Sulla Presenza di Ificellarioli e di Conidi in Mieobionti Lichenici Coltivati in « Vitro ». Riassunto

Abstract

On the presence of « hyphycellariola » (swollen celles) and conidia in three lichenized fungi cultivated « in vitro ». — The Authors refer to the presence of « cellariola » (and « hyphycellariola ») found in pure cultures « in vitro » of the mycobiont of Xanthoria parietina and describe the morphology of conidia in the fungus isolated from Sarcogyne similis and Acarospora fuscata.

As far as the « cellariola » and « hyphycellariola » are concerned, it is the first note relative to the mycobionts of Lichens.

The Authors report the data of the utilized medium and the morphological observations.

This previous studies will be intensified by further research.     

Sulla Terminologia dei Processi Apomittici

Summary

The Author observing the great disagreement of the terminology usually adopted for the apomictic phenomena, examines the whole series of the phenomena noted both in regards of the formation of the gametophyte and of the embryo. The forming of the gametophyte is fixed on the base of nature of its original cell, normally a haploid spore or »haplospore« (phenomenon of the »haplospory« following the regular meiosis), rarely a diploid spore or »diplospore« (phenomenon of the »diplospory« following the irregular meiosis, as for instance in the case of restitution nucleus, etc.). The original cell can be at least represented by the same cell that usually is the spore mother cell, whether for the outward causes, or for inward causes is lacking the usual reductional process. For the failure of the meiotic process, such a cell cannot be called »spore«.

A cell of the somatic tissue of the sporophyte can even become the original cell of the gametophyte always in case of the absence of the meiosis. These two last cases of apospory are respectively called: »somatic apospory« and »gonial apospory« (= germinal apospory) (Chiarugi 1926).

The formation of the embryo is fixed on the base of the nature of the fecundation. The principal phenomena of the fecundation are represented by the following cases: »amphigamy« (or eugamy, or gamy), »semigamy, »pseudogamy«, »apogamy« »parthenogenesis«. The A. uses the term »apogamy« both for the diploid eggs and for the haploid eggs in which the stimulation of the division is produced by the pollen-tube or by male nuclei, in absence of the gamy.

The term »parthenogenesis« is restricted to the division of the haploid or diploid eggs in which the stimulation is not caused by pollen-tube nor even for the great reason, by the male nuclei existing in it.     

Nuovi Dati Sulla Distribuzione Di Isoétes Malinvernianum in Lomellina

Abstract

New data on the distribution of « Isoëtes malinvernianum » in Lomellina. — The Author relates the discovery of many new stations of Isoëtes malinvernianum in Lomellina (Province of Pavia). Many observations carried out in these new localities and in the most part of the already recorded localities near Novara and Vercelli have allowed him to modify some convincements on the habitat of this well known endemism. So he reports that Isoëtes malinvernianum vegetates not only in the waters of « fontanile » but also in waters of the most different sources, that this species is not solitary but accompanied by many species as Callitriche palustris, Fontinalis antipyretica, Sagittaria sagittifolia, Vallisneria spiralis, Potamogeton crispa and few other species more. Isoëtes malinvernianum, besides, is not damaged by dredge works in the canals and is present not only in morainic soils and in the diluvial soils transformated in ferreto but also in the terraced flood named with old terms as « Terrazziano » or « Diluvium recente » and in the diluvial soils of the « Alluvium ». Now at least it is not possible to ascribe plant communities of which Isoëtes malinvernianum makes part to a well defined association.     

Tubular and Fibrillar Components in the Phloem of Brassica Chinensis L. Leaves

Abstract

Electron microscopical observations of the phloem of Brassica chinensis L. leaves, healthy or infected by turnip yellow mosaic virus, have shown that the «slime», characteristic proteic component of the sieve cell protoplast, is present as tubules or fibrils, free in the cellular cytoplasm or localized in the cisternae of the endoplasmic reticulum. In this paper it was thought to follow the ontogensis and evolution of the «slime» in parallel with the differentiation of the sieve tube and at the same time to contribute to the solution of the problem concerning the origin and probable function of this proteic material.     

La Vegetazione e L'ecologia Di Pratofiorito (Appennino Settentrionale)

Abstract

Ecology and vegetazion of mount Pratofiorito. — The author examines position, climatic conditions, geological nature and vegetation of Mount « Pratofiorito » in the Tuscan Appennine.

Mount Pratofiorito is a residue of secondary rocks and derived soil surrounded by tertiary and quaternary rocks and soil.

Its vegetations is actually constituted by grass-land and so it differs-from that of the neihbouring mountains which comprises the flora has been made. This list was then comparend with spades found in the adjacent beech and helm-oak zones.

From these comparisons one can deduce thath the meadow of « Graminaceae » and « Cyperaceae » growing on Mount Pratofiorito may bed considered as a grass-land resulting from the degradation of an arboreal zone, problably from a beech-wood.     

Insediamento e Diffusione di Buddleia Davidii Franch

Abstract

«Buddleya davidii» in «Valtellina» (North Italy), its settling and diffusion. — Vegetational areas where «Buddleya davidii» is naturalised in Valtellina are described and the subsequent phases are followed through 18 years.     

“Eumeiosi” e “Meiosi Apoomeotipica” Seguita da “Mitosi a Diplounivalenti” Nel Tessuto Somatico di Sambucus

Summary

The Authors describe in Sambucus nigra L the occurrence of the » apohomeotypic teiosis « followed by a »mitosis with diplounivalents « (Battaglia 1945, 1947) in ae somatic tissue of the style. The AA. observed also the occasional formation f four haploid nuclei and then the occurence of the »eumeiosis« (Battaglia 1945).     

Ricerche Cariologiche e Embriologiche Sul Genere Rudbeckia (Asteraceae)

Summary

The author describes the different modalities of the cellularisation of the adult gametophyte of Rudbeckia laciniata L. The several cases are arranged according to the number and the type of differentiation of the cells of the gametopyte. Of each type it is stated the frequency, calculated in about 500 cases.

The author remarks that the differentiation of the single cells is owing to »an effect of the position«, which exists in the displacement of the nuclei of the gametophyte regarding the proendospermatic cell, to which cell, however, one can attribute a pre-eminent »power of organization«. The displacement of the nuclei is after all the consequente of the stage of the » polarisation «.     

Sull'embriologia di Leontopodium Nivale (Ten.) Huet ex Hand. Mazz.

Abstract

Embryology of « Leontopodium nivale » (Ten.) Huet ex Hand.-Mazz. — As in « Leontopodium alpinum » Cass. var. a typicum Fiori e Paoletti, from different alpine localities, no cases of apomixis have been observed (Maugini 1962) while Sokolowska-Kulczycka (1959) has noticed this phenomenon in the same species collected on the Tatra mountains, an embryological research on « Leontopodium nivale » (Ten.) Huet ex Hand. Mazz. has been undertaken. The material, collected in the alpine garden of Campo Imperatore (Abruzzo), has shown that the development of the female gametophyte occurs as in Leontopodium alpinum, according to the normal monomegasporial type which leads to the formation of an 8-nucleate gametophyte which at maturity is almost always poliantipodate. In « Leontopodium nivale » there is no trace of apomixix, but many cases of degeneration, particularly in the mature gametophyte, have been observed.     

La Marana di Ciminiera (Foggia)

Summary

A «marana» of the Foggia Plain (Puglie) is a depression where water accumulates from the surrounding higher ground, and, very often, springs from the undersoil where the clay layer curves upwards. The soil is generally saline. It is not tillled but is grazed by herds of water-buffaloes. In the Marana di Ciminiera the auth. has found a mosaic of highly saline soils (with Salicornia fruticosa, Suaeda fruticosa, etc.), subsaline meadows (with Juncus acutus, Althaea officinalis, etc.), and fairly deep bogs, mostly drying up in summer (with Iris Pseudo-Acorus, Typha angustifolia, Phragmites communis, etc.).

A dense stand of Inula Helenium, one of Ligustrum vulgare, Lonicera etrusca, Crataegus Oxyacantha, Thalictrum flavum, Schoenus nigricans, and the general aspect of Lago della Contessa are described. Plants collected in the «marana» are listed.     

Saxifraga Berica (Béguinot) D. A. Webb E Asplenium Lepidum Presl Sui Colli Berici

Abstract

«Saxifraga berica» (Béguinot) D. A. Webb and «Asplenium lepidum» Presl on the «Colli Berici». – We have identified a new association in the small caverns of the calcareous rocks in the hills of the north-eastern zone of the «Colli Berici», rising from the Italian plain near Vicenza. We have adopted for this association the name: ADIANTO-SAXIFRAGETUM BERICAE. This phytocoenose is characterized by the endemic «Saxifraga berica». We have found new stations of this remarkable plant and reported some features of this species to complete the diagnosis of D. A. Webb. In two station of this association we have found also the rare «Asplenium lepidum», new for this region.     

The cryptopolyploidy (Jaretzky 1928: «verkappte Polyploidie»; Chiarugi 1933: «criptopoliploidia»; Melinossi 1935, 1937: «duplicazione endocromosomica»). A terminological criticism.

Abstract

In the cytological literature and text-books, the term cryptopolyploidy is mainly ignored and sometimes re-interpreted and often wrongly quoted from the point of view of historical accuracy. The paternity over this term should be ascribed to Chiarugi (1933), although Jaretzky (1928a, b), while investigating karyologically two species of the genus Bunias, B. orientalis and B. erucago, first advanced a concept of «verkappte Polyploidie» to indicate the occurrence of chromosomes of enlarged size hypothetically due to fusion of homologous members (Jaretzky's «Sammelchromosomen»). By such homologous chromosome fusion a polyploid karyotype could appear as a diploid karyotype. A pupil of Chiarugi, Roma Melinossi, reinvestigating the two species quoted by Jaretzky, Bunias orientalis and B. erucago, documented a quite different karyological state for these species, cf. Melinossi (1935, 1937), that is the presence of the same karyotype (2n=14) in both species and the occurrence of chromosome of doubled size in B. erucago. Melinossi recognized B. erucago to be the cryptopolyploid species (obviously crypto-tetraploid) and not B. orientalis as assumed by Jaretzky and reinterpreted the chromosomes of doubled size as the result of a «duplicazione endocromosomica» (MELINOSSI, 1937).

Almost contemporaneously a second pupil of Chiarugi, Fernanda Pannocchia-Laj, in a karyo-embryological investigation of some species of the genus Vinca, described the occurrence of another case of cryptopolyploidy (sense Melinossi, that is by «duplicazione endocromosomica»). Besides the minor fact that this latter author spelled the term «criptopoliploidia» also as «criptopoliploidismo», her paper is very remarkable because suggested the probable occurrence of a degree of cryptopolyploidy higher than that of Bunias (crypto-tetraploid), namely the occurrence of «… una entità criptopoliploide con valore superiore al tetraploide, probabilmente ottoploide» (cf. PANNOCCHIA-LAJ, 1938 p. 177, p. 178, Fig. 36: criptottoploide).

On the basis of the results of a comparative karyological study between Vinca minor, V. major and V. difformis, PANNOCCHIA-LAJ ascribed to V. minor the diploid karyotype «2n=46», to V. major the tetraploid karyotype «2n=92», and to V. difformis the cryptopolyploid karyotype «2n=46 (x4?)». Since PANNOCCHIA-LAJ (1938, pp. 184–185), following MELINOSSI (1937), interpreted the origin of cryptopolyploidy as a phenomenon due to «duplicazione endocromosomica», the formula «2n=46 (x4?)» clearly means occurrence of «doppia duplicazione endocromosomica» or «quadruplicazione cromosomica».

The author is personally aware that PANNOCCHIA-LAJ intentionally, for scientific prudence, avoided to include such a terms in her account.

The papers of CHIARUGI, MELINOSSI and PANNOCCHIA-LAJ have been largely ignored by the subsequent cytological literature and the term cryptopolyploidy has been variably quoted or interpreted and also reinvented (cf. HOLT in SPARROW & NAUMAN, 1974)!

From a terminological point of view, there are two sound considerations which suggest a refusal of the term cryptopolyploidy, namely:

- the prefix crypto does not qualify, it only means that such a polyploidy is «not visible» (hidden) by the methods of the observer;

- the choice of the prefix crypto is injustifiable because, the cases of cryptopolyploidy show the general morphology of the relative known polyploid species, that is they are phenotypically polyploids!

Both considerations, together, suggest the refusal of the prefix crypto and the proposal of the neoterm phenopolyploidy (phenotypic polyploidy). Necessarily, the indication of phenopolyploidy is nothing else but a provisional term waiting for a modern reinvestigation of both the crypto-tetraploid Bunias erucago and the crypto-octoploid Vinca difformis.     

Studio Comparativo della Struttura e del Ciclo Biologico di Due Diatomee di Acqua Dolce: Navicula Minima Grun. E Navicula Seminulum Grun.: III. Esame Dei Caratteri di Navicula Minima Grun. E di Navicula Seminulum Grun

Abstract

Comparative study of the structure and of the biological cycle of two fresh water diatoms: « Navicula minima » Grun. and « Navicula seminulum » Grun. III. Examination of the characteristics of « N. minima » Grun. and « N. seminulum » Grun. — After studing separately the Navicula minima Grun. and the Navicula seminulum Grun. the various characteristics of the two have been compared and contrasted for purpose of classification. The form and dimentions of the frustules, the density and the structure of the streaks, the structure of the walls, the life circle, aspects of their growths, and some anomalies, most especially, as regards the streaks were examined. It was found the among such numerous characteristics, only one, that is, the presence of the streaks formed by double rows of pores in N. seminulum rather than of a simple file as in N. minima makes one thinks that, in spite of strong similarities existing between these two Naviculae, they are to be regarded as belonging to e different systematic classes. However, their actual positions in taxonomy May-June be defined by further research into the structures and the variabilities of the frustules of other species of Naviculae similar to those examined.     

Crepis Bursifolia L., Nuova Stabile Inquilina della Flora Ligustica della Riviera di Ponente

Abstract

«Crepis bursifolia » L., new permanent tenant of the flora in west ligurian coast. — The author declares the permanent presence of « Crepis bursifolia » L. in Liguria, and informs about new stations of this species along the western riviera. The relates, furthermore, the unfavourable results of his close investigation to verify the eventual presence of further station of « C. bursifolia » L. found by former researcher.     

Primi Dati Sulle Alghe Della Scogliera « I Travi » di Portonovo (Ancona)

Abstract

First data on the seaweeds of the reef « I Travi » of Portonovo (Ancona). — The reef « I Travi » is formed by a series of nearly vertical rock strata which from Mount « I Corvi » dip into the sea with a general direction WNW-ESE. The rock face looking towards the open sea (that is roughly to the North) is exposed to the action of the waves. The sea is particulary rough when the wind blows from the North (« Bora »), and the East (« Levante »).

The temperature of the water throughout the year varies from 9.5[ddot] C in February to 27 [ddot]C in September, that is over a range of 17.5 [ddot]C. In June the salinity of the water was of 33.6%, and the pH had a value of 8.1. Ascending and descending currents and water movements seem to mix efficiently the upper and lower waters.

The seaweed population of the rock face varies longitudinally. In the Wetsern part Acetabularia is dominant; there is a central part with prevalence of Cystoseira, and an eastern part with prevalence of Ceramium and Cladophora. Vertically one can distinguish: a Littoral Zone of 40–45 cm (maximum amplitude of the tides) with Cladophora, Enteromorpha, and other Chlorophyceae; an Infralittoral Zone with predominance of Cystoseira, Gracilaria, and, lower down of various Rhodophyceae. The Eulittoral Zone is missing.     

Ulteriore contributo alle conoscenze sul « Denti de cani » (X Haynaldoticum sardoum Meletti e Onnis)

Abstract

Further data on « Denti de cani » (X Haynaldoticum sardoum Meletti e Onnis). – The authors defin the taxonomic position of « Denti de cani » (X Haynaldoticum sardoum Meletti e Onnis). It is characterized by the presence of two forms differentiated for morphological features and behaviour.     

Ricerche Embriologiche Sul Genere Thalictrum. II. Embriologia e Cariologia Di Thalictrum Lucidum L. e di Thalictrum Minus L. Subsp. Minus

Abstract

Embryological researches in the «Thalictrum» genus. II. Embryology and caryology of «Thalictrum lucidum» L. and «Thalictrum minus» L. ssp. «minus». — In their development the female gametophytes of Thalictrum lucidum L. and Thalictrum minus L. ssp. minus follow the Normal type. In the female gametophytes of these species several types of antipodal cells occurs such as: their considerable enlargement, formation of many antipodals polyploid or polinucleated antipodal cells. In these various types, however, a rapid regression of the antipodals occurs. In T. lucidum some tendency to a disposition of the tetrapolarized type has been verified. The chromosome number has been confirmed to ben 2n=28 in besides, in the pollen development, many cases of regression of the microspores has been verified. The chromosome number has been confirmed to ben 2n=28 in Thalictrum lucidum L., and has been found to ben 2n=14 in Thalictrum minus L. ssp. minus, a new number in this species, which was earlier reported to have 2n=42.     

Fissazione di C14O2 in Colture di Tessuti Vegetali « in Vitro »

Abstract

C¹⁴O₂ fixation in plant tissues « in vitro ». — In the present work it has been examinated the autotrophic and heterotrophic CO₂ fixation of explants of « Helianthus tuberosus » « in vitro » and the photosyntetic efficiency of leaves produced from buds of « in vitro » explants of « Cichorium intybus » compared with that of mature leaves from normal plants of the same species. From our results it is evident that « in vitro » explants of « Helianthus tuberosus », grown, in the light, are able to autotrophically incorporate C¹⁴O₂; the distribution of the radioactivity into the various fractions shows a large influence of the light on the neutral fraction containing sugars (50% of the total radioactivity). In the chlorophyllous explants the dark CO₂ fixation is obviously of heterotrophic type: 97% of the total radioactivity is incorporated in amine acids (43%) and the organic acids (53%); on the other hand in the dark grown explants the radioactivity is differently distributed between amino acids (59%) and organic acids (39%). Mature leaves from normal plants and leaves produced from buds of « in vitro » explants of « Cichorium intybus » incorporate the same quantity of C¹⁴O₂ when expressed per mg of chlorophyll; the different distribution of the radioactivity in the neutral and acid fractions could be explained in terms of a different utilization pathway of the photosynthates in the two tissues.     

Sulla penetrazione di Penicillium digitatum Sacc. e Penicillium italicum Wehmer nei frutti degli agrumi

Summary

The A., with a series of controls and investigations, accomplished on different groups of Oranges and following various forms of artificial infection with Penicillium digitatum and Penicillium italicum, renders evident the different reactions that these moulds have with regard to the resistance of the cuticle and the epidermic and under-epidermic stratums of the peel of the controlled fruits. Moreover the A. confirms that both the P. digitatum and the P. italicum can act as «parasite of injury» and as «parasite of contact».     

Autopercepción de la salud en ancianos y mortalidad a los 5 años. Estudio en una comunidad rural

IntroductionTo investigate the relationship between self-rated health and mortality at 5 years of follow-up among the elderly in a rural community.DesignSurvival study with a 5-year follow-up.ParticipantsRepresentative sample of 408 individuals aged more than 65 years living in a rural municipality in the north-west of Spain.ResultsSurvival was significantly lower among individuals who reported «poor» or «very poor» health (relative risk [RR] = 1.56; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.04-2.33). However, after adjusting for other variables (age, sex, education, severe disease, toxic habits, and mobility) the probability of survival among these individuals reporting «poor» or «very poor» health was similar to that among participants who rated their health as «average», «good » or «very good» (RR = 1.15; 95% CI, 0.71-1.87). In the multivariate analysis, only age, regular smoking, and mobility remained as significant predictive factors of mortality.ConclusionsAfter adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors and for objective health status, self-rated health does not have a direct effect on mortality. The degree of mobility does seem to be useful in predicting mortality.