe makai, is applied to "Polyscias sandwicensis", formerly known as "Reynoldsia sandwicensis". These names closely correspond to clades currently recognized within "Tetraplasandra".
Species in "Polyscias" subgenus Tetraplasandra.
Most of the information in the species list is from Lowry and Plunkett (2010). Synonyms are names of species accepted by Sherff (1955) or by Frodin and Govaerts (2003), except for "Tetraplasandra lydgatei" and "Tetraplasandra bisattenuata", which were resurrected after 2003. For complete synonymy and distribution within the Hawaiian Islands, see Lowry (1990).
History.
The genus name was erected by Asa Gray in 1854, in his account of the botany of the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838-1842). The name is derived from Greek, "tetraplasios", "fourfold", and "andros", "male, stamen".
Asa Gray named only one species, "T. hawaiensis", in "Tetraplasandra". The tree that was later known as "Tetraplasandra oahuensis" (now "Polyscias oahuensis"), he named "Gastonia oahuensis", but with considerable doubt about its placement.
In 1867, Horace Mann Jr. named two new species, "H. kavaiensis" and "H. dipyrenum" in "Heptapleurum", a genus that Joseph Gaertner had named in 1791, in "De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum". Mann created a new section in "Heptapleurum" for the two Hawaiian species. He named the new section "Pterotropia". "Heptapleurum" is no longer recognized and its type species is now known as "Schefflera stellata". Earl Edward Sherff did not consider the two species named by Mann to be truly distinct. He included both in "Tetraplasandra kavaiensis", which he divided into eight varieties, including "T. kavaiensis" var. "dipyrena".
From 1864 to 1868, Berthold Carl Seemann published a series of articles in the "Journal of Botany, British and Foreign", all of which were entitled "Revision of the natural order Hederaceae". In 1868, he published a book by the same title. He divided what later became Hawaiian "Tetraplasandra" into four genera. He maintained "Tetraplasandra" for "T. hawaiensis" and created two new genera; "Triplasandra", for Asa Gray's "Gastonia oahuensis" and "Dipanax" for Mann's "Tetraplasandra dipyrena". He placed Mann's "Tetraplasandra kavaiensis" in "Agalma", a genus that Friedrich A.W. Miquel had established in 1856.
In 1873, Heinrich Wawra von Fernsee named a new species from Kauai as "Tetraplasandra waimeae".
In 1888, in the first flora of the Hawaiian Islands, Wilhelm B. Hillebrand raised Horace Mann Jr's "Pterotropia" to generic rank as "Pterotropia". He added to it, a new species from Oahu, which he named "Pterotropia gymnocarpa". This work was published posthumously by his son, William Francis Hillebrand to whom the name "Pterotropia" is often incorrectly attributed. The name "Pterotropia" is now considered illegitimate because, while "Pterotropia" is an older name, "Dipanax" is older at generic rank and therefore has priority.
Wilhelm B. Hillebrand put two species in "Tetraplasandra": "T. hawaiensis" and "T. waimeae". He placed four species in "Triplasandra": "Tri. oahuensis", "Tri. meiandra", "Tri. lydgatei", and "Tri. kaalae". Three of these were newly named. "Tetraplasandra waimeae" is now known to be closer to "T. oahuensis" than to "T. hawaiensis".
In 1898, in a monograph on Araliaceae for "Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien", Hermann Harms adopted Hillebrand's "Pterotropia", but sank "Triplasandra" back into "Tetraplasandra". Harms accepted the six species that Hillebrand had placed in "Triplasandra" and "Tetraplasandra". He also included in "Tetraplasandra", the Malesian species that was later called "Gastonia serratifolia" and then "Polyscias serratifolia".
In 1913, Joseph F.C. Rock described a new species from Kauai, and named it "Tetraplasandra waialealae".
In 1917, Charles Noyes Forbes named another species from Kauai as "Tetraplasandra racemosa". Both of these are still recognized as distinct species, but in 1952, Earl Edward Sherff erected the new genus "Munroidendron" for "T. racemosa".
In 1955, Sherff wrote a revision of the Hawaiian species of "Tetraplasandra". It included a detailed taxonomic history. Sherff considered "Tetraplasandra" to consist of three species from Malesia and 19 from Hawaii. In this treatment, he named several new species and included others that had been named by Joseph F.C. Rock, Otto Degener and Carl J.F. Skottsberg. Of all of the species named by Sherff, only "T. bisattenuata" is still recognized today.
Sherff recognized the uniqueness of "T. hawaiensis", a judgement that was corroborated by subsequent evidence. He understood that "T. waimeae" and "T. waialealae" are closely related and that these two belong in a group with "T. oahuensis", "T. lydgatei", and "T. bisattenuata". He placed "Pterotropia" in synonymy under "Tetraplasandra", writing that "a monographic study of "Tetraplasandra" reveals so much interlocking and overlapping of characters between "Tetraplasandra" and the species assigned to "Pterotropia" as to remove all warrant for their segregation".
In 1990, "Tetraplasandra" was covered in a flora of Hawaii. Only six species were recognized, pending further study. These were "T. gymnocarpa, T. hawaiensis, T. kavaiensis, T. oahuensis, T. waialealae," and "T. waimeae". A detailed description and full synonymy were given for each species.
In 2000, a new species from the island of Kauai, "Tetraplasandra flynnii", was described in Novon. At that time, it was known from only three individuals. "Tetraplasandra lydgatei" was resurrected in 2005 in a paper in Pacific Science. At that time, it was known from only six individuals on the island of Oahu.
In 2007, a molecular phylogenetic study compared by cladistic methods, the DNA sequences of two regions of nuclear DNA for eight species of "Tetraplasandra" and their close relatives. The two DNA regions, known as Internal transcribed spacer and non-transcribed spacer are adjacent to genes for Ribosomal RNA. In this study, the former genus "Tetraplasandra" was resolved as monophyletic and consisting of three clades.
"T. hawaiensis" was found to be sister to the rest of "Tetraplasandra". "T. kavaiensis", "T. flynnii", and "T. gymnocarpa" formed a strongly supported clade. The remaining clade consisted of "T. bisattenuata", "T. oahuensis", "T. waimeae", and "T. waialealae". "T. bisattenuata" was found to be distinct and the authors recommended that it be reinstated.
"Tetraplasandra oahuensis" is heterogeneous and probably polyspecific, but the authors recommended that further studies be conducted before any attempt to divide it.
"Polyscias" subgenus Tetraplasandra.
In 2010, a molecular phylogenetic study was published for the seven genera which at that time constituted the pinnate Araliaceae. It was found that the six smaller genera are all embedded in the large genus "Polyscias". In a companion paper, published simultaneously, the six smaller genera ("Arthrophyllum, Cuphocarpus, Gastonia, Reynoldsia, Munroidendron," and "Tetraplasandra") were placed in synonymy under "Polyscias", thereby raising the number of species in that genus from about 100 to 159. About 80 species from Madagascar and ten from New Caledonia are known from recently collected specimens. They will be named and described in forthcoming papers. Many of these were photographed during field work.
"Polyscias" has been divided into 11 subgenera, with seven species placed incertae sedis, that is, without decision on which part of "Polyscias" they should belong to. "Polyscias" subgenus Tetraplasandra comprises 21 species, consisting of the former genera "Tetraplasandra", "Munroidendron", and "Reynoldsia", as well as the two Malesian species that were in "Gastonia", and four of the six species that Philipson had placed in "Polyscias" section Eupteron.
"Polyscias acuminata" might also belong to "Polyscias" subgenus Tetraplasandra. It was placed incertae sedis, but has characters resembling those of subgenus Tetraplasandra. In other ways, however, it resembles "Polyscias nodosa", the sole member of "Polyscias" subgenus Eupteron.
The former genus "Tetraplasandra" is a monophyletic group and is sister to a clade consisting of only two species: "Polyscias racemosa" and "Polyscias sandwicensis". The former had constituted the monospecific genus "Munroidendron" and the latter is the type species for the previously accepted genus "Reynoldsia". This "Hawaiian clade" of 11 species consists of all of the native Hawaiian members of "Polyscias".
The former genus "Reynoldsia" turned out to be diphyletic, with its single Hawaiian species not forming a clade with the four species from Samoa, Tahiti, and the Marquesas. Basal relationships in "Polyscias" subgenus Tetraplasandra remain obscure because of insufficient taxon sampling in phylogenetic studies.
Sources.
Gregory M. Plunkett, Jun Wen, Porter P. Lowry II, Murray J. Henwood, Pedro Fiaschi, and Anthony D. Mitchell. accepted, undated. Araliaceae, pages ??. In: Klaus Kubitzki (editor); ?? (volume editor). "The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants" volume ??. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany. ISBN ??


Scilla nana

Scilla nana, known as dwarf glory-of-the-snow, is a bulbous perennial from Crete flowering in early spring with flowers in shades of lilac blue. After flowering, it goes into dormancy until the next spring. It belongs to a group of "Scilla" species that were formerly put in a separate genus, "Chionodoxa", and may now be treated as "Scilla" sect. "Chionodoxa". It has not always been recognized as distinct from "Scilla cretica".
Description.
Like all members of "Scilla" sect. "Chionodoxa", the bases of the stamens of "Scilla nana" are flattened and closely clustered in the middle of the flower. In other species of "Scilla", the stamens are not flattened or clustered together.
"S. nana" (like "S. cretica") has two leaves per bulb, and at most one flowering stem, with one to five (more commonly three) flowers in a loose raceme. Individual flowers are up to 2.4 cm diameter with tepals up to 1.1 cm long, most facing upwards, the overall colour effect being some shade of lilac-blue. Sfikas distinguishes between smaller plants with whitish flowers occurring above 1700 m, "S. nana", and larger plants with bluer flowers occurring below 1700 m, "S. cretica".
"S. nana" subsp. "albescens" (synonym "S. albescens") is recognized by some sources, although not by others. It has slightly smaller flowers (tepals up to 1 cm long), whitish with lavender to violet-blue tips. It was awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit (H4 – hardy outdoors anywhere in the British Isles) in 2004, subject to availability.
Taxonomy.
"Scilla nana" was first described in 1829, as "Hyacinthus nana", by Josef August Schultes and Julius Hermann Schultes. It was transferred to "Chionodoxa" in 1854. "Chionodoxa" was separated from "Scilla" partly on the basis of the flattened stamen bases. Phylogenetic studies showed that "Chionodoxa" was nested within "Scilla". Former "Chionodoxa" species may now be treated as "Scilla" sect. "Chionodoxa".
Plants occurring in Crete have at one time or another been put into one of three species (in either "Scilla" or "Chionodoxa"): "S. albescens" , "S. cretica" and "S. nana" . Sfikas' "Wild flowers of Crete" recognized only two of these (in "Chionodoxa" as "C. cretica" and "C. nana"); the Natural History Museum's checklist of the Cretan Flora recognized only one ("S. nana"). , the "World Checklist of Selected Plant Families" accepts both "S. nana" and "S. cretica".
Distribution and habitat.
"Scilla nana" is endemic to Crete, where it occurs at elevations of 1700–2300 m.


Frithia humilis

Frithia humilis is a species of plant in the family Aizoaceae. It is one of the few members of Aizoaceae growing endemic to the summer-rainfall region of South Africa. It is restricted to two provinces of South Africa: Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
This small plant consists of a cluster of long, succulent leaves that stick out just above the sandy gravel, with a thickened underground rootstock. The leaves lose water and contract during drought, hiding underground and so preventing more water loss.
References.
"South African National Biodiversity Institute, South Africa."


Blutaparon rigidum

Blutaparon rigidum, sometimes known as the Galapagos amaranth, was a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae. It was endemic to the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador.


Xanthophyllum flavescens

Xanthophyllum flavescens is a plant in the family Polygalaceae. The specific epithet "" is from the Latin meaning "becoming yellow", referring to the leaves.
Description.
"Xanthophyllum flavescens" grows as a shrub or tree up to tall with a trunk diameter of up to . The bark is grey or greenish brown. The flowers are yellow, white or pink. The brown fruits are round and measure up to in diameter.
Distribution and habitat.
"Xanthophyllum flavescens" grows naturally in continental Southeast Asia and western Malesia. Its habitat is mixed dipterocarp or montane forests from sea-level to altitude.


Anthodiscus

Anthodiscus is a genus of plant in family Caryocaraceae described as a genus in 1818.
The entire genus is endemic to South America.


Solenostemon

Solenostemon is a former genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. It has been included in the genus "Plectranthus", but is now included in an expanded "Coleus". They are native to tropical Africa, Asia and Australia. Some species formerly placed in this genus are cultivated for their highly variegated leaves.
Former species.
Some species formerly placed in the genus are:


Saxifragales

The Saxifragales (saxifrages) are an order of flowering plants (Angiosperms). They are an extremely diverse group of plants which include trees, shrubs, perennial herbs, succulent and aquatic plants. The degree of diversity in terms of vegetative and floral features makes it difficult to define common features that unify the order.
In the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification system, the Saxifragales are placed within the major division of flowering plants referred to as eudicots, specifically the core eudicots. This subgroup consist of the Dilleniaceae, superasterids and superrosids. The superrosids in turn have two components, rosids and Saxifragales. The Saxifragales order has undergone considerable revision since its original classification based purely on plant characteristics. The modern classification is based on genetic studies using molecular phylogenetics. There is an extensive fossil record from the Turonian-Campanian (late Cretaceous) time, about 90 million years ago (Myr). However, molecular studies suggest an earlier origin in the early Cretaceous (102–108 Myr) with rapid early diversification to more modern forms.
The order Saxifragales consists of 15 families, about 100 genera and 2,470 species. Of the 15 families, many are small, with 8 having only a single genus, the largest family being the Crassulaceae (stonecrops) with about 35 genera. Saxifragales are found worldwide, though rarely in the tropics, and in a wide variety of habitats from desert to aquatic. They also have a wide variety of uses, from timber to foodstuffs and ornamental plants. Apart from ornamentals, the major economically important group is the Grossulariaceae (currants and gooseberries), particularly blackcurrant.
Description.
The order Saxifragales is extremely morphologically diverse (hyper-diverse). It includes trees (e.g. witch hazel, witch alder in Hamamelidaceae), fruit bearing shrubs (e.g. currants, gooseberries in Grossulariaceae), lianas, annual and perennial herbs, rock garden plants (e.g. saxifrage in Saxifragaceae), ornamental garden plants (e.g. peonies in Paeoniaceae), succulents (e.g. stonecrop in Crassulaceae) and aquatics (e.g. watermilfoil in Haloragaceae). The flowers demonstrate major variations in sepal, petal, stamen, and carpel number, as well as ovary position ("see" Biogeography and evolution).
This degree of diversity makes defining synapomorphy (derived common characteristics) for the group extremely difficult, the order being defined on the basis of molecular affinity rather than morphology. However, some characteristics that are prevalent (common traits) represent potential or putative synapomorphies based on ancestral states. These include flowers that are usually radially symmetric and petals that are free. The gynoecium (female reproductive part) generally consists of two carpels (ovary, style and stigma) that are free, at least toward the apex (partially fused bicarpellate gynoecium) and possess a hypanthium (cup shaped basal floral tube). In the androecium (male reproductive part), the stamen anthers are generally basifixed (attached at its base to the filament), sometimes dorsifixed (attached at centre) ("see Figure 2"). Other commonly occurring features are fruit that is generally follicular (formed from a single carpel), seeds with abundant endosperm surrounding the embryo and leaves with glandular teeth at their margins (glandular dentate, "see image"). Within the Saxifragales, while the families of the woody clade are primarily woody, the primarily herbaceous families of Crassulaceae and Saxifragaceae exhibit woody features as a secondary transition.
Taxonomy.
With 15 families, about 100 genera and about 2,470 species, Saxifragales is a relatively small angiosperm order.
History.
Saxifragales was first described in 1820 by Berchtold and Presl in 1820 as a group of plants, Saxifrageae, with five genera, including "Saxifraga", and therefore bear their names as the botanical authority (Bercht. & J.Presl). At times, that authority has also been given to Dumortier, due to a later publication (1829). Dumortier first used the word Saxifragaceae. By the time of John Lindley's "The Vegetable Kingdom" (1853), the term Saxifragales was in use, which Lindley called an Alliance, containing five families. Later, the Saxifragales were placed in the angiosperm class Dicotyledons, also called Magnoliopsida.
Phylogeny.
The order Saxifragales has undergone considerable revision in both placement and composition, since the use of molecular phylogenetics, and the use of the modern Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) classification. They are identified as a strongly monophyletic group.
In the initial APG publication (1998), the Saxifragales were identified within the core eudicots clade but its relationship to other clades was uncertain. The core eudicots consist of the order Gunnerales and a large clade of Pentapetalae (so named for having a synapomorphy of pentamerous (5 part) perianths), the latter representing about 70% of all angiosperms, with eight major lineages. Later (2003), the order was described as "one of the major surprises of molecular phylogenetic analyses of the angiosperms", having elements previously placed in three or four separate subclasses based on morphology. This was eventually resolved in the third APG system (2009) placing Saxifragales as a sister group to the rosids (Rosidae), within the Pentapetalae clade. This large combination has subsequently been given the name superrosids (Superrosidae), representing part of an early diversification of the angiosperms. Among the rosids, they share a number of similarities with the Rosales, particularly Rosaceae, including a hypanthium, five part flowers and free floral parts. As circumscribed, Saxifragales account for 1.3% of eudicot diversity.
Biogeography and evolution.
Diversification among Saxifragales was rapid, with the extensive fossil record indicating that the order was more diverse and more widespread than an examination of the extant members suggests, with considerable phenotypic diversity occurring early. The earliest fossil evidence is found in the Turonian-Campanian (late Cretaceous), suggesting a minimum age of 89.5 Myr. However, molecular divergence time estimation suggest an earlier time of 102–108 Myr, into the early Cretaceous, for the crown and stem groups respectively. Within the order Saxifragales, the molecular data imply a very rapid initial diversification time of about 6–8 Myr, between 112–120 Myr, with major lineages appearing within 3–6 Myr.
The ancestral state appears to be woody, as in Peridiscaceae and the woody clade, but is also ancestral to Grossulariaceae. A number of independent transitions to a herbaceous habit occurred in the ancestors of Crassulaceae, Saxifragaceae and the base of the Haloragaceae-Penthoraceae clade (the other two families in Haloragaceae "s.l." remaining woody), while other taxa reverted to a woody habit, especially Crassulaceae. Most of Saxifragales have a superior ovary, but some families show frequent transition with inferior or subinferior position, particularly Saxifragaceae and to a lesser extent Hamamelidaceae. Almost all Grossulariaceae have an inferior ovary. The ancestral carpel number is two, with transition to higher numbers, such as four in Haloragaceae "s.l." and Peridiscaceae with five in Penthoraceae. The ancestral carpel number for Crassulaceae is five, decreasing to four in "Kalanchoe", where it is synapomorphic for the genus, though the most frequent transition in this family is 6–10, but only where stamen number is increased above five. Some Macaronesian taxa (Aeonieae) have 8–12, with up to 32 carpels for "Aeonium".
The ancestral petal number is five, with three major transitions; 5 to 0, 5 to 4, 5 to 6–10. Increased petal number is seen in Paeoniaceae and Crassulaceae, particularly where stamen number is also increased. Cercidiphyllum + Daphniphyllum, Chrysosplenium and "Altingia" are examples of the complete loss of petals. The ancestral stamen:petal ratio is 1, with transitions characterising several clades, e.g. Paeonicaceae+woody clade >2, Crassulaceae 2 (but "Crassula" 1). Overall there has been a decrease over evolution, but independent of a decrease in petal number, so that it is the stamen number that has decreased. The ancestral habitat appears to be forests, followed by early diversification into desert and aquatic habitats, with shrubland the most recent colonization.
Species diversification was rapid following a transition from a warmer, wetter Earth in the Eocene (56–40 Myr) to early Miocene (23–16 Myr), to the cooler drier conditions of the mid-Miocene (16–12 Myr). However, this appears to not have coincided with ecological and phenotypic evolution, which are themselves correlated. There is a clear lag, whereby increase in species diversification was followed later by increases in niche and phenotypic lability.
Subdivision.
The first APG classification (1998) placed 13 families with the order Saxifragales:
This was subsequently revised to 15, in the fourth version (2016). The Saxifragales families have been grouped into a number of informally named suprafamilial subclades, with the exception of the basal split of Peridiscaceae, which thus forms a sister group with the rest of Saxifragales. The two major ones are (Paeoniaceae + the woody clade of primarily woody families) and the "core" Saxifragales (i.e. the primarily herbaceous families), with the latter subdivided into two further subclades, (Haloragaceae "sensu lato" + Crassulaceae) and the Saxifragaceae alliance.
In the clade Haloragaceae "sensu lato" "(s.l.)" + Crassulaceae the genera constituting Haloragaceae "s.l." are all small, and APG II (2003) proposed merging them into a single larger Haloragaceae "s.l.", but transferred "Aphanopetalum" from Cunoniaceae to this group. The Saxifragaceae alliance represents Saxifragaceae together with a number of woody members of the traditional Saxifragaceae "sensu" Engler (1930). Within this, APG II (2003) proposed placing the two species of "Pterostemon" that constitute Pterostemonaceae within Iteaceae, and all subsequent versions have maintained this practice. Thus Saxifragales "sensu" APG II consisted of only 10 families. The third version (2009) added Peridiscaceae (from Malpighiales), as sister to all other families, but re-expanded Haloragaceae to provide for a narrower circumscription, Haloragaceae "sensu stricto" ("s.s."), to give a total of 14 families. APG IV (2016) added the parasitic family Cynomoriaceae to provide a total of 15 families, although its placement within the order remained unclear.
Of the 15 families included in APG IV, the basal divergence Peridiscaceae underwent radical shifting and recircumscription from 2003 to 2009. Originally, it consisted of two closely related genera, "Peridiscus" and "Whittonia". The APG II system placed the family in Malpighiales, based on a DNA sequence for the "rbcL" gene from "Whittonia". This sequence turned out to be not from "Whittonia", but from other plants whose DNA had contaminated the sample. After placement in Saxifragales, it was expanded to include "Soyauxia" in 2007, and "Medusandra" in 2009.
In the first of the subclades of the remaining Saxifragales, Paeoniaceae possesses many unique features and its taxonomic position was controversial for a long time, and "Paeonia" was placed in Ranunculales, close to "Glaucidium", prior to transfer to Saxifragales as sister to the woody clade.
In the woody clade, the genus "Liquidamber" was included in Hamamelidaceae until molecular phylogenetic studies showed that its inclusion might make Hamamelidaceae paraphyletic, and was segregated as a separate monotypic family, Altingiaceae in 2008. Cercidiphyllaceae was for a long time associated with Hamamelidaceae and Trochodendraceae and was often thought to be closer to the latter, which is now in the basal eudicot order Trochodendrales. "Daphniphyllum" was always thought to have an anomalous combination of characters and was placed in several different orders before molecular phylogenetic analysis showed it to belong to Saxifragales.
In the core Saxifragales, Crassulaceae and Tetracarpaeaceae have been associated with Saxifragaceae, while "Penthorum" has been associated both with Crassulaceae and Saxifragaceae, before being placed here. "Aphanopetalum" was often placed in Cunoniaceae, a family in Oxalidales, even though there were good reasons to put it in Saxifragales, and it was subsequently transferred. Haloragaceae was included in Myrtales, before being placed in Saxifragales.
The other "core" group, the Saxifragaceae alliance comprises four families: Pterostemonaceae, Iteaceae, Grossulariaceae, and Saxifragaceae, which have long been known to be related to each other, but the circumscription of Saxifragaceae has been much reduced and Pterostemonaceae submerged as "Pterostemon" in Iteaceae.
Most of the families are monogeneric. "Choristylis" is now considered a synonym of Itea, but the addition of "Pterostemon", gives Iteaceae two genera. "Liquidambar" and "Semiliquidambar" are also submerged into "Altingia", making Altingiaceae monogeneric. About 95% of the species are in five families: Crassulaceae (1400), Saxifragaceae (500), Grossulariaceae (150–200), Haloragaceae (150), and Hamamelidaceae (100).
The relationships of the Saxifragales families to each other is shown in the following cladogram. The phylogeny in this cladogram still has some uncertainty as to the exact relationships, and the phylogenetic tree is subject to further revision. Cynomoriaceae, previously placed in Santales or Rosales is included in Saxifragales, but unplaced within it. Li et al. (2019) have slightly different relationships, and also place Cynomoriaceae as the first branch in the Crassulaceae+Haloragaceae "s.l." tree, i.e. as sister to those two families. The number of genera in each family is shown in parentheses:
Distribution and habitat.
Saxifragales are found worldwide, though primarily in temperate zones and rarely in the tropics. They occupy a wide variety of habitats from arid desert (Crassulaceae) to aquatic conditions (Haloragaceae), with 6 families, including North American species, that are obligate aquatic (fully dependent on an aquatic environment), and including forests, grasslands and tundra. Saxifragales exceeds all other comparably sized clades in terms of diversity of habitats. Most of the diversity occurs in temperate (including montane and arid) conditions that expanded globally during cooling and drying trends in the last 15 My.
The most common habitats are forests and cliffs, with about 300 species occupying each, but with forests being the most diverse phenotypically, where nearly all families are represented. In contrast desert and tundra, with only two families each, contain only about 10% of species. About 90% of species can be assigned to a single habitat.
Conservation.
"Whittonia" (Peridiscaceae) is thought to be extinct. the IUCN lists 9 critically endangered, 12 endangered, 19 vulnerable and 7 near threatened species. Among the most threatened Saxifragales are "Aichryson dumosum" and "Monanthes wildpretii" (Crassulaceae), "Haloragis stokesii" and "Myriophyllum axilliflorum" (Haloragaceae), "Ribes malvifolium" and "R. sardoum" (Grossulariaceae), "Saxifraga artvinensis" (Saxifragaceae) and "Molinadendron hondurense" (Hamamelidaceae).
Uses.
Plants in the order Saxifragales have found a wide variety of uses, including traditional medicines, ornamental, household, aquarium, pond and garden plants, spices, foodstuffs (fruit and greens), dyestuffs, smoking, resin, timber and roof coverings (see Families).
Cultivation.
A number of Saxifragales genera are commercially cultivated. "Paeonia" are cultivated both as ornamental shrubs (generally sold as root stock) and for cut flowers, with the Netherlands representing the largest production, other more minor producers are Israel, New Zealand, Chile and the United States. "Liquidamber" is used for hardwood, with the American Sweetgum ("Liquidambar styraciflua") being among the most important sources of commercial hardwood in the Southeast United States, with one of its uses being veneer for plywood. "Hamamelis" is cultivated in New England for distilleries extracting witch-hazel, widely used in skincare, and is the largest source of this medicament in the world. Among the Crassulaceae, economic importance is limited to horticulture, with many species and cultivars important as ornamentals, including "Crassula ovata" (jade plant) and "Jovibarba" (hen and chicken). "Hylotelphium", "Phedimus", "Sedum" and "Sempervivum" are cultivated for rock gardens and for "green roofs". In particular, cultivars of the Madagascan "Kalanchoe blossfeldiana", e.g. 'Florists kalanchoe' have achieved commercial success throughout the world, being popular Christmas decorative plants. The Haloragaceae aquatic genus "Myriophyllum" and the closely related "Proserpinaca" are cultivated for the commercial aquarium trade. "Myriophyllum" is also economically important for purification of water and as feed for pigs, ducks, and fish, and polishing wood.
A number of "Ribes" (Grossulariaceae) are in commercial production, concentrated in Europe and the USSR from species native to those areas. "R. nigrum" (blackcurrant) was first cultivated in monastery gardens in Russia in the 11th century, and currant cultivation more generally later in Western Europe, "R. uva-crispa" (gooseberry) production began around 1700. The first colonists in N America began cultivating currants in the late 1700s. "R. nigrum" is the most important commercial currant crop, being produced in more than 23 countries, with the major centres being Russia (more than 63 thousand hectares), Poland, Germany, Scandinavia and the UK. An important source of Vitamin C, black currants are used in the manufacture of jam, fruit jelly, compote, syrup, juice and other drinks, including the cordial Ribena and the liqueur Cassis. Other commercial crops include "R. rubrum" (red currant). World "Ribes" crop production was over 750,000 tons in 2002, of which about 150,000 tons were gooseberries, and the largest group blackcurrants.


Ilex reticulata

Ilex reticulata is a species of plant in the family Aquifoliaceae. It is endemic to Guangxi province in China.


Hirtella

Hirtella is a genus of 110 species of woody trees in family Chrysobalanaceae. It was first described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. "Hirtella" naturally occurs in tropical forests throughout Latin America, the West Indies, southeast Africa, and Madagascar. The flowers are mainly pollinated by butterflies.
Species.
List of accepted species according to Kew:


Sapindales

Sapindales is an order of flowering plants. Well-known members of Sapindales include citrus; maples, horse-chestnuts, lychees and rambutans; mangos and cashews; frankincense and myrrh; mahogany and neem.
The APG III system of 2009 includes it in the clade malvids (in rosids, in eudicots) with the following nine families:
The APG II system of 2003 allowed the optional segregation of families now included in the Nitrariaceae.
In the classification system of Dahlgren the Rutaceae were placed in the order Rutales, in the superorder Rutiflorae (also called Rutanae). The Cronquist system of 1981 used a somewhat different circumscription, including the following families:
The difference from the APG III system is not as large as may appear, as the plants in the families Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae stay in this order at APG III (both included in family Sapindaceae). The species now composing the family Nitrariaceae in APG III also belonged to this order in the Cronquist system as part of the family Zygophyllaceae, while those now in the family Kirkiaceae were present as part of the family Simaroubaceae.


Eucnide

Eucnide (stingbush) is a genus of plants in the family Loasaceae.
Species include:


Stenochlaena palustris

Stenochlaena palustris (, ) is an edible medicinal fern species. In the folk medicines of India and Malaysia, the leaves of this fern are used as remedies for fever, skin diseases, ulcers, and stomachache.
This plant is a long-climbing fern with thin black scales and stems that can reach up to 20 m. It has pinnate fronds that are 30–100 cm long, petioles that are 7–20 cm long, and ovate lanceolate pinnae that are 10–15 cm long and 1.5–4.5 cm wide. The fern's sporophylls are long and narrow, and have brownish sori underneath.
Acylated flavonol glycosides isolated from the fern were found to have antibacterial activities. Crude and partially purified extracts prepared from the fern have been shown to exhibit antifungal, antioxidant, and antiglucosidase activities.
The district of Diliman in Quezon City, one of the Philippines' most important educational districts, is named after this fern. The species epithet "palustris" is Latin for "of the marsh" and indicates its common habitat.
Cuisine.
In the Malaysian state of Sarawak, the plant is called "Midin". It is a popular food among the locals. The young fronds are usually served stir-fried with garlic, dry shrimps, or Shrimp paste. ("Belacan"). In Sabah, it is called "Lembiding". People usually cook it with sardines or belacan.
In Vietnam, the young fronds are called and can be used in soups, salads and some stir fry dishes, especially with garlic.


Polystichum mohrioides

Polystichum mohrioides is a fern in the family Dryopteridaceae. It is found only in the Falkland and South Georgia Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.


Actinocladum verticillatum


Limnocharitaceae

Limnocharitaceae was a family of flowering plants in the monocot order Alismatales. In the APG IV system, it is included in the family Alismataceae. It is commonly known as the water poppy family. Species that have been placed in this taxon are small, perennial, aquatic herbs, native to the tropics, but adventive or naturalized in the subtropics as a result of cultivation.
The Limnocharitaceae include three genera, and these, in turn comprise eight species. Some of the species are closely related and, consequently, hard to identify. "Butomopsis" is monospecific ("B. latifolia") and indigenous to tropical Africa, Southeast Asia, and northern Australia. "Limnocharis" and "Hydrocleys" are native to the neotropics. "Limnocharis" has two species. "Limnocharis flava" is grown as a potherb in India and Isan, Thailand. It has become a weed in Indonesia. It is sometimes sold as an ornamental for aquaria. "Hydrocleys" has five species. "Hydrocleys nymphoides" is common in water gardens, and probably for this reason, it is persistent in the wild in Florida and Texas.
Description.
The following description is based on two sources.
Perennial herbs with unbranched stems. Leaves basal, petiolate. Stomata paracytic. Laticifers present. Inflorescence scapose, with bracts subtending each flower. Flowers actinomorphic, bisexual, solitary or in pseudoumbels. Sepals 3, persistent. Petals 3, white or yellow. Stamens 3 to 100. Ovary superior. Carpels 3 to 20, in 1 (rarely 2) whorls, free or basally connate. Ovules 12 to 100 per carpel and scattered over the inner surface. Fruit a follicle.
Taxonomy.
Some authors have placed "Butomus" in the Limnocharitaceae because of its laminar placentation and follicular fruit, but it is now placed in the monospecific family Butomaceae.
The Limnocharitaceae are closely related to the Alismataceae, but differ from them by the fully dehiscent fruit, numerous ovules per carpel, and laminar placentation. Members of both of these families have laticifers, petioles, a terminal pore on each leaf, a sepaloid calyx, and thin, evanescent petals.
The family Limnocharitaceae was separated from the Alismataceae by Armen Takhtajan in 1954, but was not validly published until a Latin diagnosis was supplied by Arthur J. Cronquist in 1981. The Limnocharitaceae were recognized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group in their APG II system of 2003, but in their APG III system of 2009, they sank the family back into the Alismataceae. Some molecular phylogenetic studies have indicated that the Limnocharitaceae might not be monophyletic, but paraphyletic over the Alismataceae "sensu stricto".
The Limnocharitaceae are recognized as a distinct family by Heywood "et al." 2007.


Appalachian quillwort

Appalachian quillwort is a common name for several plants and may refer to:


Ilex euryoides

Ilex euryoides is a species of plant in the family Aquifoliaceae. It is endemic to China.


Eucalyptus cannonii

Eucalyptus cannonii, commonly known as red stringybark, is a tree native to New South Wales in eastern Australia. It is regarded as a synonym of "Eucalyptus macrorhyncha" subsp. "cannonii" by the Australian Plant Census.


Lithospermum caroliniense

Lithospermum caroliniense, commonly known as the hairy puccoon or Carolina puccoon, is a flowering plant found in the Midwestern United States and Canadian provinces surrounding the Great Lakes. The plant grows in sandhills, pine barrens, and dry, sandy woods.
Description.
Dr. Robert W. Poole and Dr. Patricia Gentili describe the hairy puccoon as follows:
Flowers large (up to 1 inch in diameter) yellow-orange with 5 petals and basal parts of petals fused into a long corolla tube. Stamens hidden in corolla tube. Flowers arranged in a flat-topped cluster or weakly curled, short sprays. Stem and leaves coarsely hairy. Leaves broadest in the middle, tapering at either end, and outer margin smooth. Plant 1 to 2.5 feet in height.
Cultivation and uses.
To cultivate "Lithospermum caroliniense" a warm sunny position in a moderately fertile well-drained lime-free sandy soil is needed.
A red dye is obtained from the dried or pulverized roots. The powdered root has also been used in the treatment of chest wounds.


Ceratospermopsis

Ceratospermopsis is a genus of fungi in the family Meliolaceae. It was circumscribed by Brazilian mycologist Augusto Chaves Batista in 1951.


Bellardia trixago

Bellardia trixago is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae (it has been formerly classified in the family Scrophulariaceae). The only member of the monotypic genus Bellardia, it is known as trixago bartsia or Mediterranean lineseed. This plant is native to the Mediterranean Basin, but it is known in other places with similar climates, such as California and parts of Chile, where it is an introduced species and noxious weed.
Etymology.
The genus name "Bellardia" is a taxonomic patronym in honor of (1741-1826), an italian botanist from Piedmont.
The species name "trixago" has two possible etymologies.
Description.
This is an erect plant often reaching over half a meter in height. Its foliage is rich green and dotted with glands and hairs. The sawtoothed leaves extend about halfway up the plant, with the upper half of the stem being occupied with a stout inflorescence which narrows to a point. The inflorescence has rows of leaflike bracts, between which emerge showy purple and white lipped, hooded flowers, each over two centimeters wide. The fruit is a smooth, green capsule. Mediterranean lineseed, like other broomrapes, is parasitic; this species is hemiparasitic in that it is green and photosynthetic but also taps into the roots of other plants to extract nutrients.
Phylogeny.
The phylogeny of the genera of Rhinantheae has been explored using molecular characters. "Bellardia" belongs to the core Rhinantheae. "Bellardia" is closely related to "Parentucellia", to some "Bartsia" taxa, and to "Odontites". In turn, these genera share phylogenetic affinities with "Tozzia" and "Hedbergia", and then with "Euphrasia" and "Bartsia".


Crassula connata

Crassula connata is a succulent plant in the family Crassulaceae. It is known by the common names sand pygmyweed and pygmy stonecrop. It is a very small plant which grows in patches on the ground, especially in rocky areas. It is also sometimes associated with vernal pool plant communities. The stems are a few centimeters in length and are covered with tiny fleshy pointed leaves. Each leaf is only millimeters long. The plant is green when new and it matures to shades of pink and red. It is found in western North America and in parts of Central and South America.


Monnina fosbergii

Monnina fosbergii is a species of plant in the family Polygalaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador.


Cunninghamites elegans

Cunninghamites elegans is an extinct conifer species in the family Cupressaceae and the genus "Cunninghamites".
"Cunninghamites" is a genus of the European Late Cretaceous flora.
Remains of "C. elegans" needles have been found in carcasses of the dinosaur "Edmontosaurus".


Eucalyptus jimberlanica

Eucalyptus jimberlanica, commonly known as Norseman gimlet, is a species of mallet or a tree and is endemic to a small area in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. It has smooth, brownish bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven and conical to cup-shaped fruit.
Description.
"Eucalyptus jimberlanica" is a mallet or a tree that typically grows to a height of and does not form a lignotuber. It has smooth, glossy dark brown to copper-coloured bark on the trunk and branches. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, the same glossy green on both sides, narrow lance-shaped to lance-shaped, long and wide tapering to a petiole up to long. The flower buds are arranged in leaf axils in groups of seven on an thick, flattened, unbranched peduncle long, the individual buds on pedicels long. Mature buds are oval to more or less spherical, long and wide with a hemispherical operculum that is about the same length as the floral cup. The fruit is a more or less sessile, woody, conical to cup-shaped capsule long and wide with the valves below rim level.
This eucalypt is one of nine species of gimlet in the genus "Eucalyptus". It is regarded by some as a possible hybrid between "E. terebra" and "E. ravida".
Taxonomy and naming.
"Eucalyptus jimberlanica" was first formally described by Lawrence Johnson and Kenneth Hill in 1991 and the description was published in the journal "Telopea". The type specimen was collected from Jimberlana Hill, north east of Norseman by Hill, Johnson and Donald Frederick Blaxell in 1983.
Distribution and habitat.
The Norseman gimlet is found on valley edges in a small area in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia near Norseman where it grows in loamy soils.
Conservation status.
This eucalypt is classified as "Priority One" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife, meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations which are potentially at risk.


Scourfieldiales

Scourfieldiales is an order of green algae in the class Pedinophyceae.


Vahliaceae