What is disjunctive xylem parenchyma? A case study of the African tropical hardwood Okoubaka aubrevillei (Santalaceae)

The morphological variation and structure-function relationships of xylem parenchyma still remain open to discussion. We analyzed the three-dimensional structure of a poorly known type of xylem parenchyma with disjunctive walls in the tropical hardwood Okoubaka aubrevillei (Santalaceae). Disjunctive cells occurred among the apotracheal parenchyma cells and at connections between axial and ray parenchyma cells. The disjunctive cells were partly detached one from another, but their tubular structures connected them into a continuous network of axial and ray parenchyma. The connecting tubules had thick secondary walls and simple pits with plasmodesmata at the points where one cell contacted a tubule of another cell. The imperforate tracheary elements of the ground tissue were seven times longer than the axial parenchyma strands, a fact that supports a hypothesis that parenchyma cells develop disjunctive walls because they are pulled apart and partly separated during the intrusive growth of fibers. We discuss unresolved details of the formation of disjunctive cell walls and the possible biomechanical advantage of the wood with disjunctive parenchyma: the proportion of tissue that improves mechanical strength is increased by the intrusive elongation of fibers (thick-walled tracheids), whereas the symplastic continuum of the parenchyma is maintained through formation of disjunctive cells.     

基于叶绿体DNA trnL内含子序列数据的檀香目科间系统发育关系的研究

应用叶绿体DNAtrnL内含子序列分析檀香目科间的系统发育关系。取样研究的檀香目个体的trnL内含子序列长度在科间呈现较大差异(从291bp到587bp)。最大简约性分析产生的严格一致树与以前已发表的基于其它基因的檀香目的分子系统学研究结果大体一致。香芙木属(铁青树科)是最早分支出的类群：桑寄生科、槲寄生科分别表现为单系类群,檀香科为并系;桑寄生科和槲寄生科并不具密切亲缘关系,槲寄生科从檀香科内衍生出来。本研究表明,具相对高的核苷酸替换率的叶绿体DNAtrnL内含子序列可为高等级类群系统发育关系的研究提供更多的信息位点。     

值得注意的中国植物

近年为研究中国的大戟科、檀香科等科的植物,对中山大学生物系植物标本馆（ＳＹＳ）、华南植物研究所标本馆（ＩＢＳＣ）等的标本予以重新鉴定．现将中国植物区系中一些属或种作必要的修订,增加《中国植物志》未收载的２个新记录种,处理１个新异名．     

沙针（Osyriswightiana）的化学成分研究

从沙针乙醇提取物的乙酸乙酯部分分离得到11个化合物,它们的结构经波谱分析鉴定为(+)儿茶素(1)、(+)-afzelechin-3-氧-L-鼠李糖(2)、afzelechin-(4α-8)-儿茶素(3)、(+)-儿茶素-3-氧-L-鼠李糖(4)、二氢山奈酚3-氧-L鼠李糖(5)、反式-植醇(6)、24-乙基胆甾烷-5,22.二烯-3β-醇-棕榈酸酯(7)、2.十八烯酸(8)、芒柄花萜醇(9)、3β-谷甾醇(10)、胡萝卜苷(11).化合物1～11为首次从该属植物中分离得到.     

Evolution of larval food plant associations in Delias Hübner butterflies (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)

A review of larval food plants of the genus Delias is presented. Larvae specialize primarily on aerial‐stem and root hemiparasites (“mistletoes”) in the order Santalales. Although butterfly food plant associations have been recorded for only a small proportion of the genus (28 species or ～11%, representing 12/24 species‐groups), available data suggest that the family Loranthaceae is used most frequently (77%), followed by the Santalaceae sensu stricto (14%) and Viscaceae (8%). With the possible exception of Euphorbiaceae (1%), almost all non‐mistletoe records are considered to be erroneous and, in most cases, probably represent the mistletoe host tree on which the larvae sometimes pupate. Of the eight major clades recognized in Delias, food plants have been recorded for six of these, although the majority of records (89%) are for three clades (hyparete, belladonna, nigrina). Optimization of the larval food plant data in the context of recent phylogenetic hypotheses for both butterflies and plants revealed little evidence of cospeciation at the higher systematic levels. The most parsimonious reconstruction was an origin of larval feeding on Loranthaceae, followed by at least six independent colonizations to Santalaceae + Viscaceae. In contrast to related pierids in the Aporiina associated with mistletoes in which further shifts from aerial‐stem mistletoes to distantly related plants (e.g. host trees parasitized by mistletoes) have facilitated differentiation at the generic level, there is no firm evidence to indicate that such secondary, monomorphic shifts have evolved in Delias. However, larvae of D. henningia (pasithoe group of belladonna clade) from Palawan and Luzon, the Philippines, appear to be polymorphic, feeding on both Loranthaceae and Euphorbiaceae.     

Possible chemotaxonomic significance of the occurrence of cis-4-hydroxy-l-proline in santalaceae

cis-4-hydroxy-l-porline was detected in three genera (four species) of Santalaceae.