Kernels of the plant Santalum acuminatum (quandong) are eaten as Australian 'bush foods'. They are rich in oil and contain relatively large amounts of the acetylenic fatty acid, santalbic acid (trans-11-octadecen-9-ynoic acid), whose chemical structure is unlike that of normal dietary fatty acids. When rats were fed high fat diets in which oil from quandong kernels supplied 50% of dietary energ...

Amentotaxus formosana Li is a native, tolerant, and under-wood species in Taiwan. This particular species is only distributed around the Chachayalaishan and Dawushan areas. Because of its rarity, and the endangered and native properties of the species, we explored the regeneration process of the species in the native environment. This paper, therefore, aims to outline the age distribution and g...

The diversity and distribution of microfungal assemblages in leaf litter of a tropical Australian forest was assessed using two methods: (1) cultures were isolated using a particle filtration protocol (wet season 2001), and (2) fruit bodies were observed directly on leaf surfaces following incubation in humid chambers (wet and dry season of 2002). Four tree species were studied using both metho...

Methods for the control of wandering Jew (Tradescantia fluminensis) are reviewed and one selected to eradicate this weed from a forest remnant near the lower Rangitikei River. The botanical importance of the forest is assessed in the context of Manawatu Plains Ecological District. Its future conservation management is related to other problem weeds, notably Cobaea scandens, Solanum jasminoides,...

The medicinal plants are widely used by traditional medical practitioners for curing various diseases in their day to day life. In traditional system of medicine different parts of Phyllanthus reticulatus are used for curing various ailments. Bark is used as astringent and diuretic. Leaves are antidiarrheal and roots are used for asthma. Fruit of the plant is used in inflammation. Phyllanthus r...

The diet of a population of opossums from an area of 2.25 ha in the Orongorongo Valley near WelJington was investigated, using faecal analyses to identify the cuticles of the leaves eaten. Because of the variation in the digestibility of the leaf cuticles of the different species [the cuticle of hangehange (Geniostoma ligustrifolium) is twelve times more digestible than that of climbing rata (M...