Wood structure and function of juvenile wood from 18 conifer species from four conifer families (Araucariaceae, Cupressaceae, Pinaceae and Podocarpaceae) were examined for a trade-off between wood reinforcement and hydraulic efficiency. Wood density and tracheid 'thickness-to-span' ratio were used as anatomical proxies for mechanical properties. The thickness:span represented the ratio of trach...

The cypress family (Cupressaceae) possesses highly rearranged plastomes that lack a pair of large inverted repeats typically found in land plants. A few cypress species have been reported to contain isomeric plastomes, but whether the existence of isomeric plastomes is ubiquitous in the family remains to be investigated with a broader taxon sampling. In this study, we sequenced the complete pla...

Five new eriophyoid mite species from Zhejiang Province, China are described and illustrated: Diptacus coreanus sp. nov. from Litsea coreana H. Lév. (Lauraceae), Neorhynacus camphoratus sp. nov. from Cinnamomum camphora (L.) J. Presl (Lauraceae),  Rhinotergum boehmerius sp. nov. from Boehmeria gracilis C.H. Wright (Urticaceae), Rhyncaphytoptus cathayensis sp. nov from Carya cathayensis Sarg. (J...

Periplaneta americana (Blattodea:Blattidae) toxicity of 17 different plant-based essential oil against, adults were investigated. Used oils Lavendula angustifola (Lamiaceae), Zingiber officinale (Zingiberaceae), Citrus bergamia (Rutaceae), Juniperus virginiana (Cupressaceae), Piper nigrum (Piperaceae), Curcuna longa Betula lenta (Betulaceae), Myristica fragranaceae (Myristica fragranaceae), com...

The megafossil record of Chamaecyparis (Cupressaceae) in the Northern Hemisphere, especially that in Europe, is reviewed with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the biogeographic history of this genus and providing an explanation of the causes of eastern Asian and western and eastern North American intercontinental disjunction of extant members. The fossil data available favor the hyp...

The one-seeded, serrate leaf margined junipers of Southwestern United States and northern Mexico consist of J. angosturana, J. californica, J. coahuilensis var. arizonica, J. c. var. coahuilensis, J. monosperma, J. pinchotii, J. occidentalis var. australis, J. o. var. occidentalis and J. osteosperma. Recent nrDNA and trnC-trnD sequence data were compared with RAPDs analysis and two of the taxa ...

Thuja, a genus of Cupressaceae comprising five extant species, presently occurs in both East Asia (3 species) and North America (2 species) and has a long fossil record from Paleocene to Pleistocene in the Northern Hemisphere. Two distinct hypotheses have been proposed to account for the origin and present distribution of this genus. Here we recognize and describe T. sutchuenensis Franch., a ne...

Recent nrDNA and trnC-trnD sequence data revealed that J. monticola and J. m. f. compacta are not monophyletic, and this prompted additional research using Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs). The SNPs data clearly show that J. monticola f. compacta is not conspecific with J. monticola f. monticola. Juniperus monticola f. compacta Mart. is raised to the specific level as: Juniperus compacta ...

Japanese-cedar [Cryptomeria japonica (L.f.) D. Don] represents an alternative to leyland cypress [·Cuprocyparis leylandii (A.B. Jacks. & Dallim.) Farjon] as an evergreen screen or specimen plant for landscapes. It performs well under a range of soil and environmental conditions but has been underused attributable, in part, to unsightly winter browning caused by photoinhibition. In previous stud...