7 LIST OF ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS 9 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 10

BACKGROUND Tragia belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae which contains about 152 species. Interestingly, most of the earlier investigations have been done using only five Tragia species, namely, Tragia involucrata, Tragia cannabina, Tragia spathulata, Tragia plukenetii, and Tragia benthamii. The objective of the present review is to compile the phytochemical, pharmacological and biological studie...

Dendrothrix condorensis K.Wurdack, sp. nov. from the sub-Andean cordilleras of Ecuador and Peru is described and illustrated. The new species is geographically widely separated from its likely closest relative, D. yutajensis, which is endemic to the Guiana Shield region of southern Venezuela and adjacent Brazil, and notably differs in leaf morphology. Vegetative (i.e., epidermal micropapillae, ...

Protapanteles (Protapanteles) enephes (Nixon, 1965) (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) was reared from the host Fountainea ryphea phidile (Geyer, 1837) (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Charaxinae), collected on Croton floribundus Spreng. (Euphorbiaceae) in São Carlos, São Paulo state, Brazil. The hyperperparasitoids Conura sp. (Hymenoptera, Chalcididae) and a Pteromalidae species are registere...

The tropical emergent tree Hyeronima alchorneoides has large decreases in leaf size with tree age: 1200 cm(2) at 1 yr, 900 cm(2) at 3 yr, 200 cm(2) at 11 yr, and 80 cm(2) in old (>30 yr) individuals. We tracked leaf growth and physiological attributes on trees of three different ages (1, 3, and 11 yr) to determine the developmental basis and functional consequences of this variation. Leaves on ...

During botanical expeditions between 2010 and 2015, as part of a taxonomic study of Manihot in the Midwest region of Brazil, approximately 500 specimens of the genus were collected. Some of these specimens presented similarities to Manihot irwinii. However, after careful morphological analyses, associated with genetic evidence, we propose here Manihot pulchrifolius as a new species. The new spe...

Investigation of the dichloromethane extracts from herbal and root parts of Mercurialis perennis L. afforded a mixture of 11 homologous n-alkylresorcinols (ARs) with saturated odd-numbered alkyl side chains (C15:0-C27:0). In addition to three predominant ARs (C19:0, C21:0 and C23:0), a number of minor ARs were identified by use of LC-MS/MS and GC-MS techniques. Among the compounds detected, fou...

The occurrence of polyprenols in leaves of over 340 species of dendroflora in natural habitats in the regions of Hanoi and Hue in Vietnam was studied. Plant material was collected in the late autumn (October/November) during the end of a vegetation season. Leaves of about 200 plant species did not contain detectable amounts of polyprenols in contrast to few systematic families, e.g. Moraceae, E...