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Three new 3(4),9(10)-disecocycloartane peroxy triterpene lactones, named as pseudolarolides Q2, T1, and T2 (1–3, resp.), along with five known triterpenoids, were isolated from the seeds of Pseudolarix kaempferiGord. Their structures were elucidated to be (9R,10R,16R,23R,25R)-16,23-epoxy-9,10-epidioxy-3,4:9,10-disecocycloart-1(2)-ene-3,4:26,23-diolide (1), (1R,9R,10S,16R,23S,25R)-1,4:16,23-diepoxy-9,10-epidioxy-3,4;9,10-disecocycloartan-26(23)-olid-3-oic acid methyl ester (2), and (1R,9R,10S,16R,23R,25R)-1,4:16,23-diepoxy-9,10-epidioxy-3,4;9,10-disecocycloartan-26(23)-olid-3-oic acid methyl ester (3) on the basis of spectroscopic analysis.

A rapid and reliable method based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with photodiode-array detection (PDA) and electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS) has been developed for separation and identification of major constituents in extracts of root bark of Pseudolarix kaempferi Gordon (PKG). Identification of the constituents was carried out by interpretation of their retention times, UV absorption spectra, MS and MS/MS spectra, as well as the data provided by authentic standards and literatures. A total of 20 components were separated in only 8.0 min on a small particle size C18 column (1.7 microm). These components included nine diterpene acids, seven glycosides and four triterpenoids, among which pseudolaric acid C-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside and pseudolaric acid C2-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside were separated and identified for the first time in this study. Furthermore, the fragmentation patterns of the three types of compounds were elucidated for the first time. This established UPLC-PDA/Q-TOF-MS/MS method is reliable and effective for the separation and identification of the 20 compounds and will be useful for quality control of the crude materials of Pseudolarix kaempferi Gordon and their related preparations.

We review the fossil history of seed plant genera that are now endemic to eastern Asia. Although the majority of eastern Asian endemic genera have no known fossil record at all, 54 genera, or about 9%, are reliably known from the fossil record. Most of these are woody (with two exceptions), and most are today either broadly East Asian, or more specifically confined to Sino-Japanese subcategory rather than being endemic to the Sino-Himalayan area. Of the “eastern Asian endemic” genera so far known from the fossil record, the majority formerly occurred in Europe and/or North America, indicating that eastern Asia served as a late Tertiary or Quaternary refugium for taxa. Hence, many of these genera may have originated in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere and expanded their ranges across continents and former sea barriers when tectonic and climatic conditions allowed, leading to their arrival in eastern Asia. Although clear evidence for paleoendemism is provided by the gymnosperms Amentotaxus, Cathaya, Cephalotaxus, Cunninghamia, Cryptomeria, Glyptostrobus, Ginkgo, Keteleeria, Metasequoia, Nothotsuga, Pseudolarix, Sciadopitys, and Taiwania, and the angiosperms Cercidiphyllum, Choerospondias, Corylopsis, Craigia, Cyclocarya, Davidia, Dipelta, Decaisnea, Diplopanax, Dipteronia, Emmenopterys, Eucommia, Euscaphis, Hemiptelea, Hovenia, Koelreuteria, Paulownia, Phellodendron, Platycarya, Pteroceltis, Rehderodendron, Sargentodoxa, Schizophragma, Sinomenium, Tapiscia, Tetracentron, Toricellia, Trapella, and Trochodendron, we cannot rule out the possibility that neoendemism plays an important role especially for herbaceous taxa in the present-day flora of Asia, particularly in the Sino-Himalayan region. In addition to reviewing paleobotanical occurrences from the literature, we document newly recognized fossil occurrences that expand the geographic and stratigraphic ranges previously known for Dipelta, Pteroceltis, and Toricellia.

In order to provide the chemical markers for the quality control of herbal medicines, four diterpenoids, pseudolaric acids A and B (PAA and PAB), and their glucosides were isolated from the methanol extract of the Chinese herb Pseudolarix kaempferi using high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC). The diphase solvent system was n-hexane/EtOAc/MeOH/H(2)O which was used at two ratios (5:5:5:5 and 1:9:4:6 by volume) in the separation of pseudolaric acids and their glycosides, respectively. As a result, PAA (14 mg), PAB (129 mg), PAA-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (8 mg, PAAG), and PAB-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (42 mg, PABG) were obtained from 0.5 g of the crude extract. Their purities were determined to be above 97% by HPLC analysis. Their chemical structures were confirmed by( 1)H and( 13)C NMR analysis or HPLC comparison with the reference compounds.

Pseudolarolides O (1) and P (2), two novel triterpenoids with a cycloartane-type framework, were isolated from the seeds of Pseudolarix kaempferi Gord. (Pinaceae). Their structures were elucidated as (16R,23S,25R)-16,23-epoxy-3,4 : 9,10-disecocycloartan-1(10),9(11)-diene-3(4),26(23)-diolide (1), and (9S,16R,23S,25R)-1,9 : 16,23-diepoxy-8,9 : 9,10-disecocycloartan-1(29),5(6),10(19)-triene-3(4),26(23)-diolide (2), respectively, on the basis of spectroscopic techniques and X-ray-diffraction studies.

The seed fatty acid (FA) compositions of Abietoids (Abies, Cedrus, Hesperopeuce, Keteleeria, Pseudolarix, and Tsuga) are reviewed in the present study in conclusion to our survey of Pinaceae seed FA compositions. Many unpublished data are given. Abietoids and Pinoids (Pinus, Larix, Picea, and Pseudotsuga)-constituting the family Pinaceae-are united by the presence of several delta5-olefinic acids, taxoleic (5,9-18:2), pinolenic (5,9,12-18:3), coniferonic (5,9,12,15-1 8:4), keteleeronic (5,11-20:2), and sciadonic (5,11,14-20:3) acids, and of 14-methyl hexadecanoic (anteiso-17:0) acid. These acids seldom occur in angiosperm seeds. The proportions of individual delta5-olefinic acids, however, differ between Pinoids and Abietoids. In the first group, pinolenic acid is much greater than taxoleic acid, whereas in the second group, pinolenic acid is greater than or equal to taxoleic acid. Moreover, taxoleic acid in Abietoids is much greater than taxoleic acid in Pinoids, an apparent limit between the two subfamilies being about 4.5% of that acid relative to total FA. Tsuga spp. appear to be a major exception, as their seed FA compositions are much like those of species from the Pinoid group. In this respect, Hesperopeuce mertensiana, also known as Tsuga mertensiana, has little in common with Abietoids and fits the general FA pattern of Pinoids well. Tsuga spp. and H. mertensiana, from their seed FA compositions, should perhaps be separated from the Abietoid group and their taxonomic position revised. It is suggested that a "Tsugoid" subfamily be created, with seed FA in compliance with the Pinoid pattern and other botanical and immunological criteria of the Abietoid type. All Pinaceae genera, with the exception of Pinus, are quite homogeneous when considering their overall seed FA compositions, including delta5-olefinic acids. In all cases but one (Pinus), variations from one species to another inside a given genus are of small amplitude. Pinus spp., on the other hand, have highly variable levels of delta5-olefinic acids in their FA compositions, particularly when sections (e.g., Cembroides vs. Pinus sections) or subsections (e.g., Flexiles and Cembrae subsections from the section Strobus) are compared, although they show qualitatively the same FA patterns characteristic of Pinoids. Multicomponent analysis of Abietoid seed FA allowed grouping of individual species into genera that coincide with the same genera otherwise characterized by more classical botanical criteria. Our studies exemplify how seed FA compositions, particularly owing to the presence of delta5-olefinic acids, may be useful in sustaining and adding some precision to existing taxonomy of the major family of gymnosperms, Pinaceae.

Preliminary investigations of (I)-(III) concerning cytotoxicity reveal no positive effects.

Covering: 1957 to September 2009 The pseudolaric acids are diterpenoids isolated from the root bark of Pseudolarix amabilis, or the golden larch. Pseudolaric acids A and B are the major antifungal and anti-angiogenic congeners of this family of compounds. This review presents the results of the isolation, biological and synthetic studies of these natural products. 127 references are cited.

Two novel antimicrobial and cytotoxic triterpenoids, isopseudolarifuroic acids A (1) and B (2), were isolated from the bark of Pseudolarix kaempferi. The structural elucidation of two novel compounds was carried out mainly by spectroscopic methods, and also by computer modeling. Compounds 1 and 2 exhibited significant cytotoxic activities against several tumor cell lines. Compound 1 also showed most potent antimicrobial activities against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.

The first study of the chemical constituents of the leaves of Pseudolarix kaemferi revealed three new triterpene peroxides, pseudolarolides Q (1), R (2), S (3). The stereochemical structures of these new compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectral and single-crystal X-ray analyses.

This new species is based on a single semifusinized cone from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of New Jersey. The cone is flattened but essentially complete. It is 55 mm long and 8 by 13 mm in diam. Scale apices are thin, rounded, and entire, lacking evidence of an umbo or spine. The vascular cylinder of the cone axis is organized as a series of separate strands. The scale is made up of a basal portion that stands out nearly perpendicular to the cone axis and a sharply uptumed distal portion. The bract base has a pronounced abaxial keel. Bract and scale traces diverge from the vascular cylinder of the cone axis separately from one another. A poorly developed interseminal ridge is present at the chalazal end of the seeds. An unusual feature of the cone is the presence of a trichome-bearing epidermis on the cone axis, bract-scale complex, and near the scale apex. Resin canals diverge into the bract-scale complex abaxial to the scale trace with branches becoming adaxial to the scale trace outward. A number of features of the new species occur in cones of Abies, Cedrus, Keteleeria, Larix, Picea, Pseudolarix, Pseudotsuga, and Tsuga as well as in the extinct genus Pseudoaraucaria. Features of Pinus are absent. This suggests that Pseudoaraucaria may have served as an ancestral source for modern genera other than Pinus with Pityostrobus pubescens representing an evolutionary intermediate. ANATOMICALLY PRESERVED seed cones of the Pinaceae reported from Cretaceous sediments are of three types. The genus Pinus L. is represented by two species (Alvin, 1960; Miller and Malinky, in press); there are six species of

Summary The freezing resistance of winter twigs of genera which became extinct in Japan during Tertiary time, such as Sequoia, Metasequoia, Taxodium, Glyptostrobus, Pseudolarix, Keteleeria and Liquidambar, has been investigated. Except for Taiwania, Sequoia, Cunninghamia lanceolata, most of the genera were found to survive freezing down to – 20° to – 25°C, and Metasequoia and Taxodium to resist freezing down to – 25° to – 30°C. Most of the typical temperate deciduous genera native to Japan, such as Carpinus, Zerkova, Castanea, Acer and Cercidiphyllum, which lived together with the extinct genera during the Tertiary as common members of the Arcto-Tertiary Forest, were also found to survive freezing down to –20° to – 25°C. From the standpoint of freezing resistance, it therefore seems likely that most of the Arcto-Tertiary genera which became extinct in Japan could winter in the deciduous forests in Japan during late Tertiary time, unlike evergreen broad-leafed trees and some conifers such as Taiwania, Sequoia and Cunninghamia lanceolata. To clarify the reason of their distinction from the standpoint of cold injury, a further study on their resistance to winter desiccation is required.

Following my publication of the generic name Chrysolarix to replace Pseudolarix for the golden larch (Baileya 13: 131-134. 1965), Mr. David Hunt of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, initiated a lively correspondence with the author which culminated in a deadlock and the publication of "The Generic Name of the Golden Larch" by Messrs. Bullock and Hunt (Taxon 15:1966). The editor of Taxon has kindly provided the opportunity for a rebuttal. The problem is complex and a dual one involving taxonomy on the one hand, nomenclature on the other. These two aspects are interrelated but must be evaluated by criteria appropriate to each. A brief restatement of the problem may serve as orientation.