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The complete chloroplast genome sequence of the Tertiary relict tree Zelkova serrata was reported in this study. The chloroplast genome is 158,875 bp in length with a typical angiosperm quantitative structure consisting of a large single copy (87,412 bp) and a small single copy (18,683 bp) separated by a pair of inverted repeat (26,390 bp). Genome annotation revealed a total of 129 genes comprising 84 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. Phylogenomic analysis based on the whole plastomes indicated that Z. serrata and Z. schneideriana formed a well-supported monophyletic clade sister to genus Ulmus in Ulmaceae.

A new fossil species of Zelkova is described from the Oligocene Ningming Formation of Guangxi, South China. Zelkova ningmingensis sp. nov. is characterized by leaves with craspedodromous venation pattern and drupaceous fruit type. The new species possesses elliptical to ovate leaves, bearing 7–12 pairs of secondary and simple toothed margin, as well as epidermal cells with straight or rounded anticlinal walls. The species is compared with extant and other fossil species hitherto reported of the genus. It is most similar to the living Zelkova schneideriana in the leaf gross morphology and epidermal characters, which may be suggested to be the ancestral type of Zelkova schneideriana. The discovery of Zelkova ningmingensis sp. nov. in Guangxi indicates that Zelkova has already existed in southern China as early as the Oligocene. In combination with Zelkova material from the Oligocene of Europe, it can be inferred that Eurasian Zelkova had begun to diversify by at least the Oligocene. Because China is the bio...

The complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of an endangered tree species, Zelkova schneideriana, was first assembled and characterized based on Illumina pair-end sequencing. The cp genome is 158,991 bp in length, with a quantitative structure comprising a pair of inverted repeats (IRs) of 26,427 bp separated by a large single copy (LSC) of 87,424 bp, a small single copy (SSC) of 18,713 bp. A total of 129 genes were annotated including 84 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on the cp genomes indicates that Z. schneideriana is closely related to genus Ulums in Ulmaceae.

We reported the complete chloroplast genome for Zelkova serrata, the first in the distinctive genus Zelkova to be sequenced in the family Ulmaceae. The plastome is totally 158,495 bp in length, containing a pair of inverted repeats (IRs), a large single-copy region (LSR) and a small single-copy region (SSR), which are 26,456 bp, 86,921 bp and 18,684 bp, respectively. A total of 103 unique genes were identified in Z. serrata chloroplast genome, of which 88 are single-copy genes, while15 are duplicated in IR regions. Further, maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analyses were conducted using eight complete plastomes of the Ulmaceae, which support close relationships between Z. serrata, Ulmus gaussenii, and U. chenmoui.

Zelkovaphis caucasica is a little-known Caucasian species of leaf-rolling aphids on Zelkova carpinifolia, and was not included in a previous morphological phylogenetic analysis of the tribe Eriosomatini. We redescribe little-known emigrants of Z. caucasica and describe first instars borne by the emigrants, with keys to species for these morphs of the genus Zelkovaphis. Based on the present specimens and a previously published description, we added Z. caucasica to a published data matrix for Eriosomatini species, and re-analysed the phylogenetic relationships of the tribe Eriosomatini. Successive weighting analysis indicated that Z. caucasica branched off at the base of the Eriosomatini phylogeny, as well as other leaf-rolling species on Zelkova. It is therefore suggested that, like other leaf rollers on Zelkova, Z. caucasica is a relict that has survived in glacial refugia.

For the maintenance and renovation of historic buildings, it is an essential prerequisite to identify the species of each member of a structure. In historic timber structures, identification of the...

The mid-Pleistocene Kolymbia Flora of Rhodes, Greece occurs in the Lindos Bay Clay facies group of the Rhodes Formation and was deposited in a marine setting at about a depth of 200 m. Recorded in the flora are the youngest presence of Glyptostrobus in the eastern Mediterranean, an extinct species of Pinus very similar to the modern relict Pinus canariensis, and a new species of the disjunct Cedrus. These taxa indicate that some relict plant taxa existed on Rhodes later than previously recognised. The late presence of Taxodiaceae in the eastern Mediterranean may demerit its usefulness for determining the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary. The finding of Liquidambar, Zelkova and Fagus in the flora supports the idea of Rhodes, and possibly the eastern Mediterranean, as a refugium during the mid-Pleistocene. Similar fossil assemblages should be found in adjacent Turkey because the Lindos Bay Clay records an extensive marine transgression probably resulting from graben tectonics that lead to the ultimate separati...

Summary The urban forest of the Tokyo metropolitan area was examined through the review of agencies' reports, academic publications, discussions with urban forest managers, and a reconnaissance of urban vegetation in Tokyo. This analysis showed the Tokyo metropolitan area has 420,564 street trees planted along 2,712 km of streets and about 1.5 million trees occur in 4,177 ha of urban parks in Tokyo. Some 14 per cent of the urbanized portion of the Tokyo metropolitan area is in tree or other types of urban vegetation cover. Commonly observed street and park trees include ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.), oriental plane (Platanus orientalis L.), trident maple (Acer buergerianum Miq.), flowering dogwood (Cornus florida L.), yoshino cherry (Prunus yedoensis Matsum.), Japanese zelkova (Zelkova serrata Makino), Japanese pagoda tree (Sophora japonica L.), camphor trees (Cinnamomum camphora Sieb.), Japanese tanoak (Lithocarpus edulis Nakai) and Japanese wax myrtle (Myrica rubra Sieb. et Zucc.). The Japan Greenery Resear...

Within the Southeast Caucasus mountain forest 79 moss samples were collected along three unbroken transects and compared to the forest composition within these transects. Forest estimates were obtained for 79 groups of nested sections of the transects, each group centered on a moss sample. The forest plot bearing the maximum pollen-vegetation correlation (MPVC) for all taxa was found to be 60–100 m long. The MPVC plots for 10 individual taxa differed predictably according to pollen transportability, which shows the significance of wind dispersion even under the dense canopy. Big and/or poorly dispersed pollen types (Parrotia, Zelkova, Diospyros, Acer) had a MPVC plot about 20 m long while, for the better dispersed pollen of Alnus, Quercus, Fraxinus, Carpinus MPVC plot size ranged between 100 and 220 m long. The spatial pattern of tree population as well as the pollination strategy also affects the MPVC area. Alnus grows patchily along the streams and its pollen appears to be less transportable wh...

The Author, on the basis of numerous results of pollen analysis on turfy-clayey deposits especially in Delta Padano, shows the gradual impoverishment, the main ancient species (Pinus haploxylon, Abies nordmanniana, Tsuga, Cedrus, Carya, Pterocarya, Zelkova, Castanea latifolia) suffered from during middle and upper Pleistocene.