North American Wild Relatives of Grain Crops

The wild-growing relatives of the grain crops are useful for long-term worldwide crop improvement research. There are neglected examples that should be accessioned as living seeds in gene banks. Some of the grain crops, amaranth, barnyard millet, proso millet, quinoa, and foxtail millet, have understudied unique and potentially useful crop wild relatives in North America. Other grain crops, barley, buckwheat, and oats, have fewer relatives in North America that are mostly weeds from other continents with more diverse crop wild relatives. The expanding abilities of genomic science are a reason to accession the wild species since there are improved ways to study evolution within genera and make use of wide gene pools. Rare wild species, especially quinoa relatives in North American, should be acquired by gene banks in cooperation with biologists that already study and conserve at-risk plant populations. Many of the grain crop wild relatives are weeds that have evolved herbicide resistance that could be used in breeding new herbicide-resistant cultivars, so well-documented examples should be accessioned and also vouchered in gene banks

Nomenclature survey of the genus Amaranthus

The application of sixteen names in Acnida, Amaranthus and Euxolus that are linked to Italian flora has been studied. One new combination (Am. emarginatus subsp. emarginatus var. pseudogracilis) is proposed here. Am. strictus is a nomen nudum, and its concept was investigated on the basis of a specimen collected by M. Tenore and preserved in NAP. The name Am. × monteluccii is a nom. inval. and it is validated here. The remaining 14 names are valid from the nomenclatural point of view, and they were typified on specimens kept in B, BM, BOLO, FI, G, K, MO, NY, P, PH, US and iconographies by Dodonaei (for Am. ascendens) and Balbis (for Am. prostratus)

Fruit and Seed Anatomy of Chenopodium and Related Genera (Chenopodioideae, Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae): Implications for Evolution and Taxonomy

A comparative carpological study of 96 species of all clades formerly considered as the tribe Chenopodieae has been conducted for the first time. The results show important differences in the anatomical structure of the pericarp and seed coat between representatives of terminal clades including Chenopodium s.str.+Chenopodiastrum and the recently recognized genera Blitum, Oxybasis and Dysphania. Within Chenopodium the most significant changes in fruit and seed structure are found in members of C. sect. Skottsbergia. The genera Rhagodia and Einadia differ insignificantly from Chenopodium. The evolution of heterospermy in Chenopodium is discussed. Almost all representatives of the tribe Dysphanieae are clearly separated from other Chenopodioideae on the basis of a diverse set of characteristics, including the small dimensions of the fruits (especially in Australian taxa), their subglobose shape (excl. Teloxys and Suckleya), and peculiarities of the pericarp indumentum. The set of fruit and seed characters evolved within the subfamily Chenopodioideae is described. A recent phylogenetic hypothesis is employed to examine the evolution of three (out of a total of 21) characters, namely seed color, testa-cell protoplast characteristics and embryo orientation

The Pannonian Plain as a Source of Ambrosia Pollen in the Balkans

This study aims to find likely sources of Ambrosia pollen recorded during 2007 at five pollen-monitoring sites in central Europe, Novi Sad, Ruma, Negotin and Nis (Serbia) and Skopje (Macedonia). Ambrosia plants start flowering early in the morning and so Ambrosia pollen grains recorded during the day are likely to be from a local source. Conversely, Ambrosia pollen grains recorded at night or very early in the morning may have arrived via long-range transport. Ambrosia pollen counts were analysed in an attempt to find possible sources of the pollen and to identify Ambrosia pollen episodes suitable for further investigation using back-trajectory analysis. Diurnal variations and the magnitude of Ambrosia pollen counts during the 2007 Ambrosia pollen season showed that Novi Sad and Ruma (Pannonian Plain) and to a lesser degree Negotin (Balkans) were located near to sources of Ambrosia pollen. Mean bi-hourly Ambrosia pollen concentrations peaked during the middle of the day and concentrations at these sites were notably higher than at Nis and Skopje. Three episodes were selected for further analysis using back-trajectory analysis. Back-trajectories showed that air masses brought Ambrosia pollen from the north to Nis and, on one occasion, to Skopje (Balkans) during the night and early morning after passing to the east of Novi Sad and Ruma during the previous day. The results of this study identified the Southern part of the Pannonian Plain around Novi Sad and Ruma as being a potential source region for Ambrosia pollen recorded at Nis and Skopje in the Balkans