Leaf venation of 27 species representing 25 genera of Sapindaceae (sstr.) of China was investigated for the first time. The pinnate venation pattern in most species is either camptodromous, or craspedodromous. Three types of leaf blade margin were observed, ie., entire, toothed and partite. The secondary veins are branched or unbranched. Most species have intersecondary veins. The tertiary veins of most species are reticulate and percurrent. The areoles are regular or irregular. Veinlets are simple, branched or absent. The delimitations of Xanthoceroideae and Lepisanthes sensu lato are supported by leaf venation characters. The close relationships among Dimocarpus, Litchi and Nephelium are supported by the evidence from leaf venation. A key to the species of Sapinaceae based on leaf venation characters is presented.

The morphogenesis of inflorescence and flowers of Corylus was observed using scanning electron microscope for the first time. The female inflorescence of Corylus was composed of multiple cymules arranged in a spiral configuration. Each cymule primordium differentiated one primary bract and one cluster of cymule primordium meristem; two flower primordia were differentiated from the crmule meristem. Each flower primordium differentiated two carpellary primordia, forming a bicarpellary pistil. Each flower has two layer perianth at the base of pistil. The inner perianth primordium was in circular configuration, and outer perianth initiated unevenly from the adaxial and abaxial of the floral primordium. The initiation of the outer perianth was earlier than the inner. The male inflorescences were catkinlike and composed of multiple cymules arranged in a spiral configuration. Each cymule primordium differentiated one primary bract and one cluster of cymule primordium meristem. Two secondary bracts and four to six stamens were differentiated from each cymule primordium meristem. Each stamen has four anther sacs. In the process of the stamen differentiated into four anther sacs, the stamen primordium began longitudinal fissure, and the filament divided totally into the base. The results provide micromorphological evidence for the generic level identification and phylogeny of Betulaceae.

Castanopsis tibetana is a typical and dominant component in subtropical evergreen broadleaved forests of China. However, its genetic diversity and longterm persistence have been jeopardized by habitat fragmentation. To examine its genetic diversity and genetic structure, crossspecies amplification of 51 microsatellite loci which are derived from four congeneric species, ie., Castanopsis chinensis, Csclerophylla, Ccuspidata and Csieboldii, were tested in Ctibetana.Thirtyfive loci were successfully amplified in Ctibetana, among them 11 were polymorphic across four wild populations of Ctibetana (24 individuals in total). Genetic diversity of four Ctibetana populations (Jiangxi)  was relatively low. The number of alleles (NA) ranged from 2 to 7 (average 45) and the ranges of observed (HO) and expected (HE) heterozygosities were 0505 and 0471，respectively. The results will facilitate the study and conservation of genetic diversity of Ctibetana.

Three species of the genus Anemone (Ranunculaceae), Amotuoensis, Abrachystema and Ajiachaensis, are described as new from the Xizang Autonomous Region. The diagnostic differences between them and their allies or their specific characteristics are given.

Based on morphological study of specimens and extensive fieldwork, with the analysis of the micromorphology and phytogeographic materials, the series Venusta of Adiantum from PanHimalayas was taxonomically revised. It turns out that the shapes of indusia on fertile pinnules and the morphological characteristics of apical serrations on ultimate pinnules and the microstructures of scales are the most important characters for species identification. Seven species and two varieties were recognized from PanHimalayas: Adiantum roborowskii, A. roborowskii var. robustum, Abonatianum, Afengianum, Afimbriatum, Adavidii, Adavidii var. longispina, Avenustum and Atibeticum. Three published names were reduced to synonyms: Adiantum breviserratum was synonym of Afimbriatum, Adiantum erythrochlamys was synonym of Aroborowskii var. robustum and Adiantum bonatianum var. subaristatum was synonym of Abonatianum.

Apple (Malus × domestica) is one of the most important temperate fruits. To better understand the molecular basis of this species, we characterized the complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence downloaded from Genome Database for Rosaceae. The cp genome of apple is a circular molecule of 160068bp in length with a typical quadripartite structure of two inverted repeats (IRs) of 26352bp, separated by a small single copy region of 19180bp (SSC) and a large singlecopy region (LSC) of 88184bp. A total of 135 predicted genes (115 unique genes, and another 20 genes were duplicated in the IR) were identified, including 81 proteincoding genes, four rRNA genes and 30 tRNA genes. Three genes of ycf15, ycf68 and infA contain several internal stop codons, which were interpreted as pseudogenes. The genome structure, gene order, GC content and codon usage of apple are similar to the typical angiosperm cp genomes. Thirty repeat regions (≥30bp) were detected, twentyone of which are tandem, six are forward and three are inverted repeats. Two hundred thirtyseven simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci were revealed and most of them are composed of A or T, contributing to a distinct bias in base composition. Additionally, average 10000bp noncoding region contains 24 SSR sites, while proteincoding region contains five SSR sites, indicating an uneven distribution of SSRs. The complete cp genome sequence of apple reported in this paper will facilitate the future studies of its population genetics, phylogenetics and chloroplast genetic engineering.

Postharvest senescence is affected greatly by endogenous and exogenous hormones. The promotive effects of exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) and ethylene on senescence are retarded by suppression of phospholipase Dα1 (PLDα1) in detached Arabidopsis leaves. However, understanding about the roles of endogenous hormones in the retardation of postharvest senescence by the suppression of PLDα1 activity remains incomplete. Here we report changes in the levels  of endogenous ABA, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), indole3acetic acid (IAA), zeatin riboside (ZR), and gibberellic acid (GA3) during leaf senescence induced by detachment and also accelerated by the application of exogenous ABA or ethylene in wildtype and PLDα1deficient Arabidopsis leaves. The responses of the five hormones to the three treatments showed the existence of two stages during the artificial senescence, and, for each hormone, the pattern during the early stage was identical. The retardation of senescence in PLDα1deficient plants was associated with changes in ABA, MeJA, ZR, and IAA levels, but was independent of changes in endogenous levels of GA3. The profiles of ZR and IAA suggest that changes in ZR and IAA levels might cause, and not simply be the consequence of, the retardation of senescence that is caused by suppression of PLDα1.

Nondestructive and mathematical approaches of modeling can be very convenient and useful for plant growth estimation. The leaf of Elaeagnus mollis was taken as the object of research. Leaf length、 leaf width、SPAD value and different combinations of these variables were developed models to predict individual leaf area, saturated fresh weight, and dry weight of Elaeagnus mollis. Ten regression equations were compared. Select fitting the best model as a predictive model in leaf area, saturated fresh weight and dry weight. The three models were as follows: individual leaf area LA=3647+0383LW+0001LWS (R=0968), saturated fresh weight SFW=-0464+0081L+000008LWS (R=0963), and dry weight DW=-0094+0032W+00001LS (R=0960). The best prediction model of LA, SFW and DW was validated with the measured value. The results showed that the predicted values and measured values were highly consistent. It could be used to predict the LA, SFW and DW of actual unknown leaves.

Cryopreservation of Jiangxi Yanshan red bud taro (Colocasia esculenta var. cormosus cv. Hongyayu) embryogenic calli by encapsulationdehydration was studied. The results showed that the optimal preculture condition of cryopreservation by encapsulationdehydration was precultured on MS medium supplemented with 075mol·L-1 sucrose for 3 days. The optimal dehydration method was dehydration by sterile air in a laminar flow hood for 7h or sterile dry silica gel for 11h. the optimal thawing temperature was 37℃ (2min). The optimal culture condition after cryopreservation was first in the dark for 7d and then transferred to the photoperiod of 14h·d-1. The average survival rate of embryogenic calli after cryopreservation by encapsulationdehydration was about 45%. Cryopreservation time and whether the removal of encapsulated calcium alginate had no significant impact on the survival rate. Morphological and cytological study demonstrated that the regenerants were genetically and morphological stable.

Soil microorganisms are applied to evaluate soil quality and significant in restoration ecology for their important roles on nutrient cycle and sensitivity to environment changes. To investigate the effects of revegetation pattern on soil physicochemical properties and soil bacterial community and the reasons for soil bacterial community discrepancy, the soils of three revegetation patterns (grass of Miscanthus sinensis, the mixed forest of Alnus nepalensis, Cupressus torulosa and Quercus acutissima, the mixed forest of Cupressus torulosa and Alnus nepalensis) in Kunyang phosphatemine, near Kunming, Yunnan province of China were studied. Polymerase chain reactiondenaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCRDGGE) and soil physicochemical indices were used to analyze soil bacterial communities (diversity and species composition) and soil physicochemical properties. The results indicated that revegetation contributed to soil nutrients and soil physicochemical properties were different in these three patterns. As for soil bacterial community, the diversity and species composition varied in different patterns. Pearson correlation showed that soil bacterial community diversity was correlated with revegetation pattern significantly but not with any soil physicochemical properties determined in this research. Soil bacterial species composition was strongly correlated with soil available nitrogen and revegetation pattern but no others through Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). It is concluded that both soil physicochemical properties and bacterial community (diversity and species composition) vary in different revegetation patterns and the reason for diversity difference is revegetation pattern while the affecting factors of soil bacterial community composition are soil available nitrogen and revegetation pattern orderly.

Climate warming has affected plant phenology throughout the world, but few studies have evaluated plant phenology response to other climate factors (eg. photosynthetically active radiationPAR). In particular, the response of fruit flowering to PAR variation has not been explored yet. Longterm (1963-2008) of chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume) first flowering dates from Beijing, China were related with daily PAR for the 12 months, using Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression analysis. Two relevant phases were identified, during which mean PAR, temperature, and relative humidity (RH) were correlated with flowering dates, respectively.
PAR during the both relevant periods decreased significantly in Beijing over the past 50 years. Reduced PAR during 24 September5 February showed an advance impact on chestnut flowering, and could explain 12% of advance trend in flowering timing. Deceased PAR during 6 February31 May had a delayed effect on tree flowering, but it was not significant enough to reject the null hypothesis of no impact over time. Advanced flowering of chestnut was mainly determined by increasing temperature between 6 February and 31 May which could explain 41% of flowering trend. Relative humidity variation during this period played secondly important role on tree flowering. Considering the interaction among these three climate factors, the impacts of PAR and RH on flowering timing could partially be attributed to the effects of temperature variation.

Minimum Viable Population (MVP) is the endangered species faced with extinction need prior conservation. A new method of “near situ conservation” has being particularly raised by the Forestry Department of Yunnan Province for conserving Plant Species with Extremely Small Population (PSESP) in China. In accordance with the practices and results of near situ conservation for PSESP and after our study on comparison for growth and adaptation of some state emphasized plant species between near situ and ex situ conservation in recent years, the authors hold that near situ conservation for the plant species faced with extremely high risk of extinction in the wild is more efficient than that of their ex situ conservation. We therefore suggest that the system of near situ conservation need to be constructed as soon as possible, and the high risk extinction mechanism for PSESP need to be urgently studied for selecting the effective conservation methods and adopting scientific measures. Meanwhile, for near situ conservation practices of PSESP, the principles of similarities of climates, habitats and communities must be followed for reducing the investment and raising the conservation effectiveness.

The culture of plants used in Liangshan Yi people’s traditional folk customs is widespread. These plants represented rich cultural diversity, mainly existing in witchcrafts, rites and festivals. A communitybased study and an extensive field surveys had been carried out. The methods including Key Informant Interviews, Semistructured Interviews and Participatory Observation were adopted in the study. The plants in traditional folk customs used by the Yi people in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture and their cultural contexts were documented and inventoried. The results showed that there were 102 plant species used in Yi people’s traditional folk customs and expressed diversity and richness in terms of cultural meanings. The plants were used for witchcrafts and rites, social rituals, festive events, including 21 species used in wedding, 24 in funeral, 11 in the adult ceremony, 3 in daily life; 14 in the Torch Festival, 15 in the Yi National new year, 91 in witchcrafts and rites. The folk plants’ cultural meanings are mainly reflected in exorcism, reproductive worship and ancestor worship. The main reasons are that the Yi people advocate ghosts and believe the animism of primitive religion in Lianshan region. The cultures of folk plants are an important component of the natural primary religion and Bimo culture. It is an indispensable part of the traditional culture of the Yi people.

 A new oxyneolignan, claulignan (1), together with seven known compounds (2-8), were isolated from the methanol extract of the roots and stems of Clausena lansium. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of 1D and 2DNMR experiments and mass spectrometry. Compounds 2-8 were isolated from the genus Clausena for the first time. Compounds  1 and 6 showed cytotoxicity against human cervical cancer HeLa cell line with the IC50values of 2503 and 5399μM, respectively. Compound 3 exhibited antioxidant activity in the DPPH assay with the EC50 value of 26896g·kg-1.