Phylogeny and biogeography of Tiliacoreae (Menispermaceae), a tribe restricted to tropical rainforests.

Background And Aims: Modern tropical rainforests house the highest biodiversity of Earth's terrestrial biomes and are distributed in three low-latitude areas. However, the biogeographical patterns and processes underlying the distribution of biodiversity among these three areas are still poorly known. Here, we used Tiliacoreae, a tribe of pantropical lianas with a high level of regional endemism, to provide new insights into the biogeographical relationships of tropical rainforests among different continents.

Phylogeny and biogeography of Pachygoneae (Menispermaceae), with consideration of the boreotropical flora hypothesis and resurrection of the genera Cebatha and Nephroia.

The tribe Pachygoneae consists of four genera with about 40 species, primarily distributed in tropical and subtropical Asia and America, also in Australasia and Africa. This tribe presents an ideal model to investigate the origin of the tropical and subtropical amphi-Pacific disjunction pattern. More specifically, it allows us to test whether the tropical lineages diverged earlier than the subtropical ones during the fragmentation of the boreotropical flora.

Convergent origin of the narrowly lanceolate leaf in the genus -with special reference to an unexpected discovery of a new species from East China.

Narrowly lanceolate leaves occur frequently in the genus . It was often employed as a distinguishing character in the taxonomy of this genus. The origin of this particular leaf shape, however, has never been investigated using comparative methods.

Phylogeny of Impatiens (Balsaminaceae): integrating molecular and morphological evidence into a new classification.

Impatiens L. is one of the largest angiosperm genera, containing over 1000 species, and is notorious for its taxonomic difficulty. Here, we present, to our knowledge, the most comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the genus to date based on a total evidence approach.

Inaccessible Biodiversity on Limestone Cliffs: Aster tianmenshanensis (Asteraceae), a New Critically Endangered Species from China.

Aster tianmenshanensis G. J. Zhang & T.

A set of novel microsatellite markers developed for the traditional Tibetan medicinal plant Halenia elliptica (Gentianaceae).

Premise Of The Study: Microsatellite primers were developed in the traditional Tibetan medicinal plant Halenia elliptica D. Don to investigate its genetic diversity and population genetic structure.

Methods And Results: Using the Fast Isolation by AFLP of Sequences Containing (FIASCO) repeats protocol, 24 primer sets were identified in two wild populations.

Ancient Chinese literature reveals pathways of eggplant domestication.

Background And Aims: Changes in key traits occurring during the processes of plant domestication have long been subjects of debate. Only in the case of genetic analysis or with extensive plant remains can specific sets of changes be documented. Historical details of the plant domestication processes are rare and other evidence of morphological change can be difficult to obtain, especially for those vegetables that lack a substantial body of archaeological data.

Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau endemic Nannoglottis (Asteraceae).

All taxa endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are hypothesized to have originated in situ or from immediately adjacent areas because of the relatively recent formation of the plateau since the Pliocene, followed by the large-scaled biota extinction and recession caused by the Quaternary ice sheet. However, identification of specific progenitors remains difficult for some endemics, especially some endemic genera. Nannoglottis, with about eight species endemic to this region, is one such genus.