Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) is an important fruit tree that belongs to the family Sapindaceae and widely cultivated in Southeast Asia. We sequenced its chloroplast genome for first time assembled 161,321 bp circular DNA. It characterized by a typical quadripartite structure composed of large (86,068 bp) small (18,153 single-copy region interspersed two identical inverted repeats (IRs) (28...

Two strategies have evolved in understory trees in relation to light availability: maximization of light capture and shade tolerance. In the genus Acer, light capture is favored by a suite of traits maximizing twig thickness and leaf size and minimizing the density of branching in the crown. In contrast, shade tolerance is enhanced by minimizing crown area, crown volume, and total leaf area per...

The genera Ptaeroxylon and Cedrelopsis have been grouped together by Styles and Pennington into the Ptaeroxylaceae family due to similarity in their morphology and structure of the secondary xylem. The monospeci"c genus Ptaeroxylon had previously been placed in the Sapindaceae, the Rutaceae, and most popularly, in the Meliaceae families. The pollen of Cedrelopsis and Ptaeroxylon are very simila...

Guaraná (Paullinia cupana H.B.K., Sapindaceae) is a rainforest vine that was domesticated in the Amazon for its caffeine-rich fruits. Guaraná has long been used as a tonic and to treat various disorders in Brazil and abroad and became a national soda in Brazil about a century ago. In the last two decades or so, guaraná has emerged as a key ingredient in various 'sports' and energy drinks as wel...

1Department of Biodiversity and Conservation, Real Jardin Botanico, CSIC, Plaza de Murillo 2, ES-28014 Madrid, Spain 2Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, U.S.A. 3Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Case Postale 39, 57 rue Cuvier, FR-75231 05 CEDEX, Paris, France 4Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland...