Garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) belongs to the monocot family Asparagaceae in the order Asparagales. Onion (Allium cepa L.) and Asparagus officinalis are 2 of the most economically important plants of the core Asparagales, a well supported monophyletic group within the Asparagales. Coding regions in onion have lower GC contents than the grasses. We compared the GC content of 3374 un...

Four new steroid saponins 1-4 were isolated from the rhizomes of Anemarrhena asphodeloides (Asparagaceae), as well as four known saponins: anemarsaponin B (5) timosaponin D (6), timosaponin E1 (7) anemarsaponin B II (8). Their structures were established through UV and NMR as well as MS data. All the compounds were evaluated for cytotoxicity against HepG2 and SGC7901 human cancer lines. Compoun...

A new species endemic to South Africa, Drimia edwardsii, is described and illustrated, with data provided on its morphology, ecology and distribution. The species appears to be closely related to Drimia delagoensis and Urginea lydenburgensis, and whereas all are synanthous and produce small, pale-brownish campanulate flowers, several leaf and bulb features clearly distinguish the new species.

Loài D. fragrans (L.) Ker Gawl., thuộc chi Dracaena, họ Asparagaceae, vùng phân bố chủ yếu ở Đông Nam Á, Tây Phi và Việt Nam, được trồng với mục đích làm cảnh do màu sắc lá đẹp, dễ phát triển. Nghiên cứu đã lập hai hợp chất saponin steroid từ phần của loài Gawl. dựa trên các phương pháp ký hiện đại. Cấu trúc hóa học này xác định là 26-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-22-methoxy-furost-(25)27-ene-1β,3β,26-t...

BACKGROUND Herbal drugs used to treat illness according to Ayurveda are often misidentified or adulterated with similar plant materials. OBJECTIVE To aid taxonomical identification, we used DNA barcoding to evaluate authentic and substitute samples of herb and phylogenetic relationship of four medicinal plants of family Asparagaceace and Asclepiadaceae. MATERIALS AND METHODS DNA extracted f...

Coevolution is thought to promote evolutionary change between demes that ultimately results in speciation. If this is the case, then we should expect to see similar patterns of trait matching and phenotypic divergence between populations and between species in model systems for coevolution. As measures of divergence are frequently only available at one scale (population level or taxon level), t...

Scilla vardaria Yıldırım & Gemici (Asparagaceae) is described as a new species. Diagnostic morphological characters, a full description and detailed illustrations are provided on the basis of the type specimen and observations of wild populations. The new species is characterized by the conical floral corona structure formed by fusion of its filaments, with anthers arising almost at the floral ...

A probably adventive mealybug species, Paracoccus gillianae sp. n. is described from North America. Its entry into the United States was likely to have been via the horticultural trade of Agave spp. (Liliales: Agavaceae) and other host plants in the family Agavaceae. Illustrations of the adult female and male, and diagnosis from congeners in the New World and from other Paracoccus species known...

Ecological interactions between yucca moths (Tegeticula, Prodoxidae) and their host plants (Yucca, Agavaceae) are exemplary of obligate plant-pollinator mutualism and co-evolution. We describe a multiplex microsatellite DNA protocol for species identification and sibship assignment of sympatric larvae from Tegeticula synthetica and Tegeticula antithetica, pollinators of the Joshua tree (Yucca b...