male and female leaves and fruits of eleven different taxons of iranian conifers (cupressus sempervirens var. horizontalis, c. sempervirens var. sempervirens, c. sempervirens cv. cereifeormis, juniperus communis subsp. hemisphaerica, j. excelsa subsp. excelsa, j. excelsa subsp. polycarpos, j. foetidissima, j. oblonga, j. sabina, platycladus orientalis and taxus baccata) were collected from diff...

Scientific analysis has provided new evidence in historical and archaeological studies recent years. Archaeological samples are frequently contaminated because of conservation conditions and/or cleaning before restoration. Roman amphora, made a material great interest, is no exception. This study develops the chemical Dressel I amphorae coming from Châteaumeillant oppidum France, dating 2nd cen...

A study was made of airborne pollen counts in Cuenca (east-central Iberian Peninsula, Spain), using data obtained over a 3-year period (2008-2010). This is the first such study carried out in the World Heritage city of Cuenca, situated in the large region of Castilla-La Mancha. Air monitoring was performed using the sampling and analysis procedures recommended by the Spanish Aerobiology Network...

Plant xylem must balance efficient delivery of water to the canopy against protection from air entry into the conduits via air-seeding. We investigated the relationship between tracheid allometry, end wall pitting, safety from air-seeding, and the hydraulic efficiency of conifer wood in order to better understand the trade-offs between effective transport and protection against air entry. Root ...

The essential oil from seed coats of Thuja orientalis L. (Family cupressaceae) obtained in an yield of 1% has been studied for its antimicrobial activity against 6 bacteria and 5 fungi using filter paper disc agar diffusion technique. The oil has shown good to moderate activity of the oil against all six test bacteria. The activity of the oil against S. typhi has been found remarkable at 1:1000...

We reconstructed the broad backbone of conifer phylogeny from a survey of 15–17 plastid loci and associated noncoding regions from exemplar conifer species. Parsimony and likelihood analyses recover the same higher-order relationships, and we find strong support for most of the deep splits in conifer phylogeny, including those within our two most heavily sampled families, Araucariaceae and Cupr...