Epidermal and hypodermal characteristics in North American Cactoideae (Cactaceae)

Dermal and hypodermal anatomical features of 70 species representing 21 genera of North American Cactoideae were studied. Results show that all species examined have parallelocytic stomata and anticlinal wall surface varies from straight to undulate. Cuticle thickness is mostly narrow (1–10 μm) contrary to the general opinion that cuticle is thick in most cacti; however, few species such as Ariocarpus fissuratus and several species of Pachycereus show a distinctive thick cuticle. More than 80% of the species studied have a single-layered epidermis. Papillae occur in eight species belonging to four genera. Notable papillae are a feature shared by all members of Peniocereus subg. Peniocereus. Other species show a bullate surface produced by irregular patches of secondary epidermal cell divisions. Commonly, the hypodermis is composed of more than two cell layers with distinctive collenchymatous walls as reported in many South American species. Silica bodies, prismatic crystals, druses, sphaerocrystals, and tannins are the most common cellular inclusions that distinguish several genera and appear to have taxonomic value. However, a more thorough search in species of Cephalocereus, Coryphantha, Echinocereus, Mammillaria, Neobuxbaumia, Pilosocereus, and Turbinicarpus is needed to support the previous assertion. Electronic Publication     

Identification of self-incompatibility groups in<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Hatiora</Emphasis> and<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Schlumbergera</Emphasis> (Cactaceae)

The Cactaceae, a family of about 1,800 species of succulent perennials, contains numerous species that exhibit self-incompatibility (SI). The objective of the current study was to determine the number of incompatibility groups present among diploid (2n=2x=22) cultivars of the genera Schlumbergera Lem. (Christmas cacti) and Hatiora Britton & Rose (Easter cacti). Two partial diallel crosses were performed, one with 19 cultivars of Christmas cacti [= S. truncata (Haworth) Moran and S. × buckleyi (Buckley) Tjaden] and the other with 10 cultivars of Easter cacti [= H. gaertneri (Regel) Barthlott, H. rosea (Lagerheim) Barthlott, and H. × graeseri Barthlott ex D. Hunt]. The compatibility/incompatibility status of crosses was determined by percent fruit set and presence of seed in mature fruit. None of the cultivars set fruit when selfed or crossed with a cultivar in the same incompatibility group, but fruit set ranged from 35% to 100% following compatible crosses. For the Christmas cacti, eight intra-incompatible but reciprocally compatible groups were identified, with 13 of the 19 cultivars assigned to three incompatibility groups (68%). The ten cultivars of Easter cacti yielded nine intra-incompatible but reciprocally compatible groups, with two cultivars in one incompatibility group and the other eight cultivars each assigned to a unique group. One cultivar of Christmas cactus ('Abendroth 6') was incompatible when crossed as a male with cultivars in incompatibility group 2 but was compatible in reciprocal crosses, results that suggest that this cultivar is an S-allele homozygote. The crossing relationships are consistent with a one-locus, gametophytic SI system with multiple alleles. Allozyme locus Lap-1, shown previously to be linked with the S locus (recombination frequency 7%) in Schlumbergera, exhibited insufficient allelic diversity for determining the S genotypes of the 19 cultivars of Christmas cacti. Based on the number of incompatibility groups in each diallel, at least five S-alleles occur in the 19 Christmas cacti and the 10 Easter cacti.Publication 3337 of the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station. This material is based on work supported in part by the Cooperative State Research, Extension, Education Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, under Project No. 746     

Effects of environmental factors on development of wood

This research tested the hypothesis that environmental factors (light, water, and nutrient levels) affect wood development. Specimens were placed in treatments of low, medium, or high levels of light, water, nitrogen, or phosphorus for one year. Control plants received medium levels of all factors, while experimental plants received medium levels of all factors except the experimental factor; for example, "high light" treatment consisted of high light but medium levels of water, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Some character changes seen in Cereus peruvianus were a reduction in mean vessel diameter and shoot elongation as a result of low nitrogen and low phosphorus treatments and a reduction in mean vessel density due to low light; high water induced broader vessels and greater shoot elongation. In Cereus tetragonus, low water treatment caused a reduction in mean vessel diameter, and high nitrogen decreased the amount of wood produced. Whereas all characters studied showed a significant correlation with at least one treatment in one species, few characters responded similarly between species. Estimated specific conductivity of wood could be altered by treatments affecting either vessel density or vessel diameter strongly or by treatments affecting both diameter and density weakly. Under the conditions tested, wood structure was stable but estimated conducting capacity was more flexible.     

Microhabitats and Water Relations of Epiphytic Cacti and Ferns in a Lowland Neotropical Forest1

The pattern of canopy distribution and some water relations characteristics of the epiphytic cacti Epiphyllum phyllanthus and Rhipsalis baccifera and the epiphytic ferns Polypodium crassifolium and Polypodium phyllitidis were examined in the tropical forest of Barro Colorado Island, Panama. The epiphytic cacti were 6-fold more succulent than the epiphytic ferns, which had a 9-fold higher root: shoot ratio. The four species, especially the cacti, were more abundant on the deciduous trees Ceiba pentandra, Platypodium elegans. and Tabebuia guayacan than on the evergreen Anacardium excelsum. The water-holding capacity of the bark was 2-fold higher for A. excelsum and T. guayacan than for C. pentandra and P. elegans; the main crotches of the latter species intercepted 2-fold more rainfall than those of the former. Well-watered plants of all epiphytic species showed similar total daily transpiration. After 2 weeks of drought, daily transpiration decreased an average of 48 percent for the cacti and 73 percent for the ferns. After 4 weeks of drought, daily transpiration decreased 80 percent for the cacti and was eliminated for the ferns; succulence then decreased an average of 29 percent for the cacti and 98 percent for the ferns, but all species recovered fully within 2 d after rewetting. The epiphytic ferns had a low relative capacitance (0.16 M/Pa), causing these presumably C₃ plants often to be under water stress. A high relative capacitance (0.50 M/Pa) and crassulacean acid metabolism allowed the epiphytic cacti to occur most frequently on the driest sites of this tropical forest.     

Demographic patterns of Ferocactus cylindraceus in relation to substrate age and grazing history

Three subpopulations of Ferocactus cylindraceus, a short-columnar cactus of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts, were sampled in Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA, at sites representing a range of substrate ages and different grazing histories. Age-height relations were determined from annual growth, then used to estimate probable year of establishment for each cohort. Eight years between 1944 and 1992 were especially favorable for establishment. Six of these 8 years coincided with El Niño-Southern Oscillation conditions, indicating that as for many woody plants in arid regions, somewhat unusual climatic conditions are necessary if populations are to replace themselves.Comparison of age structures showed that established and developing populations have somewhat different dynamics in that the rate of population increase was slowest on the youngest terrace. On the ancient terraces, about half the plants were less than 25 years old. Plants older than 40 years were few; however the oldest plants in the study (about 49 years) grew on the ancient terraces. On the recent terrace, 76% of the subpopulation was 25 years or younger, and the oldest living plant was about 36 years of age. The age structures of subpopulations on grazed and ungrazed sites also differed markedly. On ungrazed sites, subpopulations were more or less at equilibrium, with enough young plants to replace old ones as they died. In contrast, the subpopulation on the grazed site was in a state of marked disequilibrium. Grazing before 1981 largely extirpated a palatable subshrub that was probably an important nurse plant. Until the shrub population at Indian Canyon recovers from decades of burro grazing, a rebound in F. cylindraceus establishment is not to be expected.Nomenclature: Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson manual: Higher plants of California. University of California Press, Berkeley.     

Environmental influences on the productivity of three desert succulents in the south-western United States

Abstract Net CO₂ uptake over 24 h periods for shoots of Agave deserti, Ferocactus acanthodes, and Opuntia ficus-indica was measured under the ranges of water status, air temperature, and photo-synthetically active radiation (PAR) that occur in the south-western U.S.A. An environmental productivity index (EPI) was constructed indicating the overall influence of these three factors on net CO₂ uptake. Using growth chambers whose conditions were changed monthly to simulate the environmental conditions at a field site, the observed shoot dry weight increases per unit surface area changed in concert with monthly changes in EPI. The observed dry weight gain of the shoot was 17–19% lower than the predicted shoot net CO₂ uptake, which could be accounted for by carbon diversion to the roots. Mean monthly EPI was also predicted for 21 sites in the south-western U.S.A. All three species had low EPIs in the Colorado River basin, which has low annual rainfall and high summer temperatures, and in the north-central part of the region, which has low temperatures and low PAR during winter when water is available. The two native species, A. deserti and F. acanthodes, had high EPIs beyond their range in coastal southern California, where competition by other vegetation for PAR may limit net CO₂ uptake. Such regions as well as south-central California and south-central Arizona had high EPIs for all three species, indicating that these areas would be appropriate for the cultivation of O. ficus-indica.     

Plant invasions on small Mediterranean islands: An overview

Biological invasions have become one of the main drivers of habitat degradation and a leading cause of biodiversity loss in island ecosystems worldwide. The spread of invasive species poses a particular environmental threat on the islands of the Mediterranean Basin, which are hot spots of biodiversity and contain rare habitats and endemic species, especially on small islands, which are highly vulnerable to biodiversity loss. Following a recent survey, in this paper we aim to provide an overview of the present-day non-native vascular flora of small Mediterranean islands based on a sample of 37 islands located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Italy. By comparing the current data with those gathered during a previous survey conducted in the same study area, we also aim to highlight the main changes that have occurred in non-native plant species diversity, establishment and distribution in recent years and to present a first general overview of the most prominent plant taxa in the island’s introduced flora, focusing on those most responsible for these changes and those that pose the greatest environmental threats. We recorded 203 non-native plant species, 147 of which have established on at least one of the islands investigated. Overall, we detected a sharp increase in the number of species, in their levels of establishment and in the extent of their distribution within the study area in recent years. This may be explained by the intensification of research on plant invasions, as well as to new introduction, escape, establishment and invasion events on the islands in recent decades. The most remarkable plants detected include acacias and succulents, two groups that appear to be emerging very rapidly and to be posing new threats to the conservation of the islands’ natural environment, especially the genus Carpobrotus, whose spread into natural habitats containing rare and endemic taxa is seriously threatening biodiversity on both a local and global scale. On the whole, our results show that the plant invasion phenomenon in the study area has in recent years intensified considerably. As this process seems likely to continue, we should expect more establishment events in the future and the further spread of species that are already present. This is of particular conservation concern on the islands investigated in this survey, which are rich in endemisms, but have been facing deep socio-economic and environmental transformations in these last decades as a consequence of the abandonment of traditional management practices and the development of tourism. Our study thus confirms that plant invasions on Mediterranean islands are a serious environmental problem that threatens biodiversity conservation not only in the Mediterranean biogeographic region, but also on the global scale, and highlights the need to further increase efforts aimed at preventing, controlling or mitigating the effects of plant invasions in island ecosystems.     

Characteristics of self-incompatibility in Schlumbergera truncata and S. x buckleyi (Cactaceae)

The influence of self-incompatibility (SI) on fruit set, seed set, and pollen tube growth was investigated in Schlumbergera truncata (Haworth) Moran and S.xbuckleyi (T. Moore) Tjaden. Four Schlumbergera clones were crossed in a complete diallel to verify the presence of SI. Fruit did not set when the clones were selfed or when two of the clones were crossed reciprocally, but all other outcrosses yielded fruit which contained 100–200 seeds each. Compatible outcrosses were characterized by large numbers of pollen tubes in the style and ovary cavity at 72 h after pollination. When pistils were selfed or incompatibly crossed, pollen tubes were inhibited in the upper third of the style and few pollen tubes reached the base of the style by 72 h after pollination. Schlumbergera exhibits several characteristics often associated with sporophytic SI systems (tricellular pollen and dry stigmas with elongate papillae), together with those commonly observed in gametophytic SI systems (stylar inhibition of incompatible pollen tubes and absence of reciprocal differences in outcrosses).Publication no. 3174 of the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station     

Biosynthesis of N-methylphenethylamine in Dolichothele sphaerica

Living Dolichothele sphaerica metabolized 1.91% of administered [2-¹⁴Clphenylalanine to N- methylphenethylamine. Phenethylamine, the presumable intermediate in this biosynthetic conversion, was detected in an extract of the cactus in very low concentrations. The addition of carrier to the extract allowed the isolation of radiolabelled phenethylamine and the establishment of its probable involvement in N- methylphenethylamine formation. This is the first report of N- methylphenethylamine biosynthesis, of phenyl- alanine serving as an efficient precursor to cactus alkaloids, and of the occurrence of phenethylamine in the Cactaceae.