Explore the vast range of titles available.

Four new steroidal constituents (1–4) along with two known steroidal glycosides (5 and 6) were isolated from the roots and rhizomes of Smilacina japonica. Analysis of their physicochemical properties and spectroscopic profiles identified the compounds as (25S)-5α-spirostan-9(11)-en-3β, 17α-diol (1); (25S)-5α-spirostan-9(11)-en-3β, 12β-diol (2); (25S)-5α-spirostan-9(11)-en-3β, 17α-diol-3-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (3); (25S)-5α-spirostan-9(11)-en-3β, 17α-diol-3-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-[β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)]-β-d-galactopyranoside (4); japonicoside B (5); and japonicoside C (6). All six compounds showed cytotoxic activity against SMMC-7712, Bel-7402, A549, H460, and K562 human cancer cells.

This study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of hydroalcoholic extract from Smilacina japonica A. Gray (SJA) against different fungi. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for SJA was determined by the broth microdilution method. The antifungal effects of SJA against Candida albicans were further confirmed by cell growth test and time-kill curve test. The effects of SJA on the fungal morphology and ultrastructure were also evaluated. SJA has a broad-spectrum antifungal activity. The MICs of SJA against different fungi, including fluconazole-sensitive and -resistant Candida albicans, other Candida species, and Cryptococcus neoformans, ranged from 208 μg/ml to 1665 μg/ml. Furthermore, SJA displayed fungicidal activity against varied fungi and obviously inhibited the hyphal growth of fungi. The mechanism study revealed that the antifungal activity of SJA might be associated with its effect on the cell morphology and ultrastructure.

Nine steroidal components, including a new pregnane glycoside (1), were obtained from the roots and rhizomes of Smilacina henryi. Their structures were determined via extensive spectroscopic data including, IR, HRESIMS and 1D, 2D NMR data analysis. Furthermore, their cytotoxic activities against human HepG2 and SW620 tumor cells were evaluated by the MTT method and compounds 2, 3, 5, 8 and 9 showed moderate activity with IC50 values raging from 18.4 to 86.3 μM.

During a study of endophytic bacteria from traditional Chinese medicinal plants, a bacterial strain, designated PTYR-5ᵀ, was isolated from the leaf of Smilacina japonica A. Gray collected from Taibai Mountain in Shaanxi Province, north-west China. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain PTYR-5ᵀ is a member of the genus Rhizobium, exhibiting the highest sequence similarities to R. cellulosilyticum LMG 23642ᵀ (97.2 %), R. huautlense LMG 18254ᵀ (97.2 %) and R. alkalisoli CCBAU 01393ᵀ (97.1 %). The levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with respect to other Rhizobium species with validly published names were less than 97.0 %. Phylogenies of the housekeeping genes atpD, recA and glnII confirmed its distinct position, showing low similarity with respect to those of recognized Rhizobium species (no more than 94.1 , 90.0 and 88.0 % similarity, respectively). The DNA–DNA relatedness values of strain PTYR-5ᵀ with R. cellulosilyticum LMG 23642ᵀ, R. huautlense LMG 18254ᵀ and R. alkalisoli CCBAU 01393ᵀ were 33.6, 21.4 and 29.5 %, respectively. Based on phenotypic, phylogenetic and genotypic data, strain PTYR-5ᵀ is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Rhizobium, for which the name Rhizobium smilacinae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is PTYR-5ᵀ (=CCTCC AB 2013016ᵀ=KCTC 32300ᵀ=LMG 27604ᵀ).

Two new cholestanol glycosides (1 and 2) were obtained from the roots and rhizomes of Smilacina henryi. Their structures were determined as 5α-cholest-9(11)-ene-3β, 26-dihydroxy-16, 22-dione 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-β-D-galactopyranoside (1), 5α-cholest-9(11)-ene-3β, 26-dihydroxy-16, 22-dione 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)- [β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)]-β-D-galactopyranoside (2), by physicochemical properties and spectroscopic methods. In addition, the isolated glycosides were tested for their cytotoxic activity against human HepG2 tumor cells and compound 2 showed moderate activity with IC50 value of 59.32 μM.

The pollen morphology of 54 species and one variety of seven genera in Polygonatae including Clintonia, Disporopsis, Disporum, Maianthemum, Polygonatum, Smilacina and Streptopus was observed and studied in detail; of these, nine species were reported for the first time. Our results showed that the surface ornamentation of pollen grains of the studied materials could be divided into seven types, namely gemmate, granulate-foveolate, perforate, reticulate, rugulate, rugulate-perforate and verrucate. In line with previous studies, we believe that (i) Smilacina ginfushanicum should be classified into the genus Heteropolygonatum rather than the genus Smilacina; (ii) Polygonatum should be divided into section Polygonatum and section Verticillata; (iii) Smilacina and Maianthemum should be combined as one genus, i.e. Maianthemum sensu lato; and (iv) Clintonia, Disporum and Streptopus should be separated from the tribe Polygonatae.

Two-celled puccinioid teliospores are widely distributed in the rust fungi and appear in several independent lineages of the Pucciniales. About 25 genera in 4 families have been described. Species with two-celled teliospores occurring on members of the Annonaceae are described in the genera Dasyspora , Sphaerophragmium , Diorchidium , Puccinia , and Sphenospora . The molecular and morphological investigations from this study show that Diorchidium polyalthiae , Puccinia popowiae and Sphenospora xylopiae do not belong to the genera in which they were originally assigned. Aecidium deightonii was very closely related to S. xylopiae . Two new genera are erected to accommodate these taxa: (1) Puccorchidium , with the two species P. polyalthiae and P. popowiae ; and (2) Sphenorchidium , with the two species S. xylopiae and S. deightonii. They form a well-supported clade in the Pucciniales together with the genus Dasyspora , which also occurs on Annonaceae species, and Puccinia psidii the cause of myrtle rust. The type species of the genus Diorchidium , D. woodii , as well as Sphenospora pallida and S. smilacina appeared within the genus Puccinia . The endocyclic species Endophylloides guineensis occurs on the same host and in the same area as S. xylopiae and S. deightonii , but its relationship could not be determined without DNA data. A key for the rust fungi on Annonaceae with two-celled teliospores is given.

Lectotypifications are proposed for two obscure names published by the Brazilian botanist João Barbosa Rodrigues: Aristholochia alpestris and Monostychosepalum monanthum.

An annotated list of the rust fungi (Uredinales or Pucciniales) of French Guiana is presented. It enumerates 68 species of which 57 are new reports for the department and 3, Aecidium plukenetiae, Puccinia kourouensis and P. parianicola, are new to science. Dicheirinia guianensis and Hapalophragmium angylocalycis are excluded from the French Guianan mycobiota. New host plants are reported for Batistopsora crucis-filii, B. pistila, Cerotelium ficicola, C. sabiceae, Crossopsora piperis, Desmella aneimiae, Endophyllum guttatum, Kweilingia divina, Puccinia lateritia, Uredo anthurii and Uromyces anguriae. Previously undescribed characters are presented for Achrotelium lucumae, Chaconia ingae, Cerotelium sabiceae, Prospodium amapaensis, Sphenospora smilacina and Uromyces wulffiae-stenoglossae. Chaconia ingae showed haustorial complexes comprising both intracellular hyphae and D-haustoria. In Cerotelium sabiceae, the haustorial mother cells retained the nuclei while D-haustoria were enucleate. The occurrence of these haustorial types in tropical rust fungi is discussed. Internal basidium formation is described for the first time in Sphenospora: teliospores of S. smilacina produced external or internal basidia. The species richness and composition of the French Guianan rust mycobiota are discussed in a neotropical context. © 2012 German Mycological Society and Springer.

Many forests, including the mixed-conifer forest of the Sierra Nevada, California, historically experienced a fire regime that generated considerable within- and among-fire environmental variability. Fire suppression has resulted in a heavier, more continuous fuel bed, which can cause today's prescribed fires to be considerably more homogeneous. To evaluate the potential importance of variability in fire severity on post-fire plant communities, I conducted an experiment to test whether understory species respond differently to sites burned under a heavy fuel load versus sites that burned under a light fuel load. Woody fuel was added or removed from small forest plots in order to manipulate the fire severity during prescribed fire. The fuel load manipulations affected which species survived fire as well as which species germinated after fire. Seven species (Chimaphila menziesii, Chrysolepis sempervirens, Osmorhiza chilensis, Pyrola picta, Phacelia hydrophylloides, Rubus parviflorus, and Smilacina racemosa) were unable to survive fire in either treatment. Four species (Bromus laevipes, Galium sparsiflorum, Rubus glaucifolius, and Symphoricarpos mollis) survived more often on sites that were burned under a light fuel load. Several fire-stimulated species (Calystegia malacophylla, Cryptantha sp., Gayophytum eriospermum, Solatium xanti, Arctostaphylos patula, Ceanothus parvifolius, and Lotus crassifolius) germinated after fire regardless of fuel load, but others (Claytonia perfoliata, Ceanothus cordulatus, Prunus emarginata, and Ribes tularense) appeared more often on the light fuel treatments. Seedlings of Abies concolor germinated more often on the sites that burned under heavy fuel conditions. The varying responses of different species suggest that small-scale variations in fuel load may cause heterogeneous patterns of surface fire severity, which in turn may contribute to maintaining floral diversity in the mixed-conifer forest understory. In order to conserve native understory plant diversity, fire management efforts to restore these forests might consider spatial heterogeneity in fire severity as a management objective.