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"Yew History."
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The Ancient Yew
The gnarled, immutable yew tree is one of the most evocative sights in the British and Irish language, an evergreen impression of immortality, the tree that provides a living botanical link between our own landscapes and those of the distant past. This book tells the extraordinary story of the yew’s role in the landscape through the millennia, and makes a convincing case for the origins of many of the oldest trees, as markers of the holy places founded by Celtic saints in the early medieval ‘Dark Ages’. With wonderful photographic portraits of ancient yews and a gazetteer (with locations) of the oldest yew trees in Britain, the book brings together for the first time all the evidence about the dating, history, archaeology and cultural connections of the yew. Robert Bevan-Jones discusses its history, biology, the origins of its name, the yew berry and its toxicity, its distribution across Britain, means of dating examples, and their association with folklore, with churchyards, abbeys, springs, pre-Reformation wells and as landscape markers. This third edition has an updated introduction with new photographs and corrections to the main text.
eBook
Yew
The yew is the oldest and most common tree in the world, but it is a plant of puzzling contradictions: it is a conifer with juicy scarlet berries, but no cones; deer can feast on its poisonous foliage, but it is lethal to farm animals; and it thrives where other plants cannot because of its extraordinarily low rate of photosynthesis. Exploring this paradoxical plant in Yew, Fred Hageneder surveys its position in religious and cultural history, its role in the creation of the British Empire, and its place in modern medicine. Hageneder explains the way the yew is able to renew itself from the inside by producing interior roots and how early humans, fascinated with its regenerative powers, began to associate the tree with concepts of life and death, the afterlife, and eternity. As such, it can be found at the sacred sites of Native Americans, Buddhists, and Shinto shrines in Japan, and it has become a living symbol of the resurrection for the Christian faith. He describes how churchyards saved many yews during the Middle Ages, when the trees were used for the mass production of the longbow, which laid the foundation for the British Empire. Finally, he discusses the latest scientific discoveries about the yew, including its use in cancer treatments. A comprehensive and richly illustrated history, Yew will appeal to botanists and other readers interested in the history and symbolism of the natural world.
eBook
Lee Kuan Yew through the eyes of Chinese scholars
\"A compilation of essays by highly-respected Chinese scholars in which they evaluate the life, work and philosophy of Lee Kuan Yew, founding Prime Minister of Singapore. Presenting a range of views from a uniquely Chinese/Asian perspective, this book provides valuable insights for those who wish to gain a fuller and deeper understanding of Lee Kuan Yew, the man, as well as Singapore, his nation\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Plastome Phylogenomics Provide Insight into the Evolution of ITaxus/I
The taxonomy of an ancient gymnosperm genus Taxus, with high value in horticulture and medicine, is perplexing because of few reliable morphological characters for diagnosing species. Here, we performed a comprehensive investigation of the evolutionary dynamics of Taxus chloroplast genomes and estimated phylogenetic relationships, divergence times, and ancestral distributions of Taxus species by comparing 18 complete chloroplast genomes. The variations across the chloroplast genome of different Taxus species indicated that remarkably varied genome variations across lineages have reshaped the genome architecture. Our well-resolved phylogeny supported that T. brevifolia Nutt. was basal lineages followed by the other North America lineages. Divergence time estimation and ancestral range reconstruction suggested that the Taxus species originated in North America in the Late Cretaceous and revealed that extant Taxus species shared a common ancestor whose ancestral distribution area was probably in North America and afterwards the earliest members expanded to Southeast Asia from where Chinese Taxus species originated. The predominant European species have more closer relationship with the Eastern Asian species and the speciation of Eurasia species arose from several dispersal and vicariance events in the Miocene. Genome-wide scanning revealed 18 positively selected genes that were involved in translation and photosynthesis system in Taxus, which might be related to the adaptive evolution of Taxus species. The availability of these complete chloroplast genomes not only enhances our understanding of the elusive phylogenetic relationships and chloroplast genome evolution such as conservation, diversity, and gene selection within Taxus genus but also provides excellent templates and genetic bases for further exploration of evolution of related lineages as well as for plant breeding and improvement.
Journal Article
Torreya dapanshanica , a new species of gymnosperm from Zhejiang, East China
 Torreya dapanshanica X.F.Jin, Y.F.Lu & Zi L.Chen, a new species endemic to central Zhejiang, East China, is described and illustrated. This new species is most similar to T. jiulongshanensis (Z.Y.Li, Z.C.Tang & N.Kang) C.C.Pan, J.L.Liu & X.F.Jin, but differs in having leaves with an acuminate apex (vs. leaves with an acute apex), broadly ovoid-globose or globose seeds (vs. obovoid to narrowly obovoid seeds), slightly emarginate at the apex and obtuse-rounded at the base (vs. both acute at the apex and base), testa with irregular shallow grooves (vs. testa smooth or sometimes slightly concave). The diagnostic characters are critically compared and an IUCN assessment for the risk to the new species is estimated. Keywords: Gymnosperm, new species, Torreya dapanshanica , Zhejiang
Journal Article
Forest history from a single tree species perspective: natural occurrence, near extinction and reintroduction of European yew (Taxus baccata L.) on the Darss-Zingst peninsula, southern Baltic Sea coast
The forests along the southern Baltic Sea coast harbour some stands of the rare and endangered European yew (Taxus baccata L.), which are hypothesised to be autochthonous. Using the example of an occurrence on the Darss-Zingst peninsula, the population dynamics of the yew since the late Holocene are interdisciplinarily investigated and linked to the forest history of this area. Pollen analysis shows that yew has been present in the study area for at least 2600 years and thus indeed represents an autochthonous tree species in the area. The yew was probably originally part of a second tree storey and of forest margins within a mixed forest mainly consisting of several deciduous tree species and Scots pine. Historical evidence reveals that yew was still occurring in the forest in the middle of the eighteenth century, but then had nearly disappeared by the end of the nineteenth century. This was caused by several factors including forest grazing by livestock, high game populations and clear-cutting. First replanting of yew took place in the 1930s/1940s and 1950s/1960s, followed by planting campaigns in the 1990s and 2000s. Planting material from local and regional autochthonous relict populations was used, at least in part. The current yew population mainly comprises young individuals with a total number of ca. 1300 trees. It has thus been possible here to re-establish an autochthonous yew occurrence that was nearly extinct in historical times. This local example of targeted re-enrichment of native tree diversity may also encourage further measures to give this species a new chance again elsewhere in the wider region.
Journal Article
Taxonomic status and spatial genetic pattern of Taxus in northern and central China: insights from integrative taxonomy, ecology and phylogeography
Background
Phenotypic, ecological, and genetic differences are crucial for species delimitation and understanding speciation. However, the defining the distribution boundaries and mechanisms driving lineage differentiation of
Taxus
species in northern and central China remain unclear. This study combines three molecular markers (
trn
L-
trn
F,
rbc
L, ITS), leaf morphological, and ecological data, integrating multiple taxonomy, ecology, and phylogeography approaches to systematically investigate the taxonomic status and spatial genetic patterns of
Taxus
species in these regions.
Results
A total of 177 samples from 27 populations, representing the natural distribution of
Taxus
in central and northern China, were collected.
T. chinensis
(TC) mainly occurs from 1000–2400 m in the south of Qinling Mountains,
T. mairei
(TM) from 100–1000 m in the south of Daba Mountains, and
T. qinlingensis
(TQ) from 900–1800 m in the north of Qinling Mountains. The three species overlap in the central Qinling, eastern Daba, and Wushan Mountains at elevations of 900–1800 m. Seventeen haplotypes and 21 ribotypes were identified, forming three clusters corresponding to TC, TM, and TQ. Both cpDNA and nDNA data reveals distinct phylogeographic structures, significant genetic differentiation, and smaller bidirectional gene flow among species. Genetic and niche play a more prominent role in species divergence than morphological traits. Effective population sizes and genetic diversity are higher in TC and TM than in TQ. Suitable habitats expanded southwestward after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and are projected to shift northwestward and contract under future warming scenarios.
Conclusion
Geologic movement (rapid uplift of the Qinling and surrounding mountains), climate fluctuations (cold-drying effect, and glacial-interglacial cycles), and habitat heterogeneity (gradients in geography and elevation) together shaped interspecific adaptive differentiation and shifts in population dynamics of the three
Taxus
species. The Qinling-Daba-Wushan mountain range likely played a key role in the independent evolution of these species in local glacial refugia and their post-glacial recontact at the intersection of these mountain ranges. This study provides new insights into the taxonomic status and genetic variation pattern of
Taxus
species in central and northern China.
Journal Article
Alien Species Introduction and Demographic Changes Contributed to the Population Genetic Structure of the Nut-Yielding Conifer Torreya grandis (Taxaceae)
Understanding population genetic structure and its possible causal factors is critical for utilizing genetic resources and genetic breeding of economically important plants. Although Torreya grandis is an important conifer producing nuts in China, little is known about its population structure, let alone the causal factors that shaped its genetic variation pattern and population structure. In this work, we intended to characterize the genetic variation pattern and population structure of the nut-yielding conifer T. grandis throughout its whole geographical distribution and further explore the potentially causal factors for the population structure using multiple approaches. A moderate level of genetic diversity and a novel population structure were revealed in T. grandis based on eleven robust EST-SSR loci and three chloroplast fragments. Alien genetic composition derived from the closely related species T. nucifera endemic to Japan was detected in the Kuaiji Mountain area, where the seed quality of T. grandis is considered the best in China. Demography history and niche modeling were inferred and performed, and the contribution of geographic isolation to its population structure was compared with that of environmental isolation. Significant demographic changes occurred, including a dramatic population contraction during the Quaternary, and population divergence was significantly correlated with geographic distance. These results suggested that early breeding activities and demographic changes significantly contributed to the population structure of T. grandis. In turn, the population structure was potentially associated with the excellent variants and adaptation of cultivars of T. grandis. The findings provide important information for utilizing genetic resources and genetic breeding of T. grandis in the future.
Journal Article