Limonium hyblaeum (Plumbaginaceae), a cushion plant invading coastal southern Australia

The Sicilian endemic herbaceous perennial plant Limonium hyblaeum (family Plumbaginaceae) is rapidly becoming a serious weed in South Australia and Victoria, where it invades saltmarshes and rocky coastal sites exposed to salt spray. It has small, light seeds that float and remain viable in sea water and which can also be dispersed readily by wind, animals and vehicles. It can form dense, extensive mats and buds sprouting from rhizomes allow encroachment into dense native vegetation. It seems certain to be apomictic and is readily able to become dominant. Forming dense, compact cushions which accumulate large amounts of fibrous peat, Limonium hyblaeum is the first cushion plant to become naturalized in Australia; the importance of the cushion habit as an adaptation to salt spray is under-appreciated. Some control measures for Limonium hyblaeum have begun in Victoria, but much remains to be done there and in the other southern Australian states; a ban on the sale of the species by nurseries is urgently required

The green-leaved variant of Eucalyptus largiflorens: a story involving hybridization and observant local people

Eucalyptus largiflorens (Black Box) is the most common tree in the Chowilla anabranch system on the Murray River floodplain. It typically has dull, glaucous, grey-green leaves. Occasional trees with smaller, glossy green leaves (Green Box) occur scattered amongst the Black Box. In areas with increasing salinity, they usually appear much healthier than adjacent, normal Black Box trees. Green Box plants are intermediate between normal Eucalyptus largiflorens plants and Eucalyptus gracilis plants in many morphological and allozyme characters, strongly suggesting that they are hybrids between those species. Green Box plants tolerate salinity better and use water more conservatively than normal Black Box plants, traits that they have probably inherited from Eucalyptus gracilis. In 1994, the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide used tissue culture and micropropagation to produce nearly 9,000 cloned Green Box plants which were planted out on Riverland floodplains. Since the 1990s, the high cost of producing clonal plants has meant that no further such plantings have occurred. Because Green Box plants can be a considerable distance from the nearest plants of one putative parent (Eucalyptus gracilis), more detailed studies could contribute to the existing work on such phantom hybrids

The deliberate introduction to Australia of the shrub genus "Pentzia" (Asteraceae) and its subsequent persistence and spread

Pentzia is a predominantly southern African genus of low shrubs, many of which are important fodder plants for sheep in semi-arid and arid areas. Attempts since 1869 to introduce Pentzia incana to south-eastern Australia for sheep fodder are described. One of these, near Koonamore in north-eastern South Australia, was temporarily successful there and may have led to the only extant stands in Australia – two well-established populations at Mount Serle in the northern Flinders Ranges. These events are related to the biology of the species and to similar events concerning the deliberate introduction of the species to Arizona. These data are discussed in terms of current ideas about plant introduction, dispersal, invasion and the concept of sleeper weeds. Pentzia globosa is currently known from a single stand in Australia, at Bundaleer Forest in the Mid North of South Australia. The history of this occurrence is briefly discussed. For both species, it is concluded that regular monitoring is needed in case of rapid spread and that further data are needed on the extent to which they exhibit weedy behaviour in southern Africa

Whipcord plants: a comparison of south-eastern Australia with New Zealand

Whipcord plant is a term used for some dicot angiosperms with small, scale-like leaves closely appressed to the stem. So far, the term has mostly been used in this sense for plants from New Zealand. Here, I summarize the incidence and habitat relations of New Zealand whipcord plants and then use the literature to show that whipcord plants also occur in south-eastern Australia. New Zealand whipcord plants comprise nine species of Hebe, four of Leonohebe and six of Helichrysum, while in south-eastern Australia there are six species of Ozothamnus and one of Leucophyta. In both areas, some species are alpine to subalpine, while some are from lowland habitats with significant summer water deficits

The cushion plants of lowland southern Australia

A preliminary analysis has recorded the cushion lifeform in 60 taxa from lowland southern Australia (i.e. latitudes south of 26° S) encompassing six morphological forms from open, non-peat-accumulating species (58 taxa) to hard, dense cushions more typical of alpine and subalpine areas (2 taxa). Only two species appear to be obligate cushions. All but six cushion-forming species are endemic to southern Western Australia. Most species occur in the Transitional Rainfall Zone rather than the High Rainfall Zone or the more arid interior, with only one species being endemic to the arid zone. In Western Australia cushion-forming species occur on exposed coasts, granites, edges of salt lakes and sandplains; almost half of the species also commonly occur across a number of other habitat types. The few plant communities dominated by cushion plants are generally restricted to small areas of a specific habitat type such as Borya herblands on shallow soils around outcropping granites. Lowland cushion species in Western Australia do not appear to be restricted to the most stressful habitats

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 27, No. 1

• Sulfur Inlay in Pennsylvania German Furniture • Orders What\u27s to be Done at the Plantation : The Isaac Norris Farm Accounts, 1713-1734 • Blacks in Berks County, Pennsylvania: The Almshouse Records • Teach, Preach, or Weave Stockings? The Trilemma of a Pennsylvania Scholar • Annotated Bibliography of Pennsylvania Folk Medicine • Pictures in the Home: Folk-Cultural Questionnaire No. 49https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/1075/thumbnail.jp

Prepubertal exposure to arsenic(III) suppresses circulating insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) delaying sexual maturation in female rats

Arsenic (As) is a prevalent environmental toxin readily accessible for human consumption and has been identified as an endocrine disruptor. However, it is not known what impact As has on female sexual maturation. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the effects of prepubertal exposure on mammary gland development and pubertal onset in female rats. Results showed that prepubertal exposure to 10 mg/kg of arsenite (As(III)) delayed vaginal opening (VO) and prepubertal mammary gland maturation. We determined that As accumulates in the liver, disrupts hepatocyte function and suppresses serum levels of the puberty related hormone insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in prepubertal animals. Overall, this is the first study to show that prepubertal exposure to As(III) acts peripherally to suppress circulating levels of IGF-1 resulting in delayed sexual maturation. Furthermore, this study identifies a critical window of increased susceptibility to As(III) that may have a lasting impact on female reproductive function

Acceptability of Aggression Among Children Who Reside With Substance-Abusing Parents: The Influence of Behavioral Dysregulation, Exposure to Neighborhood Violence, and Interparental Violence

The present study examined how interparental violence, neighborhood violence, behavioral regulation during parental conflict, and age predicted beliefs about the acceptability of aggression and the acceptance of retaliation against an aggressive peer among youths. Participants were 110 families (mothers, fathers, and children) in which one or both parents met criteria for substance use disorder. Results of a bootstrapped multivariate regression model revealed higher exposure to neighborhood violence predicted greater acceptability of general aggression, whereas higher father-to-mother violence perpetration predicted lower acceptability of general aggression. Higher exposure to neighborhood violence, behavioral dysregulation during parental conflict, and older child age predicted greater approval of retaliation toward an aggressive peer. Findings are interpreted as related to the cognitive-contextual framework