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This aim of this study was to evaluate the lignification in young stems of the Lophanthera lactescens Ducke plant grown in vitro L. lactescens (Malpighiaceae), a species endemic in the Brazilian Amazon that possesses both medicinal properties and could be used in the forest product industry. Plants grown in vitro condition in MS medium were analyzed using Infrared (IR) microspectroscopy in a diffuse reflectance mode, fluorescence microscopy. Moreover, histochemical tests such as the Wiesner and Maüle test were run to monitor the process of lignification in cell walls. The spectra of IR microscopy recorded using cross section tissue are representative of guaiacyl/syringyl lignin, based on the 1336 and 1246 cm-1 signal. Individuals presenting stem sprains, resulting from the marked development, produced gelatinous fibers with a clear cellulose layer. Initially, fluorescence microscopy demonstrated lignin deposition in the cell corner region having progressive deposition in the secondary wall of tracheary elements of the stem. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo avaliar a lignificação em caules jovens de plantas de Lophanthera lactescens Ducke crescidas in vitro. L. lactescens (Malpighiaceae) é uma espécie endêmica da Amazônia Brasileira que, além de propriedades medicinais, apresenta potencial para a indústria de produtos florestais. As plantas foram crescidas in vitro, usando-se meio nutritivo MS. As análises foram realizadas por microespectrometria no infravermelho, no modo reflectância difusa. Microscopia com fluorescência e testes histoquímicos de Wiesner e Maüle foram realizados para o acompanhamento do processo de lignificação. Os espectros registrados a partir da microscopia no infravermelho mostraram sinais em 1336 e 1246 cm-1, característicos de ligninas siringílica e guaiacílica. Indivíduos que apresentaram entorses no caule, em decorrência do acentuado desenvolvimento, produziram fibras gelatinosas, com a camada de celulose evidente. A microscopia com fluorescência evidenciou deposição de lignina inicialmente nos ângulos das células, com depósito progressivo ocorrendo na parede secundária dos elementos traqueais do caule.

Background Obligate pollination mutualisms (OPMs) are specialized interactions in which female pollinators transport pollen between the male and female flowers of a single plant species and then lay eggs into those same flowers. The pollinator offspring hatch and feed upon some or all of the developing ovules pollinated by their mothers. Strong trait matching between plants and their pollinators in OPMs is expected to result in reciprocal partner specificity i.e., a single pollinator species using a single plant species and vice versa , and strict co-speciation. These issues have been studied extensively in figs and fig wasps, but little in the more recently discovered co-diversification of Epicephala moths and their Phyllanthaceae hosts. OPMs involving Epicephala moths are believed occur in approximately 500 species of Phyllanthaceae, making it the second largest OPM group after the Ficus radiation (> 750 species). In this study, we used a mixture of DNA barcoding, genital morphology and behavioral observations to determine the number of Epicephala moth species inhabiting the fruits of Breynia oblongifolia , their geographic distribution, pollinating behavior and phylogenetic relationships. Results We found that B. oblongifolia hosts two species of pollinator that co-occurred at all study sites, violating the assumption of reciprocal specificity. Male and female genital morphologies both differed considerably between the two moth species. In particular, females differed in the shape of their ovipositors, eggs and oviposition sites. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that the two Epicephala spp. on B. oblongifolia likely co-exist due to a host switch. In addition, we discovered that Breynia fruits are also often inhabited by a third moth, an undescribed species of Herpystis , which is a non-pollinating seed parasite. Conclusions Our study reveals new complexity in interactions between Phyllantheae and Epicephala pollinators and highlights that host switching, co-speciation and non-pollinating seed parasites can shape species interactions in OPMs. Our finding that co-occurring Epicephala species have contrasting oviposition modes parallels other studies and suggests that such traits are important in Epicephala species coexistence.

Byrsonima crassa Niedenzu (Malpighiaceae) is used in Brazilian folk medicine for the treatment of diseases related mainly to gastric ulcers. In a previous study, our group described the gastric protective effect of the methanolic extract from the leaves of B. crassa. The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of methanolic extract and its phenolic compounds on the respiratory burst of neutrophils stimulated by H. pylori using a luminol-based chemiluminescence assay as well as their anti-H. pylori activity. The suppressive activity on oxidative burst of H. pylori-stimulated neutrophils was in the order of methyl gallate > (+)-catechin > methanol extract > quercetin 3-O-α-l-arabinopyranoside > quercetin 3-O-β-d-galactopyranoside > amentoflavone. Methyl gallate, compound that induced the highest suppressive activity with IC50 value of 3.4 µg/mL, did not show anti-H. pylori activity. B. crassa could be considered as a potential source of natural antioxidant in gastric ulcers by attenuating the effects on the damage to gastric mucosa caused by neutrophil generated reactive oxygen species, even when H. pylori displays its evasion mechanisms.

Dinemandra and Dinemagonum, the only two genera of Malpighiaceae in Chile, have calyx glands borne on stalks rather than appressed to the surfaces of the calyx lobes as is typical of malpighs. It is proposed that this positioning of the glandular secretory surfaces (elaiophores) on the ends of stalks provides an intergland distance and surface area needed for the robust Centris bees that serve as pollinators. The structure of the stalked calyx glands and similarities in pollen provide evidence for the close relationships of the two genera despite their traditional placement in different tribes. However, the sister group of the two genera is impossible to determine at the present time. Extensive collections of both genera in the desertic regions of northern Chile where they are endemic has shown that each is monotypic. The previous recognition of several species in each genus resulted from few available specimens and a tendency, particularly in the case of Dinemandra, for plants from small isolated populations to have rather distinctive morphologies.

Four species of Hiraea are described and discussed: H. gracieana and H. morii from Saül, French Guiana, H. longipes from the Oyapock region of French Guiana and Amapá, Brazil, and H. propinqua from French Guiana and Suriname. Hiraea gracieana is illustrated.

A cladistic analysis of the predominantly Brazilian genus Camarea is presented, using the computer program HENNIG86. An historical and geographical scenario of the genus is given.

The type of the Linnaean name Banisteria dichotoma was found to represent a species of stigmaphyllon from northern South America known as S. humboldtianum (DC.) Adr. Juss. The correct name for this species is Stigmaphyllon dichotomum (L.) Griseb. The misapplications of the names B. dichotoma and S. dichotomum are reviewed. A full synonymy and description for S. dichotomum are provided, as well as a key to separate it from four other species of Stigmaphyllon with which it may be confused.

Salzmann's specimens of Stigmaphyllon (Malpighiaceae) from Bahia, Brazil, are reexamined, and the application of the names S. rotundifolium and S. salzmannii, based on two of these collections, is clarified. Three new species are recognized among Bahian collections commonly assigned these names and are here described: S. bahiense, S. blanchetii, and S. cavernulosum. Stigmaphyllon irregulare Adr. Juss., misconstrued by Niedenzu, is considered a synonym of S. rotundifolium.

Peregrina is proposed to accommodate the single species Peregrina linearifolia, which has been assigned to four related genera since its discovery. Peregrina is probably derived from Janusia, but its unique samara with equally well-developed dorsal and lateral wings, somewhat similar to that of Gaudichaudia, makes it necessary to segregate the species as a distinct genus.

The choice, construction, and evaluation of characters is central to systematic botany. Yet, how a systematist does this is rarely revealed or even discussed in his published works. Although the method suggested here is quantitative in nature, it does not depend either conceptually or computationally on numerical clustering. Indeed, it is our intent to provide a tool that can be used by a non-numerical taxonomist, prior to reaching any taxonomic decisions, to choose, construct, and evaluate potentially useful characters that will work for taxa recognition, without the need for arbitrary or subjective numerical clustering techniques. Here we will exemplify an idea for evaluating characters, by presenting first the basic idea, then the specimens and characters that constitute our example, next a discussion of the choice, construction and evaluation of these characters in a traditional context without consideration of spatial auto-correlation character analysis, and finally we present the results of spatial auto-correlation character analysis and discuss them in the light of the traditional assessment of characters. Our purpose in offering this method of character analysis is not to enable the worker to stop thinking about characters, but to enable him to think about them even more thoroughly by revealing their pattern of variation in phenetic space.