Two New Species of Balanophora (Balanophoraceae) From South China

Abstract— Populations of Balanophora from southern China are often identified by local botanists as B. laxiflora based on their long cylindric male inflorescence, subsessile male flowers with slender rudimentary bracts, and subdiscoid synandria. In this study, we clarify the identity of seven such populations based on morphological characters and phylogenetic analysis using nuclear 18S and ITS ribosomal DNA sequences. We confirmed the occurrence of dioecious populations of B. yakushimensis and two previously unrecognized species, which we describe here as B. parajaponica and B. appressa. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that B. parajaponica, B. yakushimensis, B. appressa, B. laxiflora, and the agamospermic B. japonica, formed a well resolved clade, viz. the B. laxiflora clade. The four dioecious species, although highly similar in the morphology of male inflorescence and flowers, can be separated by leaf morphology and arrangement, ovary color, and arrangement of female flowers. The species limit of B. laxiflora, however, remains unresolved.

Susceptibility of the banana inflorescence to Blood disease

The bacterium Ralstonia syzygii subsp. celebesensis causes Blood disease of banana, a vascular wilt of economic significance in Indonesia and Malaysia. Blood disease has expanded its geographic range in the last 20 years and is an emerging threat to Southeast Asian banana production. Many aspects of the disease cycle and biology are not well understood, including the ability of different parts of the female and male inflorescence of banana to act as infection courts. This study confirms that the banana varieties of Cavendish, and Kepok ‘Kuning’ are susceptible to Blood disease and that an inoculum concentration of 102 CFU.mL-1 of R. syzygii subsp. celebesensis is adequate to initiate disease following pseudostem inoculation. Data show that infection occurs through both the male and female parts of a banana inflorescence and the rachis when snapped to remove the male bell. The infection courts are the female flowers, the male bell bract scar, the male bell flower cushion, the snapped rachis, and deflowered fingers. The location of these infection courts concurs with the dye studies demonstrating that dye externally applied to these plants parts enters the plant vascular system. Thus, the hypothesis is supported that infection of R. syzygii subsp. celebesensis occurs through open xylem vessels of the male and female parts of the banana inflorescence.

Phosphorus in Oil Palm Cultivated in the Oriental Amazon

Amazon soils have a low phosphorus (P) availability and few studies have investigated nutrition of palm oil plantations. This study assessed the effects of P nutrition on oil palm organs according to plant age. The experiment was carried out under field conditions, at the enterprise Agropalma S/A, in the municipality of Tailândia, Pará State, Brazil. The experimental design used was completely randomized with four replications and comprised seven treatments: plants age (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 years of planting). We evaluated P concentration, accumulation, and exportation in plant components (leaflets, petioles, stipe, rachis, palm heart, arrows, male inflorescences, peduncles, spikelets, and fruits). Palm heart (10.9 g kg-1) and male inflorescence (3.8 g kg-1) showed the highest P concentrations in the vegetative and reproductive organs, respectively. On the other hand, the largest P accumulations were observed in the stipe (159 g plant-1) and fruits (59 g plant-1), increasing from the 3rd year of age of the plants. Bunches exported the largest P amounts (81 g plant-1), especially in older plants. The oil palm immobilizes (24 kg ha-1) and recycles (23 kg ha-1) a large amount of P, more than it exports (12 kg ha-1) P.

A myricaceous male inflorescence with pollen in situ from the middle Eocene of Europe

The late middle Eocene lacustrine filling of a maar lake at Eckfeld (Eifel Hills, Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany) has provided four specimens of male inflorescences (catkins) in different stages of anthesis, each with pollen preserved in situ. The appearance of the successive stages together with triporate pollen showing an irregular surface and a myricoid micro-ornamentation clearly suggests an assignment of the fossil catkins to the Myricaceae. The material is described as a new genus and new species and represents the oldest record of male catkins for the family. The in situ preserved pollen grains are comparable to dispersed grains of Triatriopollenites excelsus.

Chlorine Nutrition of Oil Palm Tree (Elaeis Guinq Jacq) in Eastern Amazon

In Brazil, the status of chlorine (Cl) nutrition in plants is still poorly studied. The micronutrient Cl plays an important role in cultures such as coconut and oil palm trees. This study aimed to evaluate the status of chlorine nutrition in oil palm trees as a function of planting age, which ranged from two to eight years of cultivation. The experiment was conducted in Tailândia, state of Pará, Brazil. The soil of the area is characterized as Yellow Latosol of medium texture. A total of four oil palm trees were sampled for each age and the following variables were analyzed: leaf, petioles, rachis, palm heart, arrows, stipe, male inflorescences, peduncles, spikelets and fruits, as well as the accumulated, recycled and immobilized levels of Cl. Oil palm trees proved to be demanding in Cl and the accumulation in the different vegetative organs increased with the development of the plant. The stipe was the main storing vegetative organ of this micronutrient. The highest demand of Cl (16.9-26.0 g/kg) occurred in the palm heart, while for male inflorescence, the values ranged from 3.3-4.1 g/kg of Cl. The levels of Cl recycled by the plant were higher than the immobilized and exported levels considering the development up to 4 years of age. After this age, the levels of recycled Cl are lower than those immobilized. As for the amount of Cl exported by clusters in 8-year-old plants, the values were 3.2 and 1.3 times lower than the recycled and immobilized levels, respectively.