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Copyright of Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas is the property of Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Because the different plant species showed a different behaviour against air pollution in the different sites and even in the same site, the present study was conducted on some selected ornamental plants grown together in different parts of Japanese garden, industrial Helwan City, the greatest Cairo, Egypt during the summer season 2017 to determine the relative tolerance of these plants to air pollution prevailing in this city using the air pollution tolerance index (APTI), which estimated by the use of four physio-biochemical parameters of the leaves, i.e. ascorbic acid content, relative water content (RWC %), leaf extract pH and total chlorophyll content as a practical tool for determining tolerance level of the plants and comparing among themselves. Mature leaf samples were monthly collected for 3 times during the morning hours from the selected ornamental plants grown in the North, Middle, South, East and West parts of the garden for analyzing. The APTI scale was used for determination of sensitivity/tolerance degree for every plant species.The obtained results indicated that a considerable variation in the means of ascorbic acid content, RWC %, pH of the leaf extract, total chlorophyll content and APTI values were observed among the different plant species selected from each part. Thus, every species exhibited a sole behaviour than the other ones under air pollution conditions of the same place. Based on the APTI values of various species in every individual place of the garden and the corresponding tolerance degree, it can be advised to plant Yucca elephantipes, Ficus benjamina, Bauhinia variegata and Lantana camara species in the North part; Yucca elephantipes, Cassia nodosa, C. fistula and F. benjamina species in the Middle part; C. fistula, Delonix regia (Poinciana), Ficus cycomorus (Gemez), Lantana camara and Washingtonia filifera palm in the South part; Ficus benghalensis, Codiaeum variegata (Croton), Duranta erecta and Lantana camara species in the East part, while for the West part, it is prefer to plant Delonix regia (Pionciana), Pinus halepensis, Bauhinia variegata, Ficus retusa ( F. nitida), F. microcarpa "Hawii", Lantana camara and Brachychiton porpulenum species as the most suitable ornamental plants for air pollution load prevailing in every part of Japanese garden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Obligate pollination mutualisms (OPMs) are specialized interactions in which female pollinators transport pollen between the male and female flowers of a single plant species and then lay eggs into those same flowers. The pollinator offspring hatch and feed upon some or all of the developing ovules pollinated by their mothers. Strong trait matching between plants and their pollinators in OPMs is expected to result in reciprocal partner specificity i.e., a single pollinator species using a single plant species and vice versa, and strict co-speciation. These issues have been studied extensively in figs and fig wasps, but little in the more recently discovered co-diversification of Epicephala moths and their Phyllanthaceae hosts. OPMs involving Epicephala moths are believed occur in approximately 500 species of Phyllanthaceae, making it the second largest OPM group after the Ficus radiation (> 750 species). In this study, we used a mixture of DNA barcoding, genital morphology and behavioral observations to determine the number of Epicephala moth species inhabiting the fruits of Breynia oblongifolia, their geographic distribution, pollinating behavior and phylogenetic relationships. Results: We found that B. oblongifolia hosts two species of pollinator that co-occurred at all study sites, violating the assumption of reciprocal specificity. Male and female genital morphologies both differed considerably between the two moth species. In particular, females differed in the shape of their ovipositors, eggs and oviposition sites. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that the two Epicephala spp. on B. oblongifolia likely co-exist due to a host switch. In addition, we discovered that Breynia fruits are also often inhabited by a third moth, an undescribed species of Herpystis, which is a non-pollinating seed parasite. Conclusions: Our study reveals new complexity in interactions between Phyllantheae and Epicephala pollinators and highlights that host switching, co-speciation and non-pollinating seed parasites can shape species interactions in OPMs. Our finding that co-occurring Epicephala species have contrasting oviposition modes parallels other studies and suggests that such traits are important in Epicephala species coexistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing trade in plants and plant products across continents heightens the risk of exotic insect pests expanding geographically into new habitats. This threatens not only the production and economic value of widely traded crops but the survival of species grown or sought by low-income communities. The first European outbreak of Scirtothrips dorsalis was detected in the Palm House collections at Kew in 2007 and triggered a monitoring program. This monitoring along with a robust review of the literature brought together information on new and known hosts for S. dorsalis. Further to this, we used molecular characterization techniques to identify which proposed cryptic species of S. dorsalis was present in this outbreak. The study revealed that 39% of the species of plants among the collections supported the proposed S. dorsalis South Asia 1 cryptic species, with over 50% of those species supporting immature life stages of the thrips confirming that they are suitable breeding hosts. Of particular importance are the newly identified hosts that are crops, and two further hosts reported as endangered/critically endangered. This study demonstrates the role that botanic garden collections can play in generating host relationship data that can feed into the development of robust predictive risk assessments for invasive insects. This can provide plant health authorities with the scientific basis for prioritizing management plans to protect important, vulnerable crop and non-crop plant species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese tallowtree, Triadica sebifera (L.) Small ( Euphorbiaceae), is one of the worst invasive weeds of the southeastern USA impacting coastal wetlands, forests, and natural areas. Traditional mechanical and chemical controls have been unable to limit the spread, and this invasive species continues to expand its range. A proposed biological control candidate, the flea beetle Bikasha collaris ( Baly) ( Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), shows high specificity for the target weed Chinese tallowtree. Results from a series of no-choice and choice feeding tests of B. collaris adults and larvae indicated that this flea beetle was highly specific to Chinese tallowtree. The larvae of B. collaris feed by tunneling in the roots, whereas the adults feed on the leaves of Chinese tallowtree. A total of 77 plant taxa, primarily from members of the tallow plant family Euphorbiaceae, were tested in numerous test designs. Larval no-choice tests indicated that larvae completed development only on two of the non-target taxa. Of 80 B. collaris larvae fed roots of Hippomane mancinella L. and 50 larvae fed roots of Ricinus communis L., two and three larvae completed development, respectively. The emerging adults of these five larvae died within 3 days without reproducing. Larval choice tests also indicated little use of these non-target taxa. Adult no-choice tests indicated little leaf damage by B. collaris on the non-targets except for Ditrysinia fruticosa ( Bartram) Govaerts & Frodin and Gymnanthes lucida Sw. When given a choice, however, B. collaris adults consumed much less of the non-targets D. fruticosa (7.4%) and G. lucida (6.1%) compared with the control leaves. Finally, no-choice oviposition tests indicated that no eggs were produced when adults were fed all non-target taxa, except those fed G. lucida. These B. collaris adults fed G. lucida leaves produced an average of 4.6 eggs compared with 115.0 eggs per female when fed Chinese tallowtree. The eggs produced from adults fed G. lucida were either inviable or the emerging larvae died within 1 day. These results indicate that the flea beetle B. collaris was unable to complete its life cycle on any of the non-target taxa tested. If approved for field release, B. collaris will be the first biological control agent deployed against Chinese tallowtree in the USA. This flea beetle may play an important role in suppressing Chinese tallowtree and contribute to the integrated control of this invasive weed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas is the property of Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A total of 129 species from the subtribe Flueggeinae of the tribe Phyllantheae (Euphorbiaceae, Phyllanthoideae) were investigated using light and scanning electron microscopy, and 10 species using transmission electron microscopy, in order to evaluate the relationships between the eight constituent genera: Breynia , Flueggea , Glochidion , Margaritaria , Phyllanthus , Reverchonia , Richeriella , and Sauropus . Of these genera, Flueggea , Margaritaria and Richeriella share pollen with a prolate spheroidal meridional outline and a 3-colporate aperture system. Pollen of Reverchonia is also 3-colporate, but differs from that of the Flueggea alliance by its clearly prolate shape, tilioid ornamentation and absence of costae endopori. Breynia and Sauropus have 4-12 and 3-16-colporate pollen, respectively, with diploporate colpi. Two pollen types are recognised in Breynia , and four in Sauropus , one of which supports the recognition of Sect. Hemisauropus . Glochidion pollen is 3-6-colporate, and similar to that of Breynia in having reticulate sculpture with Y-shaped sexine structures, but it has monoporate colpi. Of the genus Phyllanthus , only species with pollen with diploporate colpi have been studied. Seven types are described. Diploporate Phyllanthus pollen can be distinguished from that of Breynia and Sauropus by its distinct colpus margins consisting of parallel muri. Colpal irregularities and endoaperture configurations in the subtribe are discussed, and pollen morphological trends are hypothesised. Placed in the successiform aperture series, the Flueggea alliance and Reverchonia form a basal group. Glochidion is considered intermediate, giving rise to the Breynia-Sauropus group. The relationship with Phyllanthus remains unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]