The ecology and evolutionary potential of coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is significantly influenced by the important role clonal spread plays in its reproduction and site persistence. In nine second-growth stands, amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) were used to identify redwood clonal architecture. Clones (multistem genets) dominated sites by representing an average of 70% o...

Over the past 70 years a destructive blight of Cupressus macrocarpa and other Cupressaceae, caused by Seiridium cardinale, has spread worldwide from California, devastating forests, plantations, and ornamental cypresses. The epidemic has been particularly severe in the Mediterranean region, on C. sempervirens. A similar destructive blight induced by Lepteutypa cupressi, which caused serious los...

The genus Juniperus (Cupressaceae) consists of approximately GO species distributed in the orthern Hemisphere, except for J.yrocera Hocll. which extends into the Southern Hemisphere in Africa (Florin, 1963). The delimitation of the species of Juniperus is difficult in all of the world; few taxonomic studies have encompassed any large geographical or natural province. Gaussen (1968) lists 99 spe...

The essential oils of branchlets and fruits of Juniperus excelsa subsp. excelsa and Juniperus excelsa subsp. polycarpos were examined for their antioxidant activity. The compositions of the essential oils were studied by GC and GC-MS. To evaluation the antioxidants activity of the volatile oils, pure components and positive controls at different concentrations, thin-layer chromatography (TLC) s...

An aeropalynological study was carried out in the atmosphere of Estepona, a very popular tourist resort situated in the "Costa del Sol", (southern Spain) based on the data obtained during a three year air-monitoring programme (March 1995 to March 1998) using a volumetric pollen trap. The 34 taxa that reached a 10-day mean air pollen concentration equal to or greater than 1 grain of pollen/m(3) ...

To study the impact of inhaling airborne pollen on health, it is important to know not only their average daily concentrations but also the intradiurnal behaviour of these biological particles. This study reports the bi-hourly distribution of the arboreal airborne pollen types more abundant in the atmosphere of Toledo (central Spain), many of them triggering important allergic processes in Tole...

Phylogenetic comparisons of three nuclear DNA gene regions (nrDNA(ITS), 4-coumarate: CoA ligase, abscisic acid-insensitive 3) and a chloroplast region (petN-psbM) show that the Western Hemisphere cypresses (Hesperocyparis) is a well-supported clade quite separated from the Eastern Hemisphere cypresses (Cupressus). Based on these new data and previous data, a new genus, Hesperocyparis, is erecte...

Regeneration of many late-successional tree species depends on specialized safe sites. The primary objective was to investigate the roles of seedbed and moisture retention as dimensions of safe sites for the early regeneration of drought-sensitive northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis). We hypothesized that rates of germination, survival, and growth of T. occidentalis are unlikely to differ ...

Concentration and composition of monoterpenoids in plant tissue affects a variety of environmental and ecological issues such as plant defenses, plant classification, and phytotoxicity. Developing the techniques for extracting and estimating the concentration and composition of monoterpenoids must be speciesspecific because monoterpenoid storage location varies between species. Ashe juniper f,J...

BACKGROUND Cupressaceae pollen allergy is a worldwide winter pollinosis. Exposure to cypress pollen has increased enormously during recent decades, and cypress pollen allergy has become a major health problem, especially in Mediterranean countries. OBJECTIVES We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of cypress pollen sensitization and allergy in the Montpellier area and the symptoms presented by s...