Bulbophyllum

Bulbophyllum is a genus of mostly epiphytic and lithophytic orchids in the family Orchidaceae. It is the largest genus in the orchid family and one of the largest genera of flowering plants with more than 2,000 species, exceeded in number only by "Astragalus". These orchids are found in diverse habitats throughout most of the warmer parts of the world including Africa, southern Asia, Latin America, the West Indies, and various islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Orchids in this genus have thread-like or fibrous roots that creep over the surface of trees or rocks or hang from branches. The stem is divided into a rhizome and a pseudobulb, a feature that distinguished this genus from "Dendrobium". There is usually only a single leaf at the top of the pseudobulb and from one to many flowers are arranged along an unbranched flowering stem that arises from the base of the pseudobulb. Several attempts have been made to separate "Bulbophyllum" into smaller genera, but most have not been accepted by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families.
Description.
Plants in the genus "Bulbophyllum" are epiphytic or lithophytic sympodial herbs with thread-like or fibrous roots that creep over the surface on which they grow. The stem consists of a rhizome and a pseudobulb, the latter with one or two usually fleshy or leathery leaves. The flowers are arranged on an unbranched raceme that emerges from the pseudobulb, usually from its base. The dorsal sepal is free from the lateral sepals which themselves may be free or fused to each other. The petals are also free from each other and smaller than the lateral sepals. The labellum is often fleshy, curved and hinged to the base of the column.
Taxonomy and naming.
The genus "Bulbophyllum" was first formally described in 1822 by Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars in his book "Histoire particulière des plantes orchidées recueillies sur les trois Iles Australes d’Afrique, de France, de Bourbon et de Madagascar" in which he described eighteen species of "Bulbophyllum.
There are now more than 2,800 records (accepted names and synonyms) for this genus. This large number and the great variety of its forms make the genus a considerable challenge for taxonomists: 120 sections and subgenera have been listed.
The genus name ("Bulbophyllum") is derived from the Greek "bolbos" meaning 'bulb' and "phyllon", 'a leaf', referring to the pseudobulbs on top of which the leaf grows.
Distribution and habitat.
The center of diversity of this genus is in the montane forests of Papua New Guinea (more than 600 species) which seems to be the evolutionary homeland, though the genus is pantropical and widespread, occurring in Australia, Southeast Asia (with over 200 species in Borneo), India, Madagascar (with 135 species, some endemic), Africa and in tropical central and South America.
The erect to pendent inflorescence arises laterally from the base of the pseudobulb. The flower form has a basic structural blueprint that serves to identify this genus. But this form can be very diverse : compound or single, with few to many flowers, with the resupinate flowers arranged spirally or in two vertical ranks. The sepals and the petals can also be very varied : straight or turned down, without footstalk or with a long claw at the base. They are often hairy or callous. There are two to four hard and waxy pollinia with stipes present or absent. The fruits are beakless capsules.
Evolution and biogeography.
Molecular phylogenetic studies place the origin of the orchid genus Bulbophyllum into the early Miocene. Biogeographic analyses and ancestral area reconstructions identified the Asia-Pacific region as the ancestral area of Bulbophyllum and suggest an early-to-late Miocene scenario of ‘out-of-Asia-Pacific’ origin and progressive (east-to-west) dispersal-mediated diversification, resulting in three additional radiations in Madagascar, Africa and the Neotropics, respectively.
Ecology.
Pollination.
Many "Bulbophyllum" species have the typical odor of rotting carcasses, and the flies they attract assist in their reproduction through pollination. Nevertheless, some species with mild and pleasant floral fragrance attract Dacini fruit flies (particularly "Bactrocera" and "Zeugodacus" species) via methyl eugenol, raspberry ketone or zingerone that also act as floral reward during pollination.
Use in horticulture.
The fabulous and bizarre species that compose this large genus have been the focus of orchid collectors for over a century. The plants require high humidity combined with good air movement and most of them are ever-blooming - flowering continuously throughout the year. They grow best at moderate light levels, but do not thrive in deep shade. They are considered moderate-to-difficult to cultivate, and require a controlled growing environment to achieve some degree of success. They are not typically suitable as houseplants, and most will not thrive in a Wardian case unless they receive adequate air movement.
The plants' growth habit produces widely spaced pseudobulbs along cord-like rhizome sections, and most of these plants are best accommodated on plaques. Some species in this genus can get very large, but most are small to medium-sized epiphytes from warm, moist, humid tropical forests. They can grow continuously year round with no apparent dormancy period if they are kept warm, are moderate feeders in cultivation, and must be kept moist all the time. They can tolerate dryness for short periods, but they have fine root systems which require moist conditions all the time.
Some of the smaller species do well in pots with small-diameter bark substrate. The plants produce very fine roots generally, and the roots are easily damaged. The plants react poorly to disturbance of their roots. They are easy to maintain once a good environment is established with high humidity and a fresh, buoyant, lightly circulating atmosphere being critical. Most of these species cannot tolerate cold temperatures or freezing.
The flowers produce various odors resembling sap, urine, blood, dung, carrion, and, in some species, fragrant fruity aromas. Most are fly-pollinated, and attract hordes of flies. "Bulbophyllum beccarii" in bloom has been likened to smelling like a herd of dead elephants and both this species and "Bulbophyllum fletcherianum" are variously described as making it difficult to walk into a greenhouse in which they are being cultivated if the plants are in bloom because of their overpowering floral odors.
Species.
Some species are known for their extreme vegetative and floral forms:
Conservation status.
Some "Bulbophyllum" species are threatened with extinction, and are recognised as such by the World Conservation Union (IUCN):


Ulva clathrata

Ulva clathrata is a species of seaweed in the family Ulvaceae that can be found in such European countries as Azores, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. It is also common in Asian and African countries such as Israel, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania, Japan, Portugal and Tunisia. It has distribution in the Americas as well including Alaska, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Grenada, Hispaniola, and Venezuela. Besides various countries it can be found in certain gulfs, oceans and seas such as the Gulf of Maine and Gulf of Mexico, Indian Ocean and European waters (including Mediterranean Sea).
Description.
The plant is light green in colour and is in height. The thin cylindrical threads are in width.
Uses.
It is used in biochemistry, since it has 20-26% content of protein, 32-36% of which are crude proteins. The plant also contains glucose (10–16%), rhamnose (36–40%), uronic acids (27–29%), and xylose (10–13%).
In other languages.
The species is also known by this names in other countries:


Leporella

Leporella fimbriata, commonly known as hare orchid or fringed hare orchid, is the only species in the flowering plant genus "Leporella" in the orchid family, Orchidaceae and is endemic to the southern Australia mainland. It is related to orchids in the genus "Caladenia" but has an unusual labellum and does not have hairy leaves. Its pollination mechanism is also unusual.
Description.
"Leporella fimbriata" is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, sympodial herb with a few inconspicuous, fine roots and an oval-shaped tuber lacking a protective sheath. The tuber produces two "droppers" which become the daughter tubers in the following year. Unlike those in some other orchids, the droppers are produced well away from the parent tuber at the end of long, root-like stolons. There are one or two egg-shaped to lance-shaped, glabrous leaves at the base of the stem. The leaves are often small when the orchid flowers, but increase in size to long and wide, turning bluish-green with reddish veins as they mature.
There are up to three resupinate flowers on the end of a wiry stem high. The flowers are long and wide. The dorsal sepal is dished, long and curves over the labellum. The two lateral sepals are about the same length but very narrow and turned back against the ovary. As is usual in orchids, one petal is highly modified as the central labellum. The other two petals are erect, long, narrow, linear in shape but with a club-like end which has many glandular hairs. The labellum is about long and wide, hairy and greenish with reddish-brown spots and a comb-like fringe. There are no obvious calli on the labellum. The sexual parts of the flower are fused to the column, which has wing-like structures on its sides. Flowering occurs from March to June but the remains of the flower are often recognisable as late as September. The fruit is a non-fleshy, glabrous, dehiscent capsule containing a large number of seeds.
Taxonomy and naming.
This orchid was first formally described in 1840 by John Lindley who gave it the name "Leptoceras fimbriata" and published the description in "A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony". In 1971, Alex George described the genus "Leporella" and included this species.
The genus name "Leporella" is derived from the Latin word "lepus" meaning "hare" with the diminutive suffix meaning "-ella", hence "leporella" meaning "little hare". The specific epithet "fimbriata" is a Latin word meaning "fringed".
Distribution and habitat.
"Leporella fimbriata" usually grows in woodland or shrubland but is also found in heath and near areas that are swampy in winter. It is found in the western half of Victoria, and across southern South Australia to southern Western Australia. In Western Australia it occurs between Shark Bay in the north and Israelite Bay on the south coast. In South Australia, in the south-east, especially the Yorke Peninsula and Eyre Peninsula, and in the south-west of Victoria, including the Anglesea area and outer Melbourne suburbs.
Ecology.
This orchid is a myrmecophyte and is pollinated by a male bull-ant ("Myrmecia urens", Family Formicidae) when the ant attempts to
copulate with the labellum.


Ceratozamia hondurensis

Ceratozamia hondurensis is a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae.


Cynomorium

Cynomorium is a genus of parasitic perennial flowering plants in the family Cynomoriaceae. The genus consists of only one species, Cynomorium coccineum (although one of its subspecies is sometimes treated as a separate species). Its placement in the Saxifragales was resolved in 2016 with the help of nuclear, plastid, and mitochondrial sequences obtained from next-generation sequencing.
Common names include the misleading Maltese fungus or Maltese mushroom; also desert thumb, red thumb, tarthuth (Bedouin) and suoyang (Chinese). A rare or local species, it grows in dry, rocky or sandy soils, often in salt marshes or other saline habitats close to the coast. It has had a wide variety of uses in European, Arabian and Chinese herbal medicine.
Description.
This plant has no chlorophyll and is unable to photosynthesise. It is a geophyte, spending most of its life underground, in the form of a rhizome, which is attached to the roots of its host plant; it is a holoparasite, i.e. totally dependent on its host. The low-growing inflorescence emerges (in spring, following winter rain), on a fleshy, unbranched stem (most of which is underground) with scale-like, membranous leaves. Dark-red or purplish, the inflorescence consists of a dense, erect, club-shaped mass, some long, of minute scarlet flowers, which may be male, female or hermaphrodite. It is pollinated by flies, attracted to the plant by its sweet, slightly cabbage-like odour. Once pollinated, the spike turns black. The fruit is a small, indehiscent nut.
In the Mediterranean region, "Cynomorium" is a parasite of salt-tolerant plants in the Cistaceae (cistus family) or Amaranthaceae (amaranth family); elsewhere it parasitizes Amaranthaceae, Tamaricaceae (tamarisks) and, in China, Nitrariaceae, especially "Nitraria sibirica". Other authorities suggest the host plants are saltbushes ("Atriplex" species, Amaranthaceae).
DNA studies suggest that "Cynomorium" is not a member of the Balanophoraceae, as previously thought, but more probably belongs to the Saxifragales, possibly near Crassulaceae (stonecrop family). The issue is complicated by the massive horizontal gene transfer between "Cynomorium" and its different hosts.
Taxonomy.
Long disputed, "Cynomorium" was placed in the Saxifragales in 2016, but its placement within that order remains uncertain.
Distribution.
Cynomorium coccineum" var. "coccineum is found in Mediterranean regions, from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands and Mauritania through Tunisia and Bahrain in the south; Spain, Portugal, southern Italy, Sardinia, Sicily, Gozo, Malta and the Eastern Mediterranean. Its range extends as far east as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran. It is also present at the Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi.
Cynomorium coccineum" var. "songaricum is found in Central Asia and Mongolia, where it grows at high altitudes. Several authorities consider this to be a separate species, "C. songaricum"; it is called "suoyang" () in China, where it is extensively collected as a herbal remedy for illnesses including sexual worries and nocturnal emissions.
History and historical uses.
Sir David Attenborough has suggested that, following the reasoning of the "Doctrine of signatures", the phallic shape of the inflorescence suggested to early herbalists that "Cynomorium" should be used as a cure for erectile dysfunction and other sexual problems. Its colour suggested that it would cure anaemia and other diseases of the blood. It has been used for similar purposes in the east and west of its range: crusaders carried dried spikes to help them recover from their wounds.
Other traditional uses have included treatments for apoplexy, dysentery, sexually transmitted diseases, hypertension, vomiting and irregular menstruation.
The city of Kuyu was also known as Suoyang City (the Chinese name for cynomorium), after the 7th-century general Xue Rengui and his army supposedly survived a siege there by eating the plant. Much later, it was "introduced" (or possibly imported) to China from Mongolia during the Yuan dynasty as a medicinal plant, and is first mentioned by Zhū Dānxī () in his "Supplement and Expansion of Materia Medica" () in 1347. It was an ingredient in his recipe for hidden tiger pills (), used for impotence and weak legs.
During the 16th century, the Knights of Malta greatly prized the plant and sent samples of it to European royalty. They incorrectly believed it to be a fungus, and it became known as "fungus melitensis", "Maltese mushroom". The Knights jealously guarded "Fungus Rock", a large rock formation, on whose flat top it grew in abundance, just off the coast of Gozo. They even tried smoothing the outcrop's sides to prevent theft of the plants, which was said to be punishable by death. The only access was by a precarious cable car, which was maintained into the early 19th century. The rock is now a nature reserve, so access is still strictly limited.
In the Middle Ages, Arabic physicians called it "tarthuth" and "the treasure of drugs". An "aqrabadhin", or medical formulary, compiled by Al-Kindi in the 9thcentury lists tarthuth as an ingredient in a salve to relieve skin irritation; later, Rhazes (Al-Razi) recommended it to cure piles, nosebleeds, and dysfunctional uterine bleeding.
In Saudi Arabia, where "Cynomorium" is also called "tarthuth", in addition to the uses detailed above an infusion made from the ground, dried mature spike has been used to treat colic and stomach ulcers. It was eaten on long journeys by the Bedouin people, who would clean and peel the fresh spikes and eat the crisp white interior, which is said to be succulent and sweet, with a flavour of apples and a pleasantly astringent effect. It is also relished by camels.
It has often been used as a "famine food" (last reported during the 19thcentury in the Canary Islands). Among many other uses it has been used as a contraceptive, a toothpaste, and a non-fading crimson fabric dye.
Active ingredients.
"Cynomorium" contains anthocyanic glycosides, triterpenoid saponins, and lignans.
"Cynomorium coccineum" var. "coccineum" from Sardinia was found to contain gallic acid and cyanidin-3-O-glucoside as the main constituents.


Echeveria secunda

Echeveria secunda, called the glaucous echeveria, is a species of succulent flowering plant in the genus "Echeveria", native to Mexico, and introduced to the Dominican Republic, New Zealand, and Vietnam. Its cultivar 'Compton Carousel' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


Atriplex valdesii

Atriplex valdesii is a plant species endemic to Mexico. It is known from the States of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí. It grows is saline soils in desert areas and sometimes in disturbed habitats.
"Atriplex valdesii" is an annual, monoecious herb prostrate against the ground and forming mats. Stems are up to 50 long, reddish. Leaves are alternate, up to 14 mm long, sometimes with small teeth on the margins. Flowers occur in clumps at intervals along a long flowering stalk up to 10 cm long.


Trithrinax campestris

Trithrinax campestris, the caranday palm, is a South American palm tree native of Uruguayan and northeastern Argentine sabanas, where it shares its habitat with "Copernicia alba" among others and extends also to the summits of mountain ranges of Sierras de Córdoba and Sierras de San Luis. It is a very rustic palm that grows in arid, well drained, rocky soils. Its distinctive features are its compact shape, short green to grayish foliage, and trunk fully hidden by dry dead branches (coat) remaining from several previous seasons.
Morphology.
"Trithrinax campestris" is a monocot flowering palm of relative low height (up to 6 m tall) and 20–25 cm wide stems usually covered by remains of earlier foliage that act as a thick protective coat. Caranday leaves are about 1 m long, palmate, rounded, with a very rigid and spiny petiole.
 The leaflet segments are rigid, dark green to a more blue hue, with light green undersides. These are possibly the toughest leaves among arecaceae. As habitat altitude increases the foliage becomes more grayish, this is typical of mountain carandays. Flowers compose highly branched inflorescences located at the base of the lower living leaves. These contain up to 100 white hermaphrodite flowers 10 to 12 mm wide. This palm flowers in autumn. Fruits ripen towards the end of the next summer. They consist of subspherical yellow brownish drupes, 1 to 2 cm wide, with a thin fleshy mesocarp and a fibrous endocarp. Caranday is monoecious, a feature common to the conifers but rare in angiosperms.
Habitat.
"Trithrinax campestris" prefers well drained, sandy or rocky soils (although it is resistant to extended persistent flooding). It is very resistant to drought, and -9 °C/-15 °C temperatures when not in growing season, although it tends to shed its leaves in these conditions. It is one of the most cold-hardy palms in the world, because it also grows in the mountains of Sierras de Córdoba and Sierras de San Luis; it is known that specimens growing at those elevations tolerate special cold conditions. It has thrived as north as the British Isles. Seeds germinate quickly, but later growth is mostly slow.
These palms are naturally found in groups, formations of several individuals, or composing large caranday forests where they present strong dominance. Its main environmental threat is deforestation or natural fire, as caranday's thick dry stem coats are highly flammable.
Usage.
Leaves are rich in strong fiber, very resistant to tension. It is extracted to manufacture crafts such as hats, shoes and fans. Whole leaves are cut and used as rudimentary brushes. Fruits are not eaten, however, an alcoholic beverage is prepared locally through their fermentation.
Caranday palms are also appreciated and grown worldwide as an easy to keep, cold weather and drought resistant, ornamental small palm.
It is besides a good honey-producing plant


Acanthophippium

Acanthophippium is a genus of orchid with thirteen species (family Orchidaceae). The name of this genus is derived from the Greek words "acanthos" ("spiny") and "ephippion" ("saddle"), referring to the saddle-like labellum of the plants.
This terrestrial and sometimes myco-heterotrophic genus of sympodial orchids is distributed from the Indian subcontinent to Taiwan, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, New Guinea and the southwest Pacific.
The terrestrial species are up to 80 cm tall. They have short rhizomes. The oblong and fleshy pseudobulbs are up to 25 cm tall. They produce at their apex 2 to 3 large , , parallel-veined leaves, which can be up to 65 cm long.
The erect inflorescence arises laterally from the pseudobulbs, with 3 to 6 flowers, by large, bracts. The flowers are prominent, large, cup- or urn-shaped, fleshy, waxy, and about 4 cm long. They resemble a tulip, a most unusual shape for an orchid. The flowers have a wide range of colors, from dull yellow to red to shades of orange and pink, marked with stripes or spots. The blossoms are usually odiferous with a very strong fragrance.
This genus is allied to genera "Calanthe", "Cephalantheropsis", "Phaius", and "Spathoglottis".
Taxonomy.
The genus "Acanthophippium" was first described by Carl Ludwig Blume in 1825. He used the spelling with an "o". Many sources have since spelt the name "Acanthephippium" (i.e. with an "e"). This is regarded as an orthographic variant by the International Plant Names Index. The original spelling is used by sources such as the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families.


Passiflora palenquensis

Passiflora palenquensis is a flowering member of the family Passifloraceae. It is very closely related to "Passiflora seemannii", which has 2 other close related species. "Passiflora palenquensis" is restricted to low elevations, usually growing around bases of mountains. "P. palenquensis" is also related to "Passiflora montana", which is another of the 4 relatively new species originating in Ecuador.


Ammophila arenaria

Ammophila arenaria is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae. It is known by the common names marram grass and European beachgrass. It is one of two species of the genus "Ammophila". It is native to the coastlines of Europe and North Africa where it grows in the sands of beach dunes. It is a perennial grass forming stiff, hardy clumps of erect stems up to in height. It grows from a network of thick rhizomes which give it a sturdy anchor in its sand substrate and allow it to spread upward as sand accumulates. These rhizomes can grow laterally by 2 metres (7 feet) in six months. One clump can produce 100 new shoots annually.
The rhizomes tolerate submersion in sea water and can break off and float in the currents to establish the grass at new sites. The leaves are up to long and sharply pointed. The cylindrical inflorescence is up to long. It is adapted to habitat made up of shifting, accreting sand layers, as well as that composed of stabilised dunes.
Life cycle/phenology.
"Ammophila arenaria" is a perennial plant, which means it can live for many years. It mainly grows in spring when leaf production exceeds leaf senescence. However, the conditions in autumn cause the plant to nearly stop growth while its leaves become aged. In winter, because of the cold temperatures, growth is very slow but does not stop.
As a xerophytic adaptation, its leaves curl during drought (see pictures). The relatively high humidity within the curled leaf prevents a rapid water loss. This is facilitated by the bulliform cells located at the base of the V-shaped notch which swells and makes the leaf uncurl when filled with water.
This plant is highly adaptive in sand, and can withstand burial for more than one year. Unlike other plants which will die in sand, marram grass will elongate its leaves when it is buried by sand.
Its inflorescences are initiated in autumn of the second year after germination and mature in May or June, and its flowers are always produced from May to August. But this is changed to May in Europe because of the different climates. The fruit is always mature in September, and the seeds germinate in the next spring. Though the adult plant is strong, the seeds have low viability, and the seedlings also have low survival rates as well because of desiccation, burial, and erosion. The main organ for its reproduction is rhizomes, which are dispersed along the shore by wind and water.
Geographic distribution and habitat.
Natural global range.
"Ammophila arenaria" is a European and North African native plant. It occurs in Australia, Canada, Chile, Falkland Islands (Malvinas) (sub-Antarctic), New Zealand, South Africa and United States (USA).
New Zealand range.
Usually occurs on sand dunes, sometimes in inland sites with low fertility. It occurs in the Wellington region and extends from to 55 to 32 degrees south latitude. In the Northern Hemisphere, it grows between 30 and 63 degrees north latitude. Occurs in Chatham Islands, Otago Region, Doughboy Bay and Mason Bay.
Habitat preferences.
Marram grass grows on coastal sand dunes all over the world. It prefers growing on the active sand area and the windward side of the foredune. It prefers well-drained soils with different kinds of mineral compositions and low in organic matter. The optimal soil conditions for marram grass is a soil pH from 4.5-9.0, soil temperatures from 10-40 degrees Celsius, and salt concentrations of no more than 1.0-1.5%. Marram grass can also be found on alkaline soils with a high pH of around 9.1 and also acidic soils with pH less than 4.5. Adult plants can tolerate a large range of chemical issues. Marram grass has an ability to adapt dry sand well. Its leaves become rolled and tight when moisture levels are low.
Invasiveness: Pacific coast of North America.
"A. arenaria" is one of the most problematic noxious weeds of coastal California. This sand-adapted grass was introduced to the beaches of western North America during the mid-19th century to provide stabilization to shifting sand dunes. It grew readily and it can now be found from California to British Columbia. The grass is invasive in the local ecosystems, forming dense monotypic stands that crowd out native vegetation, reduce species diversity of native arthropods, and cover vital open stretches of sand used for nesting by the threatened western snowy plover ("Charadrius nivosus"). The plant's spread has changed the topography of some California beach ecosystems, especially in sand dunes. The presence of this grass was a major cause of the destruction of native dune habitat in Oregon and Washington during the 20th century, where it was planted precisely for its dune-stabilizing effect.
Several methods have been employed in attempts to eradicate the grass in California, including manual pulling, burning, mechanical removal followed by salt water irrigation, and glyphosate application. Studies to find the best methods are ongoing.
Not only is it invasive in California, it is also a highly invasive weed in coastal areas of New Zealand and Western Australia, where it was introduced for the same purpose in California, to stabilise dunes; outcompeting native spinifex species.
Predators, parasites, and diseases.
Marram grass does not carry any major disease in New Zealand, as only 3 pathogenic fungi ("Claviceps purpurea", "Uredo" sp. and "Colletotrichum graminicola") are present on the island. These three fungi result in ergot, rust and leaf spot respectively and are found both on flower-heads and leaves. However, in European countries, there are a lot of pests known to feed on marram grass. Those pests killed 30%-40% of the tillers, and also damaged other species. The fungi, always found in soil, may decrease the vigour on the stabilized sand.
Uses.
The roots of marram grass are edible, although rather thin and fibrous. The flowering stems and leaves are used for thatching, basketry and making brooms. Fiber from the stem is used for making paper, and the rhizomes are used for making rope and mats.


Serpocaulon latissimum

Serpocaulon latissimum is a species of fern in the family Polypodiaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.


Grevillea gillivrayi

Grevillea gillivrayi is a shrub or small tree in the family Proteacae. It is endemic to New Caledonia.
The species grows up to 10 metres in height It is a manganese accumulator.


Tridens flavus

Tridens flavus, the purpletop tridens, red top, or greasegrass, is a large, robust perennial bunchgrass native to eastern North America.
It widespread throughout its range and is most often found in man-made habitats, such as hay meadows and lawns.
The seeds are purple, giving the grass its common name. The seeds are also oily, leading to its other common name, "greasegrass". It reproduces by seed and tillers.
The grass is often confused with the similar looking Johnson grass ("Sorghum halepense"), although it is only distantly related. "Tridens flavus" is easily distinguished by its short, hairy ligule.
It is a larval host to the common wood nymph, crossline skipper, little glassywing, and the Zabulon skipper.


Pyrularia edulis

Pyrularia edulis is a species of shrub or small tree in the sandalwood family. It grows in Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, and Nepal.


Andropterum stolzii


Ceramium diaphanum

Ceramium diaphanum is a species of marine red algae (or Rhodophyta).
Description.
This small filamentous alga grows attached, or unattached, in masses reaching 20 cm across. The branches grow pseudochotomously the tips are strongly coiled in. It is corticated only at the nodes between the axial cells and form clear cortical bands. The rhizoids are multicellular.
Reproduction.
The full life history is not yet confirmed. Tetraspores have been recorded in groups on the nodes.
Habitat.
Growing as attached or unattached clumps on other algae and "Zostera" at low littoral to 3 m deep.
Distribution.
Widely distributed in Ireland, England and Scotland.Isle of Man. Reported from Norway and United States of America.


Cyanea gibsonii

Cyanea gibsonii is a species of flowering plant in the family Campanulaceae that was first described by William Hillebrand. It is endemic to the island of Lanai, Hawaii, United States.
Status.
"Cyanea gibsonii" is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. The population is fragmented into eight subpopulations, with a total of between 75–80 individuals. Grazing by deer, rats and invertebrates has contributed to the decline in the number of individuals. In addition, this species is outcompeted by invasive species.


Ctenopteris

Ctenopteris is a defunct genus of ferns in the family Polypodiaceae. The name is derived from two Greek words: "ktenos", "comb", and "pteris", "fern".
The name "Ctenopteris" can no longer be used because its type species, "Ctenopteris venulosa" has been transferred to "Prosaptia". Because "Ctenopteris" is polyphyletic, some of its species were not transferred to "Prosaptia" with the type species. For these, the name "Ctenopteris" was used provisionally, pending their reassignment to other genera.
Edwin Bingham Copeland wrote extensively on "Ctenopteris" in the 1940s and 1950s. As he defined it, the genus was broadly distributed in the southern hemisphere including Australia, New Zealand, southern Asia and southern Africa.


Jepsonia parryi

Jepsonia parryi is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family known by the common names coast jepsonia and Parry's jepsonia.
It is native to the coast and inland hills chaparral of southern California and Baja California.
Description.
"Jepsonia parryi" is a small perennial herb producing usually only a single leaf from an unbranched caudex. The leaf is round or kidney-shaped and has a ruffled, lobed edge.
The plant flowers in fall, producing a naked brown peduncle holding a small inflorescence of fewer than four flowers. The tiny flower has purplish-veined petals each about half a centimeter long.
The fruit is a brown-striped green or tan capsule.


Gymnocalycium horstii

Gymnocalycium horstii is a globular cactus resembling a loaf of bread from a bakery. Plants have a squat appearance and spines that are curved back towards the body. Plants usually offset over time, creating interesting specimens. The body of this species is glossy and the flower is always white. Its close relative Gymnocalycium buenekeri which occurs 200 km westward has a very similar but dull body with always pink flowers. Gymnocalycium horstii is a very rare and threatened South American species and occurs only in the southern Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul.


Kokoona sessilis

Kokoona sessilis is a species of plant in the family Celastraceae. It is a tree endemic to Peninsular Malaysia. It is threatened by habitat loss.


Peniocereus greggii

Peniocereus greggii is a cactus species native to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas (USA); and Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora, and Zacatecas (Mexico). Common names include Arizona queen of the night, nightblooming cereus and Reina de la noche. The species name greggii honors Josiah Gregg (1806 – 1850), a merchant, explorer, naturalist, and author of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico.
Description.
This cactus has stems about 1/2-1 inch wide with 6-9 edges. Its flowers are white, up to 30 centimetres in diameter with a scent redolent of vanilla. The flowers open after sundown, closing and wasting after a few hours. By 9 am the next day they are gone.
They usually bloom one night a year in June or July. In any given area, they all bloom at the same time. They look dead during the rest of the year. They have a large tuber that tastes a bit like a potato. They tend to be ubiquitous throughout the higher Sonoran Desert area around Tucson. See "A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert" published by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, pg 197.
Tohono Chul in Tucson, Arizona has the largest private collection of Sonoran Desert native Night-blooming Cereus - "Peniocereus greggii". Each summer this botanical garden/museum hosts "Bloom Night," the one night each summer it is predicted the greatest number of cereus flowers will be in bloom, opening from 6pm until midnight to allow guests to stroll the grounds and view the flowers.


Calystegia pubescens

Calystegia pubescens, commonly known as Japanese bindweed, is a species of bindweed. This is a small climbing plant that grows to 20~70 centimeters in height. The corolla is partially pink and is under 4 cm long. This species is a weedy wildflower distributed in South Korea, Japan, and countries in south-eastern Asia. It is able to be distinguished from other bindweeds by its foliage having divided side lobes.


Krameria lappacea

Krameria lappacea, the para rhatany and Peruvian rhatany, is a plant species in the genus "Krameria", in Peru. It is a slow-growing shrub that grows in semi-arid areas of the Andean region.


Trochodendron nastae

Trochodendron nastae is an extinct species of flowering plant in the family Trochodendraceae known from fossil leaves found in the early Eocene Ypresian stage Klondike Mountain Formation deposits of northern Washington state. "T. nastae" is one of the oldest members of the genus "Trochodendron", which includes the living species "T. aralioides", native to Japan, southern Korea and Taiwan and the coeval extinct species "T. drachukii" from the McAbee Fossil Beds near Cache Creek, British Columbia.
Taxonomy.
Description of the new species by Dr. Kathleen B. Pigg, Wesley Wehr, and Stefanie Ickert-Bond was based on the study of 11 complete and 55 partial compression fossil specimens with the holotype specimen, number "SR 98-02-01", being housed in the Stonerose Interpretive Center, Republic, Washington. They published their 2001 type description of the species in the "International Journal of Plant Sciences" volume number 162. and named the species "nastae" in honor of Charlotte G. Nast for her work on extinct and living members of the Trochodendrales.
"T. nastae" has been placed in the genus "Trochodendron" based on the overall shape of the leaves, the secondary vein structure, which forms weak chevrons bracing primary veins, and the tertiary veins forming four to five sided cells. However the primary veins are palmate in structure for "T.nastae" rather than being pinnate as in "T. aralioides".
"Trochodendron" shares with "Tetracentron" the very unusual feature in angiosperms, of lacking vessel elements in its wood. This has long been considered a very primitive character, resulting in the classification of these two genera in a basal position in the angiosperms; however, genetic research by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has shown it to be in a less basal position (early in the eudicots), suggesting that the absence of vessel elements is a secondarily evolved character, not a primitive one.


Chlamydomonadales

Chlamydomonadales, also known as Volvocales, are an order of flagellated or pseudociliated green algae, specifically of the Chlorophyceae. Chlamydomonadales can form planar or spherical colonies. These vary from "Gonium" (four to 32 cells) up to "Volvox" (500 cells or more). Each cell has two flagella, and is similar in appearance to "Chlamydomonas", with the flagella throughout the colony moving in coordination.
Both asexual and sexual reproduction occur. In the former, cells divide until they form new colonies, which are then released. In the smaller forms, typically all cells are involved, but larger forms have anterior vegetative and posterior reproductive cells. Sexual reproduction varies from isogamy (both genders produce flagellated gametes of equal size) to oogamy (one gender produces a much larger, nonmotile gamete).
The classification of the Chlamydomonadales varies. Very often they are taken to include the orders Volvocales and Dunallielales, which contain closely related unicellular flagellates, as suborders. Colony inversion is believed to have arisen twice in this order. Spheroidal colony formation differs between the two lineages: rotation of daughter protoplasts during successive cell divisions in Astrephomene, and inversion after cell divisions in the Volvocaceae.


Bauhinia pichinchensis

Bauhinia pichinchensis is a species of plant in the family Fabaceae. It grows as a tree reaching 10 m in height. It is found only in Ecuador. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.


Quararibea yunckeri

Quararibea yunckeri is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is found only in Honduras.


Sacciolepis

Sacciolepis is a genus of plants in the grass family. Cupscale grass is a common name for plants in this genus.
They are widespread in tropical and warmer temperate regions. Many are native to Africa, with others in Asia, Australia, and the Americas.
These species are annual or perennial and may have rhizomes or stolons. The inflorescence is usually a narrow, dense panicle. They generally grow in moist habitat, such as marshes and streambanks. "Sacciolepis" is closely related to genus "Panicum".
see "Hymenachne Panicum"


Pterocarpus

Pterocarpus is a pantropical genus of trees in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic "Pterocarpus" clade within the Dalbergieae. Most species of "Pterocarpus" yield valuable timber traded as padauk (or padouk); other common names are mukwa or narra. "P. santalinus" also yields the most precious red scandalwood in China known as Zitan. The wood from the narra tree ("P. indicus") and the Burmese padauk tree ("P. macrocarpus") is marketed as amboyna when it has grown in the burl form. The scientific name is Latinized Ancient Greek and means "wing fruit", referring to the unusual shape of the seed pods in this genus.
Uses.
Padauk wood is obtained from several species of "Pterocarpus". All padauks are of African or Asian origin. Padauks are valued for their toughness, stability in use, and decorativeness, most having a reddish wood. Most "Pterocarpus" woods contain either water- or alcohol-soluble substances and can be used as dyes.
The padauk found most often is African padauk from "P. soyauxii" which, when freshly cut, is a very bright red/orange but when exposed to sunlight fades over time to a warm brown. Its colour makes it a favourite among woodworkers. Burmese padauk (ပိတောက်) is "P. macrocarpus" while Andaman padauk is "P. dalbergioides". Padauks can be confused with true rosewoods to which they are somewhat related, but as a general rule padauks are coarser and less decorative in figure. Like rosewood, padauk is sometimes used to make xylophone, organ and marimba keys, and guitars. It is an important material in traditional Chinese furniture.
Some padauks, e.g. "P. soyauxii", are used as herbal medicines, for example to treat skin parasites and fungal infections.
Chemistry.
Pterocarpin is a pterocarpan found in "Pterocarpus" spp.
Species.
A total of 35 species is currently accepted:


Plant nucleus movement

Plant nucleus movement is the movement of the cell nucleus in plants by the cytoskeleton.
In response to stimuli.
An important aspect of plant behavior includes responding to directional stimuli, which requires changes in cellular signaling to control spatial elements. The integration of stimuli in plant cells is not fully understood, but the movement of the cell nucleus provides one example of a cellular process that underlies plant behavior, and highlights the importance of the cytoskeleton in solving spatial problems within the plant cell. Unlike the static nature typically depicted in textbooks, the plant cell nucleus is a highly dynamic structure, constantly moving around cell via actin networks and myosins. The nucleus undergoes a characteristic program during cell division to guide asymmetric cell division, but there are several stimuli that have been demonstrated to cause movements of the nucleus in the plant cell.
Blue light.
A well-studied stimulus is strong blue light, which drives movement of nuclei to anticlinal (perpendicular to the plane of the leaf) cell walls in mesophyll and epidermal cells of "Arabidopsis thaliana" plants. Chloroplasts moving in response to blue light associate with the nucleus to move the nucleus to the appropriate location. This is highly dependent on the blue light receptor phototropin and the actin cytoskeleton, as actin bundles are seen to form along the anticlinal wall in blue light. A protein called ANGUSTIFOLIA was also recently discovered to regulate nucleus movement in the dark by forming a complex that adjusts the alignment of actin filaments. The movement of the nucleus in response to blue light may serve several physiological purposes. The first is to avoid damaging mutations caused by UV radiation, as the nucleus stores the genetic material of a cell. A key problem faced as photosynthetic organisms transitioned from ocean to land was avoiding excessive mutations caused by UV radiation, but by moving the nucleus in response to light, damage caused by UV light could be limited. Another purpose may be to localize the nucleus near key receptors, such as phytochrome, to facilitate spatial integration and transduction of cellular signals into the nucleus, especially when considering the necessity of phytochrome import into the nucleus for changes in gene expression in response to red light.
Mechanical stimulation.
Nuclear movement also occurs in response to mechanical stimulation. The nuclei of cultured ovule parenchyma tobacco cells were found to move directly to the site of probing by a fine glass pipette via cytoplasmic strands, which contain actin filaments specialized to carry out cytoplasmic streaming. This is likely a response co-opted from cytoplasmic streaming, but a receptor or other downstream signaling components underlying this cellular response have not been identified. Nonetheless mechanical stimulation is a potent signal resulting in nuclear movement, and suggests that nuclear movement may be a process important for integration of mechanical stimulation during thigmotropism, gravitropism, or cellular interactions during development.
Symbionts.
Recognition of microbial organisms also results in nuclear movement. During colonization by beneficial rhizobia, which begins at the root hair tip, the nucleus moves to the site of colonization and guides the formation and direction of movement of the infection thread, a structure that houses the colonizing rhizobium. This requires large scale cytoskeletal rearrangement, as well as cytoskeleton-mediated movement of the nucleus. Similarly, arbuscular mycorrhizae symbiosis involves extensive nuclear movement, which appears to guide formation of microtubule structures that steers penetration by the fungal hypha.
Pathogens.
Importantly, cytoskeleton-mediated nuclear movement is critical for response of plants to pathogenic microorganisms. This is best studied in oomycetes, a devastating pathogenic organism. In potato cells, oomycete contact results in rapid movement of the nucleus to the site of contact, which initiates rapid deposition of cell wall material and restructuring of the cytoplasmic elements. This can block invasion by the oomycete, or if the oomycete successfully penetrates the cell, can initiate a hypersensitive response, killing the cell and preventing further propagation of the pathogen. However, in plants that are not resistant to oomycete infection, the nucleus does not move to the site of oomycete contact, and the oomycete proceeds to devastate the plant, indicating the importance of nuclear transport for resistance against oomycete pathogens.
These examples of nuclear movement in response to biotic and abiotic stimuli highlight the role of the nucleus as a highly mobile command center necessary for integration of cell signaling and also emphasize the importance of cytoskeletal structure in mediating the transduction of signaling from outside the cell to the nucleus. However, there is still a great deal left unknown in how exactly an extracellular stimulus leads to cytoskeletal rearrangement, nuclear movement, and ultimately integration of stimuli to guide plant behavior.


Faurea galpinii

Faurea galpinii is a small tree that grows to 10 m (20 ft.) tall, but its trunks will vary depending on growing conditions. The leaves of "F. galpinii" are alternately lanceolate with wavy margins. When growing in the forest, the bark appears grey with smooth, concentric rings, although it can appear rough and dark under exposed conditions, and the variety Faurea gal pinii varies in size from 1 m to 2 m.
The petiole is about 10 mm long, the new leaves are typically red and dark green in color with a leathery appearance. The flowers are greenish – white and short and stalked; the inflorescence is covered with gray velvety hairs. One of the most striking features that distinguishes "Faurea galpinii" from other species in its genus is the large number of white flowers on the underside of its leaves.
The flowering period is in the summer months from October to January, and the flowers are followed by the appearance of whitish hairs – covered nuts that usually decorate the tree from November to April.


Warburgia stuhlmannii

Warburgia stuhlmannii is a species of plant in the family Canellaceae. It is found in Kenya and Tanzania. It is threatened by habitat loss.


Passiflora loefgrenii

Passiflora loefgrenii, the garlic passion fruit, is a passion flower that was first formally described 1997 by Fabio Augusto Vitta. The plant is named after Albert Löfgren , the first known collector.
"Passiflora loefgrenii" is a perennial, climbing vine. The stems are smooth, round and thin. In the leaf axils are kidney-shaped stipules of up to 3.5 cm long, which the tendrils flank. The sheet steal are up to 7 cm long. The alternately arranged leaves are tri-lobed with smooth edges and 5 to 9.5 x 5.5 to 14 cm. The solitary penduncles are 11–20 cm long. The flowers are purple, bluish violet and white in color and 9–12 cm wide. The sepals are purple, up to 5.5 x 1.5 cm and ending in a 1 cm long awn. The petals are purple and almost as big as the sepals. The corona consists of 6 or 7 rows, which are white at the base and above bluish purple. The outer two rows of 1.7–2 cm long, and the innermost rows are 1–1.2 cm long. The flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds, "Phaethornis eurynome" and "Phaethornis squalidus," and carpenter bees ("Xylocopa" ). The fruit are elliptical, greenish yellow and approximately 6 x 4 cm.
Initially it was thought that the distribution of "Passiflora Loefgrenii" limited to Ribeirão Preto in the state of São Paulo in Brazil , but later the plant was also discovered near Iporanga São Paulo and Corupá in the state of Santa Catarina .
In Europe, the plant has been cultivated since 2000. The plant can be kept in a temperate greenhouses or in a living room. In summer the plant can be grown outside.


Aa paleacea

Aa paleacea is an orchid in the genus "Aa". It is native to the Andes, between southern Costa Rica, Peru and Ecuador, at an altitude of 2900–4400 metres. It is the type species for the genus.


Hemandradenia mannii

Hemandradenia mannii is a species of plant in the family Connaraceae. It is found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, and Nigeria. It is threatened by habitat loss.


Monotoca

Monotoca is a genus of about 17 species of shrubs in the family Ericaceae. The genus is endemic to Australia.
Species include:


Heliotropium kuriense

Heliotropium kuriense is a species of plant in the family Boraginaceae. It is endemic to Yemen. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.


Ribes viscosissimum

Ribes viscosissimum is a North American species of currant known by the common name sticky currant. It is native to the Pacific Northwest, Columbia Plateau, Great Plains, Great Basin and Southwestern regions of western North America.
"Ribes viscosissimum" grows in mountain forests, streambanks, and plateau sagebrush. It is a spreading to erect shrub growing one to two meters (40-80 inches) in height, its stem coated in sticky glandular hairs but lacking spines and bristles. It is resinous and fragrant. The highly glandular leaves have thick, rough blades divided into 3 rounded, toothed lobes, the lobes about the same size rather than having the middle lobe larger than the others as in some related species. The blades may be 8 centimeters (3.2 inches) long, borne on petioles up to 10 centimeters (4 inches) in length. The inflorescence is an erect or drooping raceme of several flowers clustered together. Each flower has a bell-shaped coat of five whitish, greenish, or pink-tinged sepals which spread at the tips into a corolla-like array, sometimes becoming reflexed. Inside are whitish petals surrounding the stamens and stigmas. The fruit is a blue-black berry a centimeter (0.4 inch) long or longer. It is not considered edible.


Plukenetia

Plukenetia is a genus of plant of the family Euphorbiaceae. It is widespread in tropical regions of Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and the Americas.
moved to other genera ("Hamilcoa", "Romanoa")


Aucuba chinensis

Aucuba chinensis is a shrub or small tree, native to southern China, Taiwan, Burma and northern Vietnam. Typically it grows to 6 meters tall, though it can be larger. The leaves are thick, dark green above and light green below, sometimes with teeth along the margins.
References.
Flora of China


Fissidens grandifrons

Fissidens grandifrons is a moss which is the largest of the family Fissidentaceae. It is found in turbulent water which it needs to get its carbon dioxide.
Its fronds were held to be reminiscent of phoenix feathers by the Chinese.


Oenothera deltoides

Oenothera deltoides is a species of evening primrose known by several common names, including birdcage evening primrose, basket evening primrose, lion in a cage, and devil's lantern. It is native to the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in sandy habitats from desert to beach.
The plant is grayish with basal, deltoid leaves. The large white flowers turn pinkish as they mature. When the plants die, the stems curl upward and form the "birdcage" for which the common name is derived.
There are five subspecies. One of these, the Antioch Dunes Evening Primrose (ssp. "howellii"), is a federally listed endangered species known from a few sandy spots in the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge just inland from the San Francisco Bay Area in California.


Cryptantha nevadensis

Cryptantha nevadensis is a species of wildflower in the borage family known by the common names Nevada catseye and Nevada forget-me-not. This small plant is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico where it grows in sandy and rocky soils in varied habitats across the region. Like other cryptanthas it is a very hairy, bristly flowering herb with a curling inflorescence that resembles that of fiddlenecks. This is an annual plant rarely exceeding half a meter in height. It is covered in long, white hairs and its tiny white flowers are about half a centimeter wide. The fruit is a bumpy nutlet.


Heteranthera limosa

Heteranthera limosa is an annual flowering plant in the water hyacinth family known by the common names ducksalad and blue mudplantain. It grows in shallow water or on mud. It is considered a threatened species in parts of the central United States, and an invasive species weed in California, where it is a nuisance in rice paddies. It is also occasional in Florida waterways.
Description.
"Heteranthera limosa" is a polymorphic annual growing 2 to 6 inches tall, looking different depending on the type of habitat it is growing in; plants in water look different than those growing on muddy ground. It is easily confused with other closely related species, so reliable identification is based on flowering plants. It has thick, spade-shaped green leaves with parallel veins. When plants are grown in water the leaves may be above or below the water surface, with submerged leaves linear in shape. The branching stems are creeping and maybe as long as 15 inches, rooting at the nodes. Its blue, purple, or white, perfect flowers, are six-merouse with narrow petals and three stamens. The nearly 1 inch wide flowers are subtended by a spathe. The flowering period is very brief subject to the correct environmental conditions, and can occur from May to November. The flowers open early in the morning and wither by noon.
Habitat and distribution.
"Heteranthera limosa" grows in shallow water with the best growth in water that is less than 5cm deep; it is also found immersed at pond edges and in roadside ditches. It is found growing in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florid., Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missipiee, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Venezuela)
In Minnesota this species is at the northern limit of its natural distribution where it is found in the southwestern corner of the state, it occurs in shallow vernal pools that form from water that seeps between rock layers that includes Sioux quartzite; it is found in association with other rare species in the state such as "Isoetes melanopoda", "Plantago elongata", and "Cyperus acuminatus". In Minnesota it is listed as a threatened species, where it is rare and limited to specific unusual microhabitats.


Lentibulariaceae

Lentibulariaceae, the bladderwort family, is a family of carnivorous plants containing three genera: "Genlisea", the corkscrew plants; "Pinguicula", the butterworts; and "Utricularia", the bladderworts.
The genera "Polypompholyx" (two species of pink petticoats or fairy aprons) and "Biovularia" used to be regarded as fourth and fifth members of this family. "Biovularia" has been subsumed into "Utricularia", and "Polypompholyx" has been relegated to a subgenus of "Utricularia". Placement of the family used to be in the Scrophulariales, which has been merged with Lamiales in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system.
Evolution.
Carnivory in plants appears to have evolved independently in four major angiosperm lineages and five orders: Poales, Caryophyllales, Oxalidales, Ericales, and Lamiales.
One common trait found in several Lamiales families that may have led to carnivory is the secretion of proteinase mucilage through leaf surfaces. This mucilage is generally used to prevent insect predation by trapping and degrading potentially harmful insects. Some research suggests these glands can quite easily shift their function from secretion to absorption. This shift may have first occurred in the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of the Lentibulariaceae, introducing absorptive glands that provided additional macronutrients through trapped insects. The additional source of nutrients may have increased fitness of plants growing in low-nutrient habitats which eventually caused an embrace of carnivory. Further mapping of traits also suggests the MRCA was terrestrial and possessed a basal rosette composed of flat leaves and a primary root.


Hypolepis sparsisora

Hypolepis sparsisora is an Afrotropical fern species with an extensive range in Africa and Madagascar, where it occurs at diverse altitudes. In South Africa it is present in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape.
It has a subterranean, creeping rhizome of up to 9 mm in diameter. The erect fronds are widely spaced and finely divided. The ovate lamina is 1 × 0.8 m in size and 4- to 5-pinnatifid. The small (0.5–1 mm wide), oval sori are borne singly in the sinuses between the lobes.


Adoxa

Adoxa is a genus of plants containing two species:


Epacris muelleri

Epacris muelleri is a low growing species of heath in the family Ericaceae, native to eastern Australia.
It is a straggly shrub which grows between 5 and 30 cm in length, and has wedge shaped leaves, preferring to grow in sheltered locations in the sandstone of the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.


Bathycoccus prasinos

Bathycoccus prasinos is a picoplankton belonging to the order Mamiellales, along with "Ostreococcus" and "Micromonas". The cells are around 1-2 μm in length, are non-motile and are covered in scales.
Genome.
The small genome (15 Mb) was recently sequenced and many of the genes are related to plants, though there is significant horizontal gene transfer from other eukaryotes. There are 19 chromosomes, two of which have a significantly different GC-content.


Pseudolarix amabilis

Pseudolarix amabilis, commonly called golden larch, is a species of coniferous trees in the pine family Pinaceae. The species are commonly known as golden larch, but being more closely related to "Keteleeria", "Abies" and "Cedrus", are not true larches ("Larix"). "P. amabilis" is native to eastern China, occurring in small areas in the mountains of southern Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and eastern Sichuan, at altitudes of . The earliest known occurrences are of compression fossils found in the Ypresian Allenby Formation and mummified fossils found in the Late Eocene Buchanan Lake Formation on Axel Heiberg Island.
Growth.
It is a deciduous coniferous tree reaching tall, with a broad conic crown. The shoots are dimorphic, with long shoots and short shoots similar to a larch, though the short shoots are not so markedly short, lengthening about 5 mm annually. The leaves are bright green, 3–6 cm long and 2–3 mm broad, with two glaucous stomatal bands on the underside; they turn a brilliant golden yellow before falling in the autumn, hence the common name. The leaves are arranged spirally, widely spaced on long shoots, and in a dense whorl on the short shoots.
The cones are distinctive, superficially resembling a small globe artichoke, 4–7 cm long and 4–6 cm broad, with pointed triangular scales; they mature about 7 months after pollination, when (like fir and cedar cones) they disintegrate to release the winged seeds. The male cones, as in "Keteleeria", are produced in umbels of several together in one bud.
Characteristics.
Golden larch is an attractive ornamental tree for parks and large garden. Unlike the true larches, it is tolerant of summer heat and humidity, growing successfully in the southeastern United States where most larches and firs do not succeed. In Europe growth is most successful in the Mediterranean region with notable specimens in northern Italy; further north in the United Kingdom it will grow, but only very slowly due to the cooler summers.
This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Traditional medicine.
Golden larch is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in Chinese herbology, where it is called "jīn qián sōng" (). "Pseudolarix amabilis" is used in traditional Chinese medicine as dermatologic antifungal remedy.


Rhus rooseae

Rhus rooseae is an extinct species of flowering plants in the sumac family, Anacardiaceae, solely known from the middle Eocene sediments exposed in north central Oregon. The species was first described from a series of isolated fossil seeds in chert.
History and classification.
"Rhus rooseae" has been identified from a single location in the Clarno Formation, the Clarno nut beds, type locality for both the formation and the species. The nut beds are approximately east of the unincorporated community of Clarno, Oregon, and currently considered to be middle Eocene in age, based on averaging zircon fission track radiometric dating which yielded an age of 43.6 and 43.7 ± 10 million years ago and Argon–argon dating radiometric dating which yielded a 36.38 ± 1.31 to 46.8 ± 3.36 mya date. The average of the dates resulted in an age range of 45 to 43 mya. The beds are composed of silica and calcium carbonate cemented tuffaceous sandstones, siltstones, and conglomerates which preserve either a lake delta environment, or alternatively periodic floods and volcanic mudflows preserved with hot spring activity.
The species was described from a series of type specimens, the holotype specimen USNM 355036, which is currently preserved in the paleobotanical collections of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. and nine paratype specimens which are in the University of Florida collections. The fossils were part of approximately 20,000 specimens collected from 1942 to 1989 by Thomas Bones, A. W. Hancock, R. A. Scott, Steven R. Manchester, and a number of high school students.
The "Rhus rooseae" specimens were studied by paleobotanist Steven R. Manchester of the University of Florida. He published his 1994 type description for "R. rooseae" in the Journal "Palaeontographica Americana". The specific epithet "rooseae" was chosen in recognition of work done by Carrie L. Roose during the preparation of Clarno flora project.
Description.
The fruits of "Rhus rooseae" are bilaterally symmetrical with an subelliptic shape and both the tip and base rounded. The seeds have an overall length ranging between and a width between . The seeds are identified as belonging to a "Rhus" species by the exterior morphology and by the structure of the vascular supply system. The mesocarp of the fruit hosts between 25 and 30 prominent vascular bundles which run longitudinally along the fruit surface. Also, as is typical of "Rhus" species, the fruits are flattened along the plane of symmetry and elliptic in cross section. The funicular depression where the petiole would have attached is located in the plane of symmetry, and so is a corresponding bulge on the opposite side of the fruit.


Viscum combreticola

Viscum combreticola, the Combretum mistletoe, is a leafless, dioecious mistletoe shrub, occurring from southern to tropical Africa, in a broad zone following the Rift Valleys. Though it is typically a hemiparasite of "Combretum" species, it may also be found on "Terminalia" (Combretaceae), "Acacia", "Croton", "Diplorhynchus", "Dombeya", "Heteropyxis", "Maytenus", "Melia", "Strychnos" or "Vangueria".
The much-branched twigs are flattened, ribbed and divided into clear segments. The brittle olive to olive-green segments exude a watery sap when broken. Their sessile fruit, usually in pairs, grow from the segment joints. They are ellipsoid berries of 6-7 mm in diameter, that are warty when young but smooth and orange when ripe.
The species is vegetatively similar to "V. anceps" and artificially resembles the Asian species "V. dichotomum". Male inflorescences and fruit are required to separate it from "V. shirense" and "V. cylindricum".


Crossopetalum ilicifolium

Crossopetalum ilicifolium, commonly known as Christmasberry, is a species of plant in the family Celastraceae. It is found in USA (Florida, North Carolina), Haiti, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, and Cuba.


Neckeropsis

Neckeropsis is a genus of plant in the family Neckeraceae.
Species.
The genus "Neckeropsis" contains the following species:


Niphidium crassifolium

Niphidium crassifolium, commonly known as the graceful fern, is a species of fern in the family Polypodiaceae found in Central and South America. It is predominantly epiphytic, growing on other plants—for example, in the canopies of trees—but occasionally grows on rocks or on the ground, particularly at higher altitude. It has a rhizome from which many fine rootlets covered in dark reddish-brown scales grow. Together they form a root basket that, when growing on trees, helps to trap leaf litter and dust, forming a nutrient-rich soil that holds water. Its leaves are simple in shape, long and wide and when dry, and covered by a wax-like film. The sori are round and large, occurring in single rows between veins at the far end of the leaf.
Taxonomy.
"N. crassifolium" was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 as "Polypodium crassifolium". In 1972, David B. Lellinger moved the species into the genus "Niphidium". It can be difficult to distinguish from "N. albopunctatissimum", but that species has narrower leaves and is mostly found growing on rocks or on the ground, as well as occupying a different range.
Distribution.
"Niphidium crassifolium" is found in Central and South America, from Mexico in the north to Peru in the south and including Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and the West Indies. It grows at altitudes up to above sea level and over a wide range of humidity. According to Thomas Croat, it is probably the most common fern found on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. "Niphidium crassifolium" is known to grow on "Socratea exorrhiza", occurring on 12% of individuals on Barro Colorado Island. It is also known to grow on "Platypodium elegans", "Ceiba pentandra", "Tabebuia guayacan" and "Anacardium excelsum".
Biochemistry.
This species uses crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), whereby it stores some carbon dioxide produced by respiration at night and releases this for use in photosynthesis the next day, but the overall contribution of this is small compared to that of true CAM plants such as cacti. Under drought stress, the contribution of CAM increases from 2.7% of total carbon fixation to 10%. The production of gametophytes is determined by light levels rather than by a hormone.
Uses.
"N. crassifolium" can be cultivated, growing well in well-drained soil under medium light. It is reported to be able to survive consecutive days of freezing temperatures down to . In Northern Peru the fresh stem is used in traditional medicine to treat inflammation of internal organs.


Heinrich Christian Funck

Heinrich Christian Funck (22 November 1771 – 14 April 1839) was a German pharmacist and bryologist born in Wunsiedel, Bavaria. He was a co-founder of the Regensburg Botanical Society.
He received early training at a pharmacy in Regensburg, subsequently studying in Salzburg, Erlangen and Jena. In 1803 he acquired the family-owned pharmacy in Gefrees, from where he performed research of cryptogams, especially bryophytes. He conducted botanical investigations in the nearby Fichtelgebirge, and also organized excursions to the Salzburg Alps, Italy, Switzerland, et al.
In 1834 he sold the pharmacy in Gefrees in order to devote more time and energy to botany. Funck died of a stroke in Gefrees on 14 April 1839.


Nassella leucotricha

Nassella leucotricha is a species of grass known by the common names Texas wintergrass, Texas needlegrass, and Texas tussockgrass. It is native to the south-central United States (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi) and much of Mexico (from Tamaulipas and Baja California south to Chiapas).
Description.
"Nassella leucotricha" is a perennial bunchgrass with stems up to tall. There are two types of flowers, opening flowers and cleistogamous (non-opening) flowers that self-pollinate and are sometimes tucked away in the leaf sheaths.
The fruit has a sharp tip and a twisted awn up to 9 centimeters (3.6 inches) long. This fruit can damage the mouths of livestock and can get caught in wool and eyes.
The grass provides a good forage for animals when it is green, but the animals should be removed from the area as the seeds develop on the plants and replaced when the seeds fall to the ground.
This grass is known as a weed outside its native region. In Australia it is an invasive species that is injurious to livestock.


Garrya flavescens

Garrya flavescens is a species of flowering shrub, known by the common name ashy silktassel.
The plant is native to the southwestern United States, and Baja California, Sonora, and Chihuahua in Mexico. It grows in many habitats, including dry forest, desert, and chaparral.
Description.
"Garrya flavescens" is a shrub reaching a maximum height approaching three meters.
The leaves are oval-shaped, up to 7 or 8 centimeters long and about half as wide. The underside may be hairless to very hairy and pale dusty gray.
The plant is dioecious, with both male and female plants producing long hanging clusters of flowers. Female flowers give way to bunches or clusters of spherical berries covered in hairs.


Haworthiopsis glauca

Haworthiopsis glauca, formerly Haworthia glauca, is a species of flowering succulent plant from the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
Description.
"H. glauca" typically has pointed, light blue succulent leaves ("glauca" = "blue"), which are packed densely along its stems. The stems branch from the base, and the plant can form clumps.
The leaves of this variable species are sometimes incurved, sometimes vertical & erect, and sometimes spreading. In some varieties, the leaves have slight tubercles.
Among the more common varieties are "var. herrei" (with tubercles) and the gracile "var. jonesiae" (with pencil-thin stems).
Taxonomy.
The species was previously included in "Haworthia" subgenus "Hexangulares". Phylogenetic studies demonstrated that subgenus "Hexangulares" was actually relatively unrelated to other haworthias and so it was moved to the new genus "Haworthiopsis".
Distribution.
This species extends across the western part of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It can be found as far south as the vicinity of Port Elizabeth and westwards as far as Paardepoort near the border between the Western & Eastern Cape provinces.
Within this range, it typically grows in very well-drained sandy soil, either in direct sunlight, or under a bush or rocks which serve as partial protection from the sun.


Pinus matthewsii

Pinus matthewsii is an extinct species of conifer in the pine family. The species is solely known from the Pliocene sediments exposed at Ch’ijee's Bluff on the Porcupine River near Old Crow, Yukon, Canada.
Type locality.
"Pinus matthewsii" was described from the three ovulate cone specimens all found at the Ch’ijee's Bluff locality, number HH228. This locality is in the Bluefish Basin and considered part of one of the most complete records of the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene in northwestern North America. The Bluefish and neighboring Old Crow basins were part of the unglaciated Beringian refugium of North America, which harbored the ancestors of the modern pine subsection Contortae. The subsection is thought to have radiated out from the refugium into the species "P. contorta" and "P. banksiana". All the cones were preserved in the basal "unit 1" section of the Ch’ijee's Bluff outcrop. Unit 1 is composed of sands, gravels and clays, thought to have been forest floor which was rapidly covered by alluvial sediments.
History and classification.
"Pinus matthewsii" is known from only three fossils, the holotype, number "UAPC-ALTA P610", and the paratypes number "UAPC-ALTA 609" and "UAPC-ALTA 611". All three specimens, plus thin section slides are preserved in the paleobotanical collections housed in the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The specimens were studied by paleobotanists Athena D. McKown and Ruth A. Stockey of the University of Alberta Department of Biological Sciences, and Charles E. Schweger of the Department of Anthropology. Athena McKown and coauthors published the 2002 type description for "P. matthewsii" in the "International Journal of Plant Sciences". In describing the species Athena McKown and coauthors chose the specific name "matthewsii", in honor of John V. Matthews Jr. of the Geological Survey of Canada in recognition of his work on Tertiary and Quaternary paleoenvironmental reconstructions, through palynology and paleobotany, of Alaska and Yukon locations.
The ovulate cones of "Pinus matthewsii" range from in length and . While the overall morphology and structure of "P. matthewsii" cones compare to cones of the living species "Pinus banksiana", notable differences occur. The elongated cones of "P. banksiana" have an asymmetrically reflexed cone base, while "P. matthewsii" are symmetrical and oval. Cones of "P. matthewsii" and "P. contorta" are also similar in structuring, however the combination of characters that are present in "P. matthewsii" are not found in any one of the subspecies of "P. contorta".
Similar to the modern habits of "P. contorta", it is suggested that "P. matthewsii" may have been a shade intolerant tree which acted as a colonizer. This is supported by the seeds preserved within the cones, the seeds being small with long detachable wings. The combination of characters would support a large wind dispersal range.


Eriogonum pendulum

Eriogonum pendulum is a rare species of wild buckwheat known by the common name Waldo buckwheat. It is endemic to the Klamath Mountains of Josephine County, Oregon, and Del Norte County, California, where it is a member of the serpentine soils flora.
Description.
This uncommon plant is a small shrub growing up to about half a meter tall with slender, spreading, woolly branches. There are sparse leaves along the stem, usually found in clusters at the tips and branching points. The leaves are widely lance-shaped and coated in white woolly fibers.
The top of the stem is occupied by the branching inflorescence which bears clusters of very woolly, star-shaped white flowers each under a centimeter wide.


Samydaceae

Samydaceae is a family of tropical and subtropical woody plants, its best known genus being "Casearia". It has always been of uncertain placement, in the past usually being submerged in the family Flacourtiaceae.
A 2002 paper included the Samydaceae in the family Salicaceae, a placement accepted in the APG III system onwards and also by Plants of the World Online . This placement has by no means been universally accepted.


Boegoe

Boegoe is a word of Khoikhoi origin, which may refer to a number of South African plants, fungi or a mineral, that were used in traditional preparations. Most Boegoe plants are typified by a strong aromatic odour due to volatile oils released by glands in the leaves. The name primarily denotes those plant species of which the stems, powdered leaves or volatile oils are employed in herbalism.
Other.
Note: Various similar names are recorded, including Boechoe, Boekoe, Boggoa, Boochoo, Bookoo, Bouchou, Bugu, Buccho, Bucchuu, Bucco, Buchu, iBuchu, Bucku or Buka Leaves, though the names in bold print are best known.


Parvocaulis

Parvocaulis is a genus of green algae in the family Polyphysaceae.


Torreyochloa pallida var. fernaldii

"Torreyochloa pallida" var. "fernaldii", also called Fernald's false manna grass, is a perennial flowering grass found across Canada and the northeastern United States. It is also known as "Puccinellia fernaldii", "Glyceria pallida var. fernaldii","Glyceria fernaldii", and "Torreyochloa fernaldii."
Description.
It has leaves with blades 1.5–3.5 mm wide and ligules 2.5–6.5 mm long. Its anthers are 0.3–0.5 mm long.
Distribution and habitat.
It is found across the northeastern U.S. and Great Lakes states and in most of southern Canada, excepting Alberta. There are also populations in Tennessee and Wyoming.
Conservation.
It is listed as endangered in Maryland and Kentucky, and special concern in Tennessee.


Panicum capillare

Panicum capillare, known by the common name witchgrass, is a species of grass. It is native plant to most of North America from the East Coast through all of the West Coast and California. It can be found as an introduced species in Eurasia, and as a weed in gardens and landscaped areas. It grows in many types of habitat.
Description.
"Panicum capillare" is an annual bunchgrass growing decumbent or erect to heights exceeding one meter (3 feet). It is green to blue- or purple-tinged in color. In texture it is quite hairy, especially on the leaves and at the nodes. The ligule is a fringe of long hairs.
The inflorescence is a large open panicle which may be over half the total length of the plant, up to half a meter long. At maturity it fans out, spreading to a width over 20 centimeters. As the plant dies and dries, the panicle may break off whole and becomes a tumbleweed.


Lorinseria

Lorinseria is a genus of fern in the subfamily Woodwardioideae of the family Blechnaceae. Its only species is Lorinseria areolata (synonym Woodwardia areolata), the netted chain fern, native to eastern North America. The monotypic genus "Lorinseria" has been separated from "Woodwardia" in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), on the basis of its anastamosing veins and lobed frond form, as well as its more marked frond dimorphism. However, the genus name "Lorinseria" appears to be a later homonym of "Lorinsera" , and will need to be replaced or conserved.
The sterile fronds are 40–60 cm long, and the fertile fronds 50–70 cm long.
It is superficially similar to "Onoclea sensibilis" and sometimes confused with it.
Distribution and habitat.
This species is native to the southeast United States, but ranges all the way up the East Coast of the United States and Canada to southern Nova Scotia. It favors moist, sandy, acid soils, and has appeared in areas in the interior of the US around acid mine seeps, thus being one of the few species to benefit from acid mine drainage.


Juniperus comitana

Juniperus comitana is a species of conifer in the family Cupressaceae found in Guatemala and Mexico.


Pittosporum linearifolium

Pittosporum linearifolium is a species of plant in the family Pittosporaceae. It is a tree endemic to Borneo where it is confined to Sabah.


Blueweed

Blueweed or blue weed is a common name for several plants and may refer to:


Bitter vetch

Bitter vetch is a common name for several plants and may refer to:


Usteria

Usteria is a plant genus in the family Loganiaceae. It was established in 1790 by Carl Ludwig Willdenow.
Species


Brunfelsia jamaicensis

Brunfelsia jamaicensis is a species of flowering plant in the family Solanaceae, the nightshades. It is endemic to Jamaica, where it grows in mountain forests above 1400 meters in elevation.


Chirita

Chirita was an Old World genus of the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae, native to Indo-Malaysia, S. E. Asia, and southern China. In 2011, the species in the genus were reassigned to several genera, with the type species ("C. urticifolia") assigned to the genus "Henckelia" (as "H. urticifolia" (Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don.) A. Dietr.), so that "Chirita" became a synonym, no longer recognized.
About (80-)150 species were recognized, about 100 of which are endemic to China. Most of the species have showy tubular flowers with five, usually rounded, petal lobes and are becoming increasingly popular as houseplants in temperate regions, much like their cousins the African violets.
"Chirita" comes from a Nepalese common name for a gentian.
Taxonomic changes.
The genus "Chirita" is no longer recognized, with many species transferred to the genera "Primulina," "Microchirita," and "Deinostigma", and several more (including the type species) to "Henckelia." However, the former genus name is still sometimes used in horticultural literature, especially for the most commonly cultivated species, "Chirita sinensis" (now "Primulina dryas").
General cultivation.
Most can be grown in pots in warm (though some are known to tolerate colder conditions), humid conditions and can be propagated from seed (sown in the late winter) or by taking cuttings in the spring and summer.
"Chirita sinensis" (now "Primulina dryas") and "Chirita lavandulacea" (now "Microchirita lavandulacea)" have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017).


Hoya meliflua

Hoya meliflua is a species of vine in the Apocynaceae family. It is endemic to the Philippines. The vine is common to Apayao, La Union, Rizal, Bataan, Laguna, Mindoro, Palawan, Negros, Panay, and Leyte.
Description.
"Hoya meliflua" has stiff succulent leaves with a very clean look to them with no venation.
The flowers are reddish orange and have nectaries near the base of the central column from which a dark sap is produced that stains very easily. In fact, its name is derived from the word "mellis" meaning honeydew and the word "fluo" meaning flow, referring to the dark nectar of the plant that stains the flowers. The plant flowers in June in the Philippines and each flower cluster comes with 10-20 flowers.
There is also a subspecies, "Hoya meliflua" ssp. "fraterna", that has longer, narrower leaves.
Discovery.
"Hoya meliflua" was first described in 1837 by Francisco Manuel Blanco, who mistakenly identified it as a "Stapelia". He called it "Stapelia meliflua". "Hoya meliflua" was originally found on the island of Luzon and so it was given the synonym "Hoya luzonica" by Rudolf Schlechter in 1905. Elmer Drew Merrill subsequently identified it as a "Hoya", not "Stapelia", and published it in Sp. Blancoanae 318 (1918) naming it "Hoya meliflua".
There are several other synonyms for "Hoya meliflua" including "Hoya carnosa" named by Blanco in 1845, Hoya Diversifolia by Fernandez in 1880, and "Hoya parasitica" by Fernandez in 1880. These synonyms were found to be invalid under Article 53.1 of international nomenclature.
Hoya meliflua is very similar to "Hoya fraterna" and is sometimes called 'the little fraterna'.


Solanum pubescens

Solanum pubescens is a wild shrub found in the foot hill areas of southern India. It is very closely related to the Turkey berry ("Solanum torvum"). This shrub does not have spines; leaves are smaller in size covered with dense sticky hairs. Flowers are larger, purple to violet, the flowering and fruiting is seasonal in "S. pubescens". Flowering will occur from August to December. The fruits are around 1.2 cm diameter and is more bitter. Matured fruits change in color to orange.
It can be found in peninsular India and Sri Lanka.
Vernacular names.
Tam: Kaattu sundai kaai, Tel: Usthi kaai
Uses.
The foliage is used as green manure for paddy cultivation. Immature fruits are very bitter to taste, it is consumed just like bitter guard. It helps to heal bowel complains and joint pains. Unripe fruits are slightly crushed in order to remove the seeds and then dried. Dried fruits are used in cooking. It is of more economic importance. Several ton dried fruits are coming to the market every year. Local inhabitants able to get some revenue out of it. "Solanum torvum" is also used for the same purpose, but it is not bitter to taste.
Chemical constituents.
Leaves contain Tri hydroxy flavone derivatives, Trihydroxy steroidal alkaloides : Solanopubamine, Solanopubamides A & B.


Blasiidae


Rhizanthes zippelii

Rhizanthes zippelii is a species of parasitic flowering plant without leaves, stems, roots, or photosynthetic tissue. Its flowers bud out of the roots of the "Tetrastigma" vine. It is found in the tropical rainforests of Java. The flowers are reddish-brown, with long hanging tips, and are from 12 to 29 cm across.
Taxonomy.
"Rhizanthes zippelii" was first described as "Brugmansia zippelii" by Carl Ludwig Blume in Java in 1828, placed in a monotypic genus. A second species, "B. lowii", followed, described by Odoardo Beccari in 1868. "B. bakhuizenii" was the third species, named by Emil Johann Lambert Heinricher after his 1903/04 trip to the island for a taxon with a different flower colour on Java. Bénédict Pierre Georges Hochreutiner recombined the taxon in 1930 to another genus, "Mycetanthe", but then a few years later in 1934 Édouard Spach moved the species to another genus, "Rhizanthes", as it is still classified in today.
In the 1963 (English version of the) "Flora of Java" C. A. Backer and R. C. Bakhuizen van den Brink reduced "B. bakhuizenii" to a synonym of "Rh. zippelii". They recognised two forms -somewhat confusingly, perhaps over-modestly, leaving them nameless. The original form described by Blume had only been seen a handful of times; the form with which "bakhuizenii" was synonymised was found in the most number of places. They also proposed synonymising the enigmatic taxa described by Robert Brown in 1821, "Rafflesia horsfieldii", to this last form. In 1988 Willem Meijer and J. F. Veldkamp explained that the difference in flower colour was the result of the normal change in flower colour that the occurred during anthesis -the whitish flower of the Blume form was simply a flower on its first day of opening, and thus found it unjustified to recognise the two forms.
The difference between the two species "Rh. zippelii" and "Rh. lowii" had always been unclear -the plants had only been collected a limited number of times, and "Rh. lowii" had been synonymised with the older species by Hooker in 1873, but this had been generally ignored by most people. In the 1930s the difference between the two species was thought to be the hairiness of the inside of the perigone tube - "Rh. lowii" being much smoother and less hairy. Based on this character, "Rh. zippelii" was collected for the first time in western Borneo in 1935.
In order to find a morphological basis for separating the taxa Meijer and Veldkamp used the 'ramenta' - minute stalked outgrowths found on the inside of the perigone tube, having found these useful in differentiating the related "Rafflesia". Based on this, the Thai-Malayan population was reclassified from "Rh. lowii" to "Rh. zippelii" in 1988, but in 1997 Meijer reassessed them as "Rh. lowii" again, based on the same character. Bänziger, on the other hand, had been under the impression that "Rh. zippelii" had a white flower colour (as based on Blume's original account), and "Rh. lowii" brown, but after reading Meijer's account of the change in flower colour, Bänziger followed Hooker in synonymising the taxa in 1995. As had happened to Hooker, he was largely ignored.
Bänziger and Hansen were unsure of how applicable basing the species on the form of the ramenta alone was, finding the characters were inconsistent and did not clearly separate all the specimens into geographically distinct groups -for example, Blume's type specimen of "Rh. zippelii" lacked ramenta all together, and did specimens throughout the range, thus they resolved to use a larger group of morphological traits and the larger number of specimens which had been collected since 1988 to clear this up. They found that the ramenta were indeed mixed between specimens, but that the specimens could roughly be split into four 'groups', although some of these groups were only based on a handful of specimens. A number of characteristics were ambiguous, mixed or had ranges which overlapped with other groups, making them inadequate for differentiating taxa. Notwithstanding this, however, they decided to recognised their groups at a species level anyway, reasoning that regardless the phylogeny, it would be potentially more advantageous for non-scientific reasons to recognise them as four rare endemics.
Etymology.
Blume commemorated the horticulturist and plant collector Alexander Zippelius with the specific epithet (an eponym), who partially assumed his duties at the Bogor Botanical Gardens in Java when Blume departed for the Low Countries to write a proper flora of the region. Zippelius collected the first specimens of this new species of plant on Mount Salak, not far from Bogor. Zippelius was an important collector for Blume, he died from disease in Timor during a botanical expedition to the Moluccas, western New Guinea and other islands of the region.
The generic epithet derives from the compound of the Ancient Greek words ῥίζα (pronounced "rhíza"), meaning 'root', with the word ἄνθος ("anthos") meaning 'flower'.
Distribution.
Due to the taxonomic changes described above the distribution of "Rhizanthes zippelii" has changed with the change of perspectives. As it is now defined by Bänzinger and Hansen, "Rh. zippelii" is an endemic of Java. "Rh. zippelii" was collected for the first time in western Borneo in 1935, but the identification was based on characters which are now disregarded.
Writing in 1988, Meijer mentioned that the plant had not been seen on Java since before the Second World War. He mentions that botanists were likely the main reason for the decline of the species, at least at Mount Salak, the most well-known collecting locality near Bogor. Another reason for its continued absence was the further development of plantations in the area, but he suspected that the main reason why the plant had not been seen for such a long time was that the network of dedicated volunteers taking 'jungle hikes' in search of the flowers had disappeared when the Dutch colonial period ended, as had the Dutch-language journals which published information and coordinated people interested in such plants. Moreover, many of the old collecting localities had not been visited by botanists for many decades. Thus he doubted the species was extinct on Java. He mentioned that the old network was being replaced with high-school students taking such jungle excursions, but that their level of botanical knowledge was not yet adequate. By 2000, it had been found on Java again.
Despite this, the Plants of the World Online database for some reason states that this species does not occur where it was collected from, Java, but that the distribution is Peninsular Malaysia and Myanmar, but not Thailand in between the two countries.
Description.
The giant flowers are from 12 to 18 cm when mature, exceptionally 29 cm across. The only plants on Java remotely similar to "Rhizanthes zippelii" are those of the genus "Rafflesia", but the similarly giant and foul-smelling flowers of "Rafflesia" always have five perianth-lobes. "Rh. zippelii", on the other hand, has many more -how many more varies, but there are generally 14 to 18 of such lobes, although 16 is the most common. These lobes are furthermore different by ending in a long hanging strips, with its reddish-brown flesh colour and texture, the flower thus looking like a big, fat, dead octopus on its head.
The flower is scentless when it first opens, but the odour soon grows fetid and rank, smelling of rotting carrion. The flower also changes colour as it opens: at first it is white or red, but over the following days it turns brown with anthesis, eventually turning black with senescence. The texture of the perianth (the big outer parts) is firm and fleshy to stiff and leathery. The outside of the flower is smooth to the touch (glabrous), but the inside has many hairs and miniscule, stalked warts. The hairs are long, brown and patent (spreading at around 45° from the surface -not erect or pressed to the surface). The inside of the perianth tube is coloured a sordid white, with many brown-coloured, longitudinal grooves.
The buds have around fifteen scales protecting the developing flower, these are semi-persistent, which means they remain connected to the flower after it opens, but can fall off with a little tug.
Similar species.
Until 2000, there were two species of "Rhizanthes", "Rh. zippelii" and "Rh. lowii". There is no clear difference between the two species, they are indistinguishable without dissecting the flowers and examining their insides microscopically.
Ecology.
This strange plant is a holoparasite of the roots of the jungle liana "Tetrastigma papillosum", a plant related to the grape vine. The flowers bud out of the thicker base roots of the vine, just below the surface of the soil. In the Sundanese language the host vine is known as "susuan", thus the name for "Rhizanthes zippelii" is "perut susuan", the 'belly of "susuan"'. It appears to prefer to grow in the densest thickets in tropical rainforest on steep slopes, which is one reason it is little seen.


Ammannia auriculata

Ammannia auriculata, commonly known as eared redstem, is a species in the family Lythraceae that is found in tropical and subtropicalt areas around much of the world.
The slender and erect herb typically grows to a height of . It blooms in March producing orange-purple flowers.
In Australia the species is found along the swampy margins of streams in a few scattered areas of the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia extending into the Northern Territory and Queensland where it grows in black loamy soils.
In the United States it is found in Arizona, Louisiana, Texas, South Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico and Mississippi. It is found through much of Central America, Southern Chine and parts of Asia.
It is commonly found as a weed in rice paddies and on damp disturbed areas of soil.


Ipomoea amnicola

Ipomoea amnicola is a species of plant in the bindweed family, Convolvulaceae. It is commonly called redcenter morning-glory. It is found in Mexico, much of South America and has been successfully introduced in the US states of Arkansas, Missouri and Texas.


Xanthophyllum pseudoadenotus

Xanthophyllum pseudoadenotus is a plant in the family Polygalaceae. The specific epithet "" is from the Greek, referring to the plant's resemblance to "X. adenotus".
Description.
"Xanthophyllum pseudoadenotus" grows as a shrub or tree up to tall. The flowers dry brownish orange. The round fruits are greenish or brown and measure up to in diameter.
Distribution and habitat.
"Xanthophyllum pseudoadenotus" is endemic to Borneo. Its habitat is forest on stream banks, at around altitude.


Gonocaryum

Gonocaryum is a genus of plants in the family Cardiopteridaceae described as a genus in 1861.
"Gonocaryum" is native to Southeast Asia, southern China, and Papuasia.
"Gonocaryum sinense - Osmanthus marginatus"


Banksia archaeocarpa

Banksia archaeocarpa is an extinct species of tree or shrub, known only from a fossil "Banksia" "cone" recovered from rocks known as the Merlinleigh Sandstone from the Middle Eocene (), found in the Kennedy Range in Western Australia. Described in 1983 by Ken McNamara, it closely resembles the extant "B. attenuata" (Candlestick Banksia), with the flowers spirally arranged. Some leaves resembling "Banksia brownii" (Feather-leaved Banksia) were discovered at the same site but it is unclear whether or not they were from the same plant.
A cast of the fossil cone is on display at the Western Australian Museum.
Today, the Kennedy Range lies far to the north of the distribution of most banksias. The only "Banksia" species found there is "B. ashbyi" (Ashby's Banksia), the northernmost of all western banksias.
A fossil banksia cone comparable to "B. archaeocarpa", named "Banksia longicarpa" has also been described from Miocene age specimens collected near Marree in northern South Australia, also well outside the current distribution of "Banksia".


Centropogon erythraeus

Centropogon erythraeus is a species of plant in the family Campanulaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.


Cycas campestris

Cycas campestris is a species of cycad in the genus "Cycas", native to southeastern Papua New Guinea in the lowland region near Port Moresby. It grows in open, grassy locations, often in areas with frequent grass fires.
The stems are erect, up to 2.5 m tall and 20 cm diameter. The leaves are orange tomentose on emerging, soon becoming bright glossy green and glabrous, 80–170 cm long, pinnate, with 120-230 leaflets. The leaflets are 8.5–16 cm long and 5–8 mm wide, and lie flat or in a shallow 'v'-shape on either side of the leaf stem. The leaf petioles are 15–90 cm long, and armed with sharp spines at the base.
The female cones are open, with sporophylls 13–25 cm long, with two to six ovules per sporophyll. The lamina is lanceolate, with spined dentate margins and an apical spine. The sarcotesta is 2-3.5 mm thick and orange, the sclerotesta flattened and long ovoid, with a network of shallow grooves. The male cones are solitary, narrow ovoid, 13–17 cm long and 7–9 cm diameter, brown, the sporophylls 33–40 mm long with an apical spine.