Palynological evidence for environmental and climatic change in the lower Guadiana valley, Portugal, during the last 13 000 years

Pollen analysis of a 48 m AMS radiocarbon-dated sediment sequence from the Guadiana estuary provides the first record of Lateglacial and Holocene vegetation history in the Algarve province of Portugal. This paper focuses on the record of terrestrial pollen taxa, which document a series of forest expansions and declines during the period 13 000 cal. BP to 1600 cal. BP and provide insights into climate evolution in southwestern Iberia. The main vegetation phases identified in the Guadiana valley are (1) Lateglacial interstadial (Allerød) forest with Quercus and Pinus under a temperate, moist, continental climate; (2) a Younger Dryas forest decline (Quercus) and expansion of pinewoods, xeric scrub and open ground habitats (with Juniperus, Artemisia, Ephedra distachya type, Centaurea scabiosa type) under arid and cold conditions; (3) an early Holocene forest/scrub/open-ground vegetation mosaic developing under a warm, dry and continental climate; (4) a maximum of Quercus forest and thermomediterranean evergreen taxa (Olea, Phillyrea, Pistacia) reflecting a warm, moist oceanic climate between c. 9000 cal. BP and c. 5000 cal. BP; and (5) the expansion of shrublands with Cistaceae and Ericaceae under a drier climatic regime and increasing anthropogenic activity since c. 5000 cal. BP. Holocene episodes of maximum climatic aridity are identified in the record of xerophytic taxa (Juniperus, Artemisia, Ephedra distachya type) centred around 10 200 cal. BP, 7800 cal. BP, 4800 cal. BP, 3100 cal. BP and 1700 cal. BP. Regional comparisons suggest a correlation of arid phases across southern Iberia and northwest Africa, which can be related to abrupt North Atlantic coolings (Bond events).Research Council studentship for WJF (NERC/S/A/2001/06109), with the support of Trinity College and the Department of Geography, University of Cambridg

A note on the chestnut vine and Séraphin Mottet’s ‘Dictionnaire Pratique d’Horticulture et Jardinage’ (1892–1899)

The discovery, introduction and naming of the chestnut vine (Tetrastigma voinierianum, Vitaceae), a Vietnamese plant, is examined and bibliographic citation corrected. The 173 at the time of writing disregarded new species names and new combinations made in Séraphin Mottet’s Dictionnaire Pratique d’Horticulture et Jardinage (1892–1899) include six names in current use, hitherto attributed to later authors. All the other Mottet novelties, as well as the 125 disregarded in Nicholson’s ‘mother volume’, his Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening (four names in current use) and its later Century Supplement (22) have been passed to IPNI editors as have 15 from Bois’s Dictionnaire d’Horticulture Illustré: none disturbs current nomenclature save six changes in authority. Many species introduced to cultivation by Veitch were much cited by Mottet and Nicholson but were first published in Veitch catalogues, necessitating a new name in Miconia (Melastomataceae) and seven changes in authority in names in current use

The Plant Book : A Portabl Dictionary of the Vascular Plants

xvi,858 hal,;ill,;23 c

New species of Dysoxylum (Meliaceae)

Six new species of Dysoxylum (Meliaceae) from the Flora Malesiana region are described and illustrated; two new combinations are made; one species formerly ascribed to Aglaia (Amoora) is assigned to Dysoxylum, a second to Xylocarpus, and a third to Santiria (Burseraceae)