The valley in upper reaches of Yellow River is situated in the east of Qinghai, China, between latitude 35b20c~ 36b 25c N and longitude 100b55c~ 102b50c E. This area belongs to the transitional zone of Qingha-i Tibetan Plateau and Loess Plateau at an altitudinal range of 1 780m to 4 969 m. The total area is c113 480 km2. Its climate is continental or plateau- continental one. There are 1 027 species of wild seed plants which belong to 86 families and 404 genera in the area. They are 44195% of the total species, 95156% of the total families and 79153% of the total genera in Qinghai, respectively. The floristic characteristics in wild seed plants for the area are as follows: ( 1) Species and woody ones are richer. ( 2) Species endemic to China also richer, but those endemic to Qinghai are very poor. ( 3) On the level of genera, all the fifteen distribution types in China, especia-lly all the six tropical ones only occur in the area in Qinghai. ( 4) On the analysis of genera and species, the flora is temperate in nature which is dominated by North Temperate elements especially the typical elements from the warm and cold zone of Eurasia, and also with some elements of thewarm, cold warm and alpine types. ( 5) The area is of a marginal one in distribution for many species or genera and especially for many tropical ones, so the flora of the area is clear in maginal nature. ( 6) In floristic geography, it is a converged and transitional region for the Loess Plateau Flora, Hengduan Mountians Flora, Alpine Qingha-i Tibetan Plateau Flora, as well as Qaidam Alpine Desert Flora, so the flora of the area is also conspiarously a transitional one. Therefore, as a marginal region far from the center of Qingha-i Tibetan Plateau and with a transitional flora more or less keeping the floristic nature of plateau and alpine types, so the valley in upper reaches of Yellow River in Qinghai should be a flora still belonging to the Tangute one, although it is weaker in alpine nature but conspicuously much more related to North China one.

Cymbidium quinquelobum, a new orchid from Yunnan, is described and illustrated. It is akin to Cymbidium wenshanense Y. S. Wu et F. Y. Liu, from which it differs by having a 5- lobed lip that is fused at base to the basal margins of the column forming a tube 8- 10 mm long .

After recognizing the genus Machilus Nees as a distinct one, Machilus villosa ( Roxb. ) Hook. f. is regarded as the correct name for the plant / Rou Mo Run Nan0 based on the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

Nine species of ferns are reported for the first time from Vietnam: Cyrtomium pachyp hyllum ( Rosenst. ) C. Chr. , C1 shingianum H. S. Kung et P. S. Wang, Dryopteri bodinieri ( Christ) C. Chr. , D1 gymnosora (Makino) C. Chr. , Teratop hyllum aculeatum ( Bl. ) Mett. ex Kuhn, Elaphoglossunm sinii C. Chr. ex Wu, Tectaria herpetocaulos Holtt. , T1 hokouensis Ching et C. H. Wang, Boniniella cardiophylla ( Hance) Tagawa, distributions are discussed.

Battarrea phalloides and B1 stevenii of the family Battarreaceae are regarded as independent species by the authors according to the materials from China. Discriptions, illustrations and photos for them are given. A key to the both species is
also provided.

Calamagr ostis s1l. is a large genus widespread throughout the world in temperate and cold regions. It is sometimes divided into two genera: Calamagr ostis s. str . and Deyeuxia, and both have been accepted in China, while recent studies
show it should be treated as one genus. There are 37 species of Calamagrostis s1 l. occuring in China, but no cytological study was conducted before. In this paper the chromosome numbers of 9 populations representing 6 species of Deyeuxia ( recognized as a part of Calamagrostis s1l. ) from southwestern China are reported for the first time. Most of them are tetraploids and no diploid species is found. All 4 populations of D1 petelotii and each population of D1 diff usa, D1 moupinensis , D1 nivicola, and D1flaven are tetraploids ( 2n= 4x= 28) , and the only population of D1 neglecta is hexaploid ( 2n= 6x= 42) . On the basis of these counts and previous reports, tetraploid is again confirmed primitive in Calamagrostis s1l. and the speciation of the genus is principally occurred at tetraploid level in this region. As these five tetraploid species are restricted to Himalayan-Hengduan Mountains, they probably have been formed by isolation from tetraploid ancestors.

The circumscription and phylogenetic relationships of Theaceae was investigated using mitochondrial matR sequences data. Phylogenetic analyses based on the matR data, strongly support a monophyletic Theoideae ( or Camellioideae) containing three wel-l supported lineages ( Stewartieae, Gordonieae and Theeae ) , but do not support the sister relationship of Theoideae and Ternstroemioideae, suggesting a paraphyletic Ternstroemioideae. These results are consistent with some recent authors recognizing Theaceae sensu stricto ( s1s. ) to the ex clusion of Ternstroemioideae, and give further support for the three-tribe class-ification system of Theaceae s1s. of Prince and Parks in 2001. On the other hand, the matR-based analyses provide a better resolution of the phylogeny within Theaceae s1s. , i1 e. , Stewartieae is the basalmost lineage in Theaceae, and Theeae and Gordonieae are closely related with weak support ( bootstrap= 64%) .

The chromosome numbers and karyotypes of the 4 species in genus Buddleja were reported. The karyotype formulas are 2n= 2x= 38= 22m+ 16sm ( B1 yunnanensis) , 2n= 2x= 38= 26m+ 10sm+ 2st ( B1 crispa) , 2n= 2x= 38= 20m+ 16sm
+ 2st ( B1 off icinalis ) , and 2n= 2x= 38= 20m+ 16sm+ 2st ( B1japonica) . Karyotype of B1japonica belongs to Stebbins. s 2B type and other 3 species belong to Stebbins. s 2A type. Based on the cytological data ( karyotypes and the recorded chromosome numbers) and the species morphologies, the evolution trend of the two series in Sect1Neemda was briefly discussed.

The alpine regions ( particular in the region above the tree line) and arctic regions are regarded as one of the most extreme areas of the land because of their harsh environmental conditions. However, both regions have very rich and valuable
biological resources in the world. Therefore, the adaptive mechanism and strategies of the alpine and arctic plants have received much attention since 1896, because they are the hotspot and bottleneck in the study of the evolutionary courses of the creatures. In this paper, the special life form of alpine and arctic plants are analyzed with data from many study fields such as plant ecology, plant physiology, aerography and so on and regarded it as a major adaptive mechanism. Furthermore, the authors affirmed the closely relationship between the characteristic adaptive phenomena and the stressful environmental factors by analyzing the regional climatic features of the habitation in which the alpine and arctic plants grow.

Rare plant Dipteronia dyeriana distributed on the Laojun Maintain in Wenshang, Yunnan, southwest of China, the mountain is located in south sub-tropics. D1 dyeriana was only found at the zone from 1800 m to 2200 m above sea level. The
habitat of D1 dyeriana was cool and moist. D1 dyeriana was a heliophyte and did not grow well under forests. On the Laojun Mountain most of its individuals was in D1 dyeriana communities, some was in other shrubberies and a few was on the edge of forest communities. Disturbances played an important role in the formation and ex istence of the D1 dyeriana community. It should not result in extinction of D1 dyeriana that other trees were cut down in its distribution. Recovering of forests should result in decreasing the number of its individuals in the area. Clear- cutting for cultivation would be the most serious threat to D1dyeriana. To remain large population of D1 dyeriana disturbances were necessary.

Although the technology of seed ultradry storage is promising in plant germplasm conservation, particularly in areas where the refrigerated facilities are not always possible, its application in seed banks still has many challenges. The paper discussed this issue and gave some suggestions on what are the necessary researches in this field to improve its feasibility of application in seed banks.

The transcription factor WRKY protein superfamily so far is found exclusively in plants. There exist at least 74 and 97 members in Arabidopsis and rice, respectively. The most archaic WRKY transcription factors, which may originate some
115- 2 billion years ago in eukaryotes, contain two highly conserved WRKY domains. Although all WRKY proteins regulate mainly the expression of target genes by specifically binding to the ( T) TGACC ( APT) (W box) sequences of their promoter, the biological function of each member is specific. In this review, we summarize in detail the molecular biological function of WRKY proteins in regulating specific signaling pathways during development or in response to stress factors.

This article summarized some research progresses of salt tolerance in mangrove species at morphology , physiology and biochemistry, and molecular levels. Mangrove species have salt glands and their leaves become succulent. They avoid
heavy salt loads through a combination of selective accumulation of ions, ion compartmentalization, salt excretion and salt exclusion, accumulation or synthesis compatible solutes which are mainly pinitol and mannitol for maintaining osmotic balance, and promotion of antioxidative to scavenge reactive oxygen species. At molecular level, sal-t tolerance of mangrove plants is involved in gene expression of key enzymes in biosynthesis of osmotic substances and antioxidative enzymes.

Accurate identification of varieties ( clones) and understanding their genetic relationships are essential for the poplar breeding and variety management. In this study, 21 elite poplar varieties of Tacamahaca and Aigeiros were fingerprinted using AFLP markers. Four AFLP- primer pairs developed generated totally 181 AFLP polymorphic fragments, and in particular, each primer pair generated fingerprint profiles specific to each of the tested varieties. The genetic relationships among the varieties were evaluated by dendrograms and Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) , showing that the tested poplar can be classified into five groups. The results also indicated the clear- cup separation of varieties of different sections of poplar and the primary distinction between native and exotic poplar varieties. Present study indicated that tested poplar varieties could be identified by their fingerprint profiles and that genetic relationships deducted from the varieties study were consistent with their genealogy. In addition, our results demonstrated that AFLP could be used to construct DNA fingerprints of poplar clones at large- scale level and to determine genetic relationships of poplar varieties.

Viburnum cylindricum has been used in folk medicine in Yunnan. Two new phenolic glycosides, 1- phloroglucinyl-( 6-methybutyryl )-B-D- glucopyranoside named cylindrin A ( 1) , and 1- [ 4-3- hydroxy-l propyl ) ]-pyrocatechol- ( 6-methybutyryl )-
B-D-glucopyranoside named cylindrin B ( 2) , along with seven known phenolic glycosides tachioside ( 3) , syingic acid- 4-B-Dglucopyran oside ( 4) , 1-B-D-glucopyranosyloxy- 3-methoxy- 5- hydroxybenzene ( 5 ) , 4- hydroxy- 3-methoxypheno-l 1-O-B-D-glucoside ( 6) , 4- hydroxy- 2, 6- dimethoxypheno-l 1-O-B-D- glucoside ( 7) , phlorogluc ino-l 1-O-B-D- glucoside ( 8) , 1-B-D- glucosyloxy-2- ( 3-methoxy- 4- hydroxyphenyl) propane- 1, 3- diol ( 9) have been isolated from the EtOAc extracts of its aerial parts. Their structures were elucidated by means of spectroscopic method. Compounds 3- 9 were isolated from this plant for the first time.

It is our aim to establish the CoMFA models of the en-t kauranoids from Isodon x erophilus and guide the design for
new ant-i cancer drugs. The advanced 3D-QSAR ( quantitative structure- activity relationship) method CoMFA ( comparative molecular
field analysis) was used to study the QSAR relationship of en-t kauranoids with cytotoxicity activity in vitro and led to four
CoMFA models. The results of CoMFA models reveal the 3D- relationship between bioactivities and structures of these en-t kauranoids,
and will be helpful to further design and find new drugs for higher ant-i cancer activities.