Acacia × mangiiformis hybrida nova (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae), a wattle of commercial importance in Asia

Acacia × mangiiformis Maslin & L.A.J.Thomson, hybrida nova, is described. Its parents are Acacia auriculiformis A.Cunn. ex Benth. and A. mangium Willd., two well-known and important plantation species in Asia and elsewhere. Acacia × mangiiformis arose naturally in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea and in recent decades has become widely cultivated in southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam), India, and to a lesser extent in China and Taiwan. The tree has often been referred to as “Acacia hybrid” in forestry literature. Acacia × mangiiformis has morphological and other characteristics that are intermediate between its parents. Furthermore, it often has a faster growth rate, superior bole form and is more drought-tolerant than its parent species The hybrid is used primarily for pulp production but also has uses as solid wood products and fuelwood. The wood is similar to that of A. mangium but has a higher density and is more suitable for products where strength is important; it is also less susceptible to termite attack than are its parent species. Ten high-performing commercial clones of Acacia × mangiiformis have been developed in Vietnam and more are being selected. The formal naming of this important hybrid is dedicated to Professor Le Dinh Kha (formerly of Forest Science Institute of Vietnam), an outstanding researcher, supervisor, and authority on tree breeding who conducted much of the original research and promotion of Acacia × mangiiformis in Vietnam

Nomenclatural notes on New South Wales flannel flowers (Actinotus spp., Umbelliferae/Apiaceae) and Leopold Trattinnick’s other Australian plant-names

After a thorough consideration of the history of the European collection and subsequent early cultivation of the commercial flannel flower, a lectotype is designated for Actinotus helianthi Labill. (Umbelliferae/Apiaceae) and the earliest publication (by Trattinnick in 1814) of A. minor (Sm.) Tratt. pinpointed. Other neglected names coined by Trattinnick, including generic ones, applied to Australian and other plants, and published on (generally) plagiarised plates, are discussed and disposed of. One such plate is a copy of the iconotype of Amaryllis × johnsoniana Ker Gawl., an earlier epithet for Hippeastrum × johnsonii (Gowen) Herb. (Amaryllidaceae), a bulbous plant long cultivated in Australia and whose name should be conserved with the later spelling. Attention is drawn to confusions in localities on labels attached to specimens of species (in various families) collected on both D’Entrecasteaux’s and Baudin’s voyages to Australia

Reinstatement of Thysanotus elatior R.Br. (Asparagaceae)

Thysanotus elatior R.Br. (Asparagaceae) is reinstated, described, lectotypified and compared with putatively related species. The species is restricted to the Top End of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley of Western Australia but was previously confused with T. banksii R.Br., a Queensland species. Notes are provided on the distribution, habitat, phenology, conservation status and affinities of Thysanotus elatior. Thysanotus chinensis Benth. also occurs in north-western Australia and a key to distinguish the two is provided. The application of the names Thysanotus elatior and T. tuberosus R.Br. to material there is also discussed

Two nomina nova in Malagasy Grewia L. (Malvaceae-Grewioideae)

An account of the current state-of-affairs of the taxonomic study of Grewia L. (Malvaceae-Grewioideae) in Madagascar is presented. Grewia capuronii Mabb. and G. madagascariensis Capuron are new names for the Malagasy endemics, G. lanceolata Bak., non Miq., and G. discolor Baill., non Fresen., respectively

Maximum levels of global phylogenetic diversity efficiently capture plant services for humankind

The divergent nature of evolution suggests that securing the human benefits that are directly provided by biodiversity may require counting on disparate lineages of the Tree of Life. However, quantitative evidence supporting this claim is still tenuous. Here, we draw on a global review of plant-use records demonstrating that maximum levels of phylogenetic diversity capture significantly greater numbers of plant-use records than random selection of taxa. Our study establishes an empirical foundation that links evolutionary history to human wellbeing, and it will serve as a discussion baseline to promote better-grounded accounts of the services that are directly provided by biodiversity.Comunidad de MadridUniversidad de AlcaláConsejería de Ciencia, Universidades e Innovació

A global database of plant services for humankind

Humanity faces the challenge of conserving the attributes of biodiversity that may be essential to secure human wellbeing. Among all the organisms that are beneficial to humans, plants stand out as the most important providers of natural resources. Therefore, identifying plant uses is critical to preserve the beneficial potential of biodiversity and to promote basic and applied research on the relationship between plants and humans. However, much of this information is often uncritical, contradictory, of dubious value or simply not readily accessible to the great majority of scientists and policy makers. Here, we compiled a genuslevel dataset of plant-use records for all accepted vascular plant taxa (13489 genera) using the information gathered in the 4th Edition of Mabberley’s plant-book, the most comprehensive global review of plant classification and their uses published to date. From 1974 to 2017 all the information was systematically gathered, evaluated, and synthesized by David Mabberley, who reviewed over 1000 botanical sources including modern Floras, monographs, periodicals, handbooks, and authoritative websites. Plant uses were arranged across 28 standard categories of use following the Economic Botany Data Collection Standard guidelines, which resulted in a binary classification of 9478 plant-use records pertaining human and animal nutrition, materials, fuels, medicine, poisons, social and environmental uses. Of all the taxa included in the dataset, 33% were assigned to at least one category of use, the most common being “ornamental” (26%), “medicine” (16%), “human food” (13%) and “timber” (8%). In addition to a readily available binary matrix for quantitative analyses, we provide a control text matrix that links the former to the description of the uses in Mabberley’s plant-book. We hope this dataset will serve to establish synergies between scientists and policy makers interested in plant-human interactions and to move towards the complete compilation and classification of the nature’s contributions to people upon which the wellbeing of future generations may depen

Isolation and Characterization of 21 Microsatellite Loci in Cardiocrinum giganteum var. yunnanense (Liliaceae), an Important Economic Plant in China

Twenty-one microsatellite markers from the genome of Cardiocrinum giganteum var. yunnanense, an important economic plant in China, were developed with a fast isolation protocol by amplified fragment length polymorphism of sequences containing repeats (FIASCO). Polymorphism within each locus was assessed in 24 wild individuals from Gaoligong Mountains in western Yunnan Province, China. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 4 with a mean of 2.9. The expected and observed levels of heterozygosity ranged from 0.042 to 0.726 and from 0.000 to 1.000, with averages of 0.44 and 0.31, respectively. These polymorphic microsatellite markers should prove useful in population genetics studies and assessments of genetic variation to develop conservation and management strategies for this species

What Brown saw and you can too

A discussion is given of Robert Brown's original observations of particles ejected by pollen of the plant \textit{Clarkia pulchella} undergoing what is now called Brownian motion. We consider the nature of those particles, and how he misinterpreted the Airy disc of the smallest particles to be universal organic building blocks. Relevant qualitative and quantitative investigations with a modern microscope and with a "homemade" single lens microscope similar to Brown's, are presented.Comment: 14.1 pages, 11 figures, to be published in the American Journal of Physics. This differs from the previous version only in the web site referred to in reference 3. Today, this Brownian motion web site was launched, and http://physerver.hamilton.edu/Research/Brownian/index.html, is now correc