Plant leaves exist in a dizzying array of shapes and sizes, from the tiny duckweed (Lemna minor) to the enormous Raphia palm (Raphia farinifera), and the simpleleaved poplar (Populus sp) to the deeply lobed oak (Quercus spp) or the delicate compound-leaved Mimosa spp. Class I KNOTTED-like (KNOX1) genes have been found to play an important role in the development of compound leaves in many vascu...

Three plastid regions, matK, rpl32-trnL and rpl16 intron and the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 nuclear ribosomal DNA were used to demonstrate a phylogenetic placement of the genus Hederorkis (Orchidaceae) for the first time. The taxonomic position of this genus has been unclear thus far. The phylogenetic and morphological relations of Hederorkis to the most closely related genera Sirhookera, Adrorhizon, Bromh...

An important objective in weed management is the discrimination between grasses (monocots) and broad-leaved weeds (dicots), because these two weed groups can be appropriately controlled by specific herbicides. In fact, efficiency is higher if selective treatment is performed for each type of infestation instead of using a broadcast herbicide on the whole surface. This work proposes a strategy w...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Taxus cuspidata (Taxaceae), which is well known for the effective anticancer metabolite paclitaxel (e.g., taxol), is an evergreen needle-leaved tree widely distributed in eastern Eurasia including Japan. We developed 15 microsatellite markers from this species and confirmed their utility for the dwarf variety nana, which is common in alpine regions along the Sea of Japan. ...

Hydropodia silvae-nipponicae, a new agaric species was described based on the specimens collected from evergreen broad-leaved forests in Japan. The present is distinct H. subalpina, type of genus by morphological characteristics and nuclear rDNA sequences. silvae-nipponicae characterized its nodulose cystidium-like terminal elements pileipellis, cylindrical to clavate pileocystidia with irregul...

A new species of army ant from the Aenictus wroughtonii group is described and illustrated based on the worker caste. Aenictus gutianshanensis Staab, sp. n. is known form a single colony collected in the subtropical mixed evergreen broad-leaved forest of the Gutianshan National Nature Reserve, South-East China. The new species is probably most closely related to A. vieti Jaitrong & Yamane, 2010...

The revolutionary rise of broad-leaved (flowering) angiosperm plant species during the Cretaceous initiated a global ecological transformation towards modern biodiversity. Still, the mechanisms involved in this angiosperm radiation remain enigmatic. Here we show that the period of rapid angiosperm evolution initiated after the leaf interior (post venous) transport path length for water was redu...

Leaf phenology (evergreen vs. deciduous) and morphology (simple compound) are known to be related water use strategies in tree species critical adaptation certain climatic conditions. However, the effect of these two traits their interactions on coordination between minor vein density (MVD) stomatal (SD) remains unclear. In this study, we examined leaves 108 from plots a primary subtropical for...

Changes in the chemical composition of soil organic carbon (SOC) might strongly affect the global carbon cycle as it controls the SOC decomposition rate. Vegetation change associated with long-term land use changes is known to strongly impact the chemical composition of SOC; however, data on the impacts of vegetation change following disturbance events of short durations and succession that occ...