Bulbostylis litoreamazonicola, a new species of Cyperaceae from the Brazilian Amazonian coast

A new species of Bulbostylis (Cyperaceae), only known from the Brazilian Amazonian coast, is here described and illustrated. Bulbostylis litoreamazonicola was found growing over dunes, in seasonally flooded restinga vegetation, and in humid fields near the mangroves from the State of Pará, Northern Brazil. This is the fifth Brazilian-native species of Bulbostylis lacking a persistent stylopodium on the mature fruit. The new species is mainly characterized by its annual habit, simple anthelate inflorescences, densely hispid to hispidulous longitudinally ribbed scapes, pubescent glumes, and cordiform nutlets.

Perenniporia subrhizomorpha sp. nov. (Polyporales, Basidiomycota) from North China

Perenniporia subrhizomorpha is introduced as a new species from North China on the basis of morphological and molecular evidence. Phylogenetically, based on ITS and nLSU regions, P. subrhizomorpha nested with two species belong to Perenniporia s.s. as a distinct lineage. Perenniporia subrhizomorpha is characterized by having an annual habit, resupinate and papery basidiomes, a dimitic hyphal system with crystal-covered generative hyphae in context, ellipsoid, truncated, dextrinoid basidiospores (5.7–6.5 × 4.3–5.5 μm), and absence of cystidia and cystidioles. Morphologically similar and phylogenetically related species to the new species are discussed.

Derived woodiness and annual habit evolved in African umbellifers as alternative solutions for coping with drought

Background One of the major trends in angiosperm evolution was the shift from woody to herbaceous habit. However, reversals known as derived woodiness have also been reported in numerous, distantly related clades. Among theories evoked to explain the factors promoting the evolution of derived woodiness are moderate climate theory and cavitation theory. The first assumes that woody habit evolves in response to mild climate allowing for prolonged life span, which in turn leads to bigger and woodier bodies. The second sees woodiness as a result of natural selection for higher cavitation resistance in seasonally dry environments. Here, we compare climatic niches of woody and herbaceous, mostly southern African, umbellifers from the Lefebvrea clade to assess whether woody taxa in fact occur in markedly drier habitats. We also calibrate their phylogeny to estimate when derived woodiness evolved. Finally, we describe the wood anatomy of selected woody and herbaceous taxa to see if life forms are linked to any particular wood traits. Results The evolution of derived woodiness in chamaephytes and phanerophytes as well as the shifts to short-lived annual therophytes in the Lefebvrea clade took place at roughly the same time: in the Late Miocene during a trend of global climate aridification. Climatic niches of woody and herbaceous genera from the Cape Floristic Region overlap. There are only two genera with distinctly different climatic preferences: they are herbaceous and occur outside of the Cape Floristic Region. Therefore, studied herbs have an overall climatic niche wider than their woody cousins. Woody and herbaceous species do not differ in qualitative wood anatomy, which is more affected by stem architecture and, probably, reproductive strategy than by habit. Conclusions Palaeodrought was likely a stimulus for the evolution of derived woodiness in the Lefebvrea clade, supporting the cavitation theory. The concurrent evolution of short-lived annuals withering before summer exemplifies an alternative solution to the same problem of drought-induced cavitation. Changes of the life form were most likely neither spurred nor precluded by any qualitative wood traits, which in turn are more affected by internode length and probably also reproductive strategy.

A novel species of Ischaemum (Poaceae, Andropogoneae) from the northern Western Ghats, India, based on morphological and molecular data

Ischaemum amboliense (Poaceae, Andropogoneae), a new species of Muraina grass, is described and illustrated here. The new species is closely allied to I. travancorense but differs from it in having annual habit and erect posture, culm with sparsely hairy nodes, well-exerted racemes, lower glumes of sessile spikelets with 3–4 side nodules without ridges, upper glume of sessile spikelets with bicuspidate apex and margins with a membranous wing on one side of apical region and lower lemma of sessile spikelets winged on both sides towards the apex. A strict consensus tree obtained from the Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analyses of trnLC–trnLD and ETS datasets supported the novelty of the species. Here, we provide a detailed morphological description, molecular phylogenetic analysis, distribution map, and photo-plates of the novel and allied species.

A shift towards the annual habit in selfing Arabidopsis lyrata

An annual life history is often associated with the ability to self-fertilize. However, it is unknown whether the evolution of selfing commonly precedes the evolution of annuality, or vice versa . Using a 2-year common garden experiment, we asked if the evolution of selfing in the normally perennial Arabidopsis lyrata was accompanied by a shift towards the annual habit. Despite their very recent divergence from obligately outcrossing populations, selfing plants exhibited a 39% decrease in over-winter survival after the first year compared with outcrossing plants. Our data ruled out the most obvious underlying mechanism: differences in reproductive investment in the first year did not explain differences in survival. We conclude that transitions to selfing in perennial A. lyrata may be accompanied by a shift towards annuality, but drivers of the process require further investigation.

Micranthes petiolaris variety shealyi: A New Variety of Micranthes (Section Stellares, Saxifragaceae) from South Carolina

A new variety of Micranthes is described from a low-elevation granite outcrop in Pickens County, South Carolina. It is similar to high elevation Micranthes petiolaris populations in leaf morphology and chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) sequences, but differs in its annual habit, floral morphology, phenology, and ecology. The variety is known only from the type locality, with most clusters of individuals occurring along the forested boundary of an open granite outcrop, associated with Juniperus virginiana L., and growing upon moist to saturated moss mats and/or shallow soils. A discussion comparing the proposed taxon with M. petiolaris is provided, with notes about the distribution, habitat, and taxonomy of the variety.

SHIFTING OLD TEACHING BEHAVIOR FOR NEW CURRICULUM

Begin with “the annual habit” of Indonesian government in which the curriculum will be changed as the change of educational paradigm. This paper then aimed to explain about the urgency of new policy in teaching-learning realm and how the teacher adapt and apply that new curriculum in real teaching-learning situation in the classroom. As matter of fact, based on many surveys conducted by some institutions proved that many teachers in every corner of Indonesia still enjoy teaching in their old teaching behavior. No matter how many times the curriculum changed, the problem is that the teachers find it difficult to adapt with the new curriculum. The difficulty in understanding the resent curriculum may caused by many factors, such as lack of information and teachers’ education. Therefore, this paper explains how the teachers should change their old teaching behavior to support the aim of Indonesian government in empowering and increasing the quality of human resource.

A new species and a new section of Astragalus (Fabaceae: Papilionoideae) from Mexico

We describe and illustrate Astragalus sagitticarpus A.E. Estrada, Villarreal & Encina (Fabaceae) as a new species from south-central Mexico. Its annual habit, free stipules, few leaves, small calyx teeth, and pendulous, persistent, stipitate, dorsoventrally compressed pod characterize this species. Added to other characteristics related to the other sections, but not in the same combination of them, such as habit, flower size, and union of the stipules allow recognizing a new section also.

Tagetes imbricata (Asteraceae, Tageteae), a new species from northwestern Argentina and Bolivia

A new species of Tagetes, T. imbricata, is described and photographed. This species that grows in northwestern Argentina and Bolivia is characterized by annual habit, lax terminal corymbiform inflorescences, partially purplish 5-lobed involucres, and imbricated ray flowers with yellowish-white corollas. A taxonomic description complemented with photographs and a map of geographical distribution is provided. In addition, a detailed comparison of the new species and its closely morphologically similar species is also presented, as well as a key to differentiate annual species of Tagetes that grow in northwestern Argentina and Bolivia.

Heterobasidion amyloideopsis sp. nov. (Basidiomycota, Russulales) evidenced by morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis

Heterobasidion amyloideopsis sp. nov., a new poroid wood-inhabiting species from Pakistan, is introduced based on a combination of molecular evidence and morphological characteristics. We generated sequences from the nuclear internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS) and the large subunit ribosomal RNA gene (LSU), the gene encoding the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB1) and the second subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB2), focusing on two specimens from Pakistan. We performed phylogenetic analyses with maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony, and bayesian inference methods on two datasets (RPB1+RPB2 and ITS+nLSU+RPB1+RPB2). Both analyses supported the existence of the new species and showed that it formed a monophyletic group within the H. insulare complex as a sister to H. amyloideum. In addition to assessing the origin and divergence of this new species, we focused on the RPB1+RPB2 dataset to perform maximum likelihood based estimation and Bayesian binary analyses. Heterobasidion amyloideopsis is characterized by an annual habit, pileate basidiomata with a rust colored pileal surface, white, obtuse margin, a dimitic hyphal system with simple septate generative hyphae in the trama and clamp connections present on the contextual hyphae, amyloid skeletal hyphae and broadly ellipsoid, hyaline, fairly thick-walled, and asperulate basidiospores.