To study the systematic relationship of Glycosmis (Rutaceae), pollen morphology of 12 species and 16 samples of Glycosmis from China were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Some palynological characters, including the pollen size, the aperture number and the exine ornamentation, were observed and evaluated. Among these taxa, the pollen morphology of nine species or varieties were reported for the first time, such as G.craibii var. glabra, G.erythrocarpa, G.esquirolii, G.longifolia, G.lucida, G.montana, G.oligantha, G.parviflora and G.pseudoracemos. In all species studied, pollen grains are monads, subspheroidal or prolate in shape and the range of size is (15.90-23.92)×(14.56-22.00)μm; circular, circular with 3 lobes or subtriangle in polar view; 3colporate; P/E (the ratio of polar axis and equatorial axis) is 1.03-1.31. Among species of Glycosmis from China, there are four types, namely striatoreticulate, compound striatoreticulate, striatoperforate and foveolate, based on the characters of exine ornamentation. In G.parviflora widely distributing in south of China, the samples from different localities showed variable exine ornamentation of pollen grains, viz. (1) foveolate in polar view and striatoreticulate or perforate in equatorial view, (2) foveolate in polar view and perforate in equatorial view, (3) compound striatoreticulate, (4) striatoreticulate and with irregular microperforation, (5) striatoreticulate and with circular perforation. The genus Glycosmis exhibits very high pollen morphological diversity, which can be used in inter and intraspecific taxonomy in this genus, along with the systematic relationship among the relative genera. The results provide some valuable palynological references for the classification and systematics of Glycosmis.

Variegated leaf is applied to the leaf which is partly or wholly colored in other than ordinary green as their ordinary feature. Investigations were conducted to understand the status of variegated Begonia species of China. Eighty four species among 203 taxa are found to be variegated. Colors of variegation are usually light green, silvery green, silvery white and white. From the perspective of horticulture, the variegated species of Chinese begonias were divided into different types according to the variegation features. Positions of variegated parts are the most important character used to divide the variegation types. Vein type and nonvein type are the two main types. The vein type(Ⅰ) was subdivided into three types: vein part type (ⅠA), intervein part type (ⅠB), middle vein and intervein part type (ⅠC). While the nonvein type (Ⅱ) was subdivided into six types, i.e. ringlike type (ⅡA), palmate type (ⅡB), subentire type (ⅡC), entire type (ⅡD), mixed type (ⅡE), and irregular type (ⅡF). The common variegation types among Chinese begonias are ⅠA1, ⅠA2, ⅠB1, ⅠB2 and ⅡA. Finally the mechanism and the hereditary property lies in variegation of Chinese begonias were discussed.

Two orchids, Sunipia grandiflora (Rolfe) P.F. Hunt and Bulbophyllum parviflorum C.S.P. Parish & Rchb.f., are reported as new records from China.

Four species of Phyllostachys Sieb. et Zucc., Ph.acutiligula G.H. Lai, Ph.hirtivagina G.H. Lai, Ph.corrugata G.H.Lai, and Ph.purpureociliata G.H. Lai are described as new from Anhui Province, China. The differences separating them from allied taxa are discussed, and the photos of typical living plants showing the diagnostic characters and type specimens are provided. All the holotypes of new species are deposited in AAUF.

Allantodia wichurae (Mett.) Ching、Leptorumohra miqueliana (Maxim. ex Franch. et Sav.) H. Ito and Polystichum pseudomakinoi Tagawa are reported in this paper as newly recorded to Yunnan Province, China. The taxonomic features pictures, the diagnoses and geographic distribution of the newly recorded species are provided.

 Chromosome numbers and karyotypes of three species from Colutea (Leguminosae), C.delavayi, C.orientalis and C.arborescens were studied, of which C.delavayi is an endemic to SW China. C.arborescens 2n=2x=16=10m+6sm with type 2A asymmetry and C.orientalis 2n=2x=16=12m+4sm with type 1A asymmetry, the basic chromosome number 2n=16 is also confirmed. C.delavayi 2n=2x=16=16m with type 1A asymmetry was reported firstly.

The reactive oxygen species (ROS) and hormones can act as an important internal or external factor influencing plant senescence. In the present study, we found that suppression of phospholipase Dδ (PLDδ) attenuated ROS production during abscisic acid (ABA) and ethylenepromoted leaf senescence. We also comparatively analyzed the content of endogenous hormones, ABA, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), indole3acetic acid (IAA), and total zeatin in detachment inducedsenescence leaves, exogenous ABA and ethylene promoted senescence in wild type and PLDδknockout (PLDδKO) Arabidopsis leaves. We found that the response patterns of the four endogenous hormones to the three senescence treatments were identical. In comparison with wild type, PLDδKO plants showed higher ZR and IAA levels and lower MeJA content under ABA and higher ZR and IAA levels and lower ABA and MeJA content under ethylene. The results suggested that these hormones might contribute to retarding ABA and ethylenepromoted senescence in PLDδknockout Arabidopsis.

We determined the complete nucleotide sequence of the chloroplast genome of Asian Cuscuta reflexa which is a world distributed dodder using shotgun method at Illumina’s Genome Analyzer, and then compared it with the corresponding published sequence of the same species that distributed in Europe. The chloroplast genome length was 120972bp, which was 549bp shorter than the European one, with a large single copy (LSC) region of 79499bp, a small single copy (SSC) region of 8369bp and two inverted repeats (IR) of 16552bp each. The overall GC content was 38.3%, which is slightly higher than European C.reflexa. The chloroplast genome of C.reflexa from both area encoded identical functional genes in the same order. On the other hand, detailed analyses revealed 251 insertions and 210 deletions. The length of indels substitution sum to 7649bp and the largest insertion and deletion reached 426bp and 435bp respectively. Meanwhile, 3720bp base substitution events were found in the entire chloroplast genome of Asian C.reflaxa. Majority of the indels observed were singlebase but four large length mutations longer than 200bp were also detected, including two deletions in ycf2 region, one insertion in trnFpsbE and another insertion in matKtrnQ. Most indels located in the intergenic regions of the LSC region while rare in the IR region. This research initially compared the whole chloroplast genome of same heterotrophic plants distributed in different continents.

Eragrostis spectabilis is used as an ornamental grass in China, but some researches reported that it had high potential risk of becoming invasive. Usually successful exotic weeds had strong reproduction ability. But for now, germination characteristics of E.spectabilis seeds have not been reported. Effects of temperature, light, water stress and soil depth on E.spectabilis seeds germination were studied by petri dish and pot experiments. The results showed that using germination percentage and germination index as evaluated indicators, the optimum germination temperature of E.spectabilis was 35℃. According to the seed germination thermal model(T, ℃), the germination temperature range was between 17.7℃ and 43.2℃, with the best temperature of 39.2℃. Light was favorable for seed germination, the germination percentage was relatively higher under continuous light condition than continuous dark condition. PEG6000simulated water stress significantly inhibited the germination. When water potential decreased to -0.8Mpa, seeds could not germinate. The soil depth of 0.5cm was ideal for germination and the germination percentages from 0-1cm were more than 60%. The germination percentage decreased significantly with the increase of soil depth between 1-4cm.

 Plants belonging to the genus Miscanthus are considered promising bioenergy crops. Young ears of Miscanthus sacchariflorus (Maxim.) Benth. were used as explants, and its regeneration system was successfully established via callus pathway. The results showed that Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing 600mg·L-1 proline, 500mg·L-1 hydrolyzed casein, 2.0mg·L-1 2, 4D and 0.1mg·L-1 6BA was an optimal medium for induction and growth of callus from young ears. The shoots were induced on MS medium containing 1.5mg·L-1 6BA via callus. The roots were induced after shoots were transferred to 1/2 MS medium containing 0.25mg·L-1 NAA and 0.25mg·L-1 IAA, after that, the young plants were cultivated and grew well on the nutrient soil.

Multipurpose plant Jatropha curcas seeds contain about 40% oil, which is a promising energy plant for producing biofuels. Jatropha plants, especially those grown in tropical areas, show excessive vegetative growth, and erratic flowering and fruiting, which result in the low seed yield observed. This study was undertaken to determine the effects of plant growth regulator paclobutrazol (PAC), an inhibitor of phytohormone gibberellin biosynthesis, on the inhibition of vegetative growth, and the promotion of reproductive growth of Jatropha. The results showed that soil application of PAC with an appropriate dose (0.8g·m-1 canopy diameter) inhibited shoot growth, reduced plant height, and promoted reproductive growth of Jatropha. The number of flowering and fruiting branches and the number of inflorescence and infructescence were significantly increased by PAC treatment. Although PAC treatment significantly increased the total number of flowers and the number of female flowers of each inflorescence, no significant increase in the number of fruits of each infructescence was found, suggesting that some female flowers from PACtreated plants failed to mature fruits. PAC treatment at 0.8g·m-1 canopy diameter did not significantly affect seed size and oil contents, but increased seed yield of Jatropha by 2.4 times. In addition, PAC treatment led to more synchronous flowering and fruiting, which will facilitate harvesting of Jatropha fruits. These results suggest that gibberellin biosynthesis inhibitor PAC can effectively promote reproductive growth of Jatropha, which will help us to understand the physiological role of gibberellin and other plant hormones in regulation of Jatropha flower development, and are valuable for cloning of functional genes that will be used for the genetic improvement of Jatropha seed yield by transgenic approach.

Selective harvesting is a common practice in human’s utilization of wild bioresources. It influences the characteristics of the harvested species at molecular, population, and ecosystem levels, and is therefore important for sustainable use and conservation of plant resources. The papers concerning selective harvesting of plants and their ecological and evolutionary effects have been reviewed in this paper. Selective harvesting can influence the genetic diversity, population structure and dynamics of the harvested species, and its impacts are dependent obviously on their biological characteristics, parts used, harvesting regime, harvesting time and harvesting intensity. Many studies presently focused on timbers. For nontimber plants, only some species with high economic value and endangered species have been studied. Selective harvesting also causes the species richness, structures and functions of related ecosystems. Traditional harvesting practices are considered as a sustainable approach to resource use, but few direct evidences on genetic and species levels are available. Commercial harvesting may lead to the change of traditional harvesting. Ethnobotany should play a more important role in the study of selective harvesting and its ecological and evolutionary effects.

 The condition of vegetation restoration on the slopes of Chengnan Expressway was investigated by using Line Transect Method. Meanwhile, plants information along the roadside was recorded and α diversity indexes and Important Value of plant community were analyzed as well. According to different gradient conditions, the investigated slopes were divided into three types that were represented by Roman numeralⅠ, Ⅱ and Ⅲ respectively. Data analysis results indicated that: (i) the plants that were investigated consisted of 41 families, 85 genera and 91 species, in which the amount of major four families-Leguminosae, Gramineae, Asteraceae, and Rosaceae-were the largest, constituting 44% of the number of total species.; (ii) different types of slopes were characterized by different plants with different adaptability and there were significant differences between shrub layer and herb layer. According to the results, some practical species of different slope types that adapted to certain environment were selected by α diversity indexes and Important Value. Besides, combining many previous relevant studies and the results of this paper, some advice on vegetation restoration in China was proposed to guide further research and programs in this aspect.

Southeast Guizhou, inhabited by the Miao, Dong, Buyi, Shui, Yao, Zhuang, Tujia, Gejia and Han Chinese, is famous for its complicated biophysical environments. The region is very rich not only in biological diversity, but also in traditional cultural diversity. In the present paper, we studied the relationship betwen traditional culture in Southeast Guizhou and the management & utilization of local glutinous rice genetic resources. Although Southeast Guizhou had undergone three great improvements from “Glutinous Rice to Nonglutinous Rice”, various glutinous rice landraces still exist in the region. A total number of 243 glutinous rice genetic resources specimens were collected in the research, among them 19 specimens are marked difference in morophological characteristics.And, besides that this kind of rice adapt to the complex and changeful environment easily, the main reason is that the national traditional cultural has countless contacts with the management and utilization diversity of the aromatic glutinous rice species, which is the determining factor of the species diversity of glutinous rice can be well preserved in southeast of Guizhou. The different ethnic groups of Southeast of Guizhou not only created colorful ethnic traditional culture, but also made contribution to the protection and utilization of ecological agriculture, culture and species diversity. In addtition, we further validates that the positive significance of the influence of diversity of national traditional culture on the protection and utilization of biodiversity.

 Traditional culture that the effective and sustainable utilization of poisonous plants is one characteristics of Mongolian ecological culture. Applying the methods like ethnoecology, plant taxonomy and cultural anthropology to analyze how Mongolian utilizes poisonous ligneous plants, and discussing about active effects of Mongolian traditional culture of utilizing poisonous plants on biodiversity conservation to grassland ecosystem in the Ordos plateau. The research to plant taxonomy and cultural anthropology found that those poisonous plants, such as Caryopteris mongholica, Ephedra sinica, Juniperus sabina, Oxytropis aciphylla and Prunus mongolica, can be used detoxification culture, eating culture, beauty culture and curing skin diseases. Therein, Ephedra sinica plays an important role on Mongolian nomadic economy and culture. Ordos Mongolian traditional culture of utilizing poisonous plants is distinguished from others’ which are in other areas on Mongolian Plateau and reflects unique regional cultural character. Mongolian traditional managing culture of utilizing plants ground parts, which can diminish, even avoid desertification. Also it is consistent with ecological law and is one of elements which can ensure stable and sustainable development and biodiversity conservation of the Ordos grassland ecosystem.

Twenty one known compounds were isolated from the twigs of Pinus massoniana. Their structures were elucidated as 7, 13, 15-abietatrien-18-oic acid (1), 12-methoxy-7, 13-abietadien-18-oic acid (2), 15-methoxy-7, 13-abietadien-18-oic acid methyl ester (3), 12-hydroxydehydroabietic acid (4), dehydroabietic acid (5), 15-hydroxydehydroabietic acid methyl ester (6), 3β-methoxyserrat-14-en-21-one (7), 3β-methoxy-30-hydroxyserrat-14-en-21-one (8), β-sitosterol (9), (±)-pinoresinol (10), (±)-matairesinol (11), (-)-nortrachelogenin (12), balanophonin (13), cedrusin (14), pinocembin (15), 5-methoxypinosylvin (16), pinos、lvin (17), 1, 2-bis-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-propane-1, 3-diol (18), cleistophostaudin (19), lignoceryl ferulate (20) and coniferaldehyde (21). Compounds 12, 14, 18 and 21 showed antioxidant activities on DPPH assay with EC50 values of 11.36, 6.76, 14.07, and 13.33μg·mL-1, respectively. Compounds 2-4, 6-8, 10, 11, 13 and 15-21 were isolated from this plant for the first time.
Key words: Pinus massoniana; Chemical constituents; Antioxidant activityPinus massoniana Lamb. belongs to the family of Pinaceae and is widely distributed in China. Its pollen and nodular branch are used as two traditional Chinese medicines, which can be used to treat traumatic hemorrhage, eczema, sprain and strain (Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission, 2010). Previous investigations on P.massoniana led to the isolation of a series of lignans, flavones and diterpenoids (Feng et al., 2004; Bi et al., 2002; Shen and Theander, 1985; Wang et al., 2008; Yang et al., 2010), and the discovery of some antitumor diterpenes (Tanaka et al., 2008) and some antioxidant extracts (Pan et al., 2009). For the recent researches revealed that the occurrence of some chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes were main caused by oxidative stress, therefore antioxidant compounds might provide us some different insights for treating these severe diseases. In this paper, we report the isolation and structural elucidation of 21 known compounds from its twigs with the antioxidant activities.