Journal of Plant Research - Journal of Plant Research *Cover Gallery*

Vol. 137 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2024)

Mt. Norikura (summit elevation 3,026 m above sea level) in central Japan. Takeda et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 176–190) examined the seasonal and diurnal variations of soil respiration rates during a growing season at the treeline ecotone (2800 m) and the lower distribution limit (1600 m) of subalpine forests. Seasonal and diurnal variations of soil respiration rates could be reproduced from soil and air temperatures and soil water content. Photo taken at the base of Mt. Norikura in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, by Koichi Takahashi, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Shinshu University, Japan.

Vol. 137 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2024)

Visit of a specialized nectarivorous bat to the Bauhinia pentandra (Leguminosae) flower. Bauhinia is a genus with different pollination systems, including nocturnal and diurnal species. It is widely distributed in the dry forests of the Americas, and different species with typical characteristics of the same pollination system co-occur in the same area. These sites are excellent models for studying reproductive isolation between species. As in Albuquerque-Lima et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 65–77), who measured reproductive isolation between the co-occurring species Bauhinia pentandra and B. acuruana. Photo by Sinzinando Albuquerque-Lima in Catimbau National Park, Brazil.

Vol. 136 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2023)

Three epiphytic orchid species in their natural habitat in Japan. Top: Taeniophyllum glandulosum; bottom left: Thrixspermum japonicum; bottom right: Oberonia japonica. These species are the most common epiphytic orchids in Japan and often occur on the same tree branch. All orchids are dependent on mycorrhizal fungi for nutrient acquisition throughout their life cycle. Rammitsu et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 803–816) showed that these three epiphytic orchid species have different mycorrhizal fungi, even growing on the same spot, less than 10 cm apart. Photos by Toshiyuki Yamashita. 

Vol. 136 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2023)

Male inflorescence of Bdallophytum americanum visited by hoverflies of the genus Copestylum, the main pollinators of this species in a seasonally dry tropical forest in Calvillo, Aguascalientes, Mexico. B. americanum is an endoparasitic species characterized by long staminal connective appendages, a unique trait within the genus. Rios-Carrasco et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 643–655) described that staminal appendages facilitate viable-pollen removal mediated by floral movements and their significance as a landing platform that favors the anchorage of pollinators to flowers so that they can collect pollen efficiently. Photo taken by Pactli F. Ortega-González during fieldwork in Calvillo, Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Vol. 136 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2023)

Left: Anchor-like multicellular trichome in Cranocarpus genus (frontal view). Center (top, middle) and right (top, middle): Cross and paradermic sections of cavitated secretory trichome and bulbous based glandular trichome in Centrolobium genus. Center (bottom) and right (bottom): Vesicular glandular trichome in Pterocarpus genus (except P. acapulcensis). These foliar anatomical characters are anatomical novelties and potential synapomorphies of the genera. Photo by Jean David Varilla González, captured with a Moticam Pro252B digital camera connected to a Nikon Eclipse Ci microscope (40x), at the Laboratório de Anatomia Vegetal (LAVe), Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul. (Varilla-González et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 453–481)

Vol. 136 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2023)

Toji et al. found two ecotypes of Impatiens noli-tangere (Balsaminaceae) on a single mountain road: the early-flowering ecotype growing at high elevation and the late-flowering ecotype growing at low elevation. They discovered that the two ecotypes were distinguishable even at a mid-elevation site where the two ecotypes occurred sympatrically. Furthermore, leaf morphology, seed traits, and flower bud formation positions differed between the two ecotypes. Whether the two ecotypes are in a state of sprouting speciation is still to be determined. Photo by Tsubasa Toji in Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan. (Toji et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 323–331)

Vol. 136 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2023)

Nopalea cochenillifera cv. Maya (edible Opuntia sp., common name “Kasugai Saboten”) growing in the greenhouse of a cactus farmer in Kasugai City, close to Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, in the center of Japan. In Japan, cacti are mainly ornamental plants, but edible cacti are grown in some areas, with Kasugai City boasting the highest production of cacti in the country. We investigated the effects of temperature on superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity during chilling acclimatization and analyzed the anatomy of chlorenchyma tissue of the cladode under chilling conditions to determine the wintering ability of the cactus (Kondo et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 211–225). Photo by Ayumu Kondo, Faculty of Agriculture, Meijo University, Japan.

Vol. 136 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2023)

The newly described species Monotropastrum kirishimense. Due to their reduced morphology, non-photosynthetic plants have been one of the most challenging groups to delimit to species level. The mycoheterotrophic genus Monotropastrum, with the monotypic species M. humile, provides a prime example. Using integrative species delimitation, including its flowering phenology, morphology, molecular identity, and associated fungi, Suetsugu et al. recognized a cryptic species, M. kirishimense, within the M. humile species complex. The study illuminates the exciting possibility that a host shift in M. kirishimense triggered ecological speciation (Suetsugu et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 3–18). Photo taken by Kenji Suetsugu on Mt. Kirishima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.

Vol. 135 No. (this opens in a new tab)6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2022)

The orifice at the apex of the syconium is called the ostiole, and it has been considered an important physical filter in the fig–fig wasp mutualism. The ostiole can have different arrangements allowing the entry of only fig wasps and promoting reproductive isolation among Ficus species. Morpho-anatomical analyses confirm the complexity of the ostiole and the presence of attractant-emitting structures for fig wasps. Photo collage by Nadia Castro-Cárdenas and Guillermo Ibarra-Manríquez in Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. (Castro-Cárdenas et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 739–755)

Vol. 135 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2022)

The stamens of Melastomataceae are unquestionably remarkable. Some species have appendages on the connectives, and others have stamens with different morphologies in the same flower. The images illustrate the flowers and their stamens in Chaetogastra (upper), Miconia (middle), and Microlicia (lower). Basso-Alves et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 659–680) studied the development of these stamens in six Melastomataceae species and showed that most of their modifications result from ontogenetic transformations in the connectives. Photos of Microlicia taken by Ana Flávia Alves Versiane, in Serra dos Pireneus, Goiás; and Chaetogastra and Miconia, both in Ubatuba, for Ana Paula de Souza Caetano (UFMT).

Vol. 135 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2022)

The wild type (first row from top) and thioredoxin mutants trx f1f2, trx m124-2, trx f1f2 m124-2 (second to fourth rows) of Arabidopsis thaliana. Okegawa et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 543–553) showed that the introduction of trx f1f2 to trx m124-2 did not cause defects in growth. Photo by Yuki Okegawa. Inset: Kinetics of P700 re-reduction in the presence of inhibitors of the linear electron transport (DCMU), the respiratory electron transport (KCN), and the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway (GA). Kusama et al. (pp. 555–564) demonstrated that the electron flow derived from the cyclic electron flow around PSI is less than 1% of the total electron flow into PSI.

Vol. 135 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2022)

Flowering Catharanthus roseus (cv. Equator White Eye) and a fluorescence stereomicroscopic image of a leaf taken from a young seedling of the same cultivar (left), and fluorescence microscopic images of leaves of C. roseus cv. Atlantis Burgundy Halo, Atlantis True Red, Little Linde Deep Rose, and Sunstorm Apricot (right; from top to bottom). Uzaki et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 473–483) showed that accumulation of fluorescent compounds in idioblast cells and laticifer cells are differentially regulated depending on growth stage. These data are the first to suggest that these two types of cells may have different physiological functions. Photo by Mai Uzaki, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University and RIKEN CSRS, Japan.

Vol. 135 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2022)

High mountains in the Japanese Archipelago are characterized by diverse alpine plants, including numerous species endemic to Japan such as Cardamine nipponica (upper left), and snow-bed species such as Phyllodoce aleutica (right) and Primula cuneifolia (lower left). All photos were taken in the Kita Alps, central Japan, by Hajime Ikeda, Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University, Japan. (Ikeda et al (this opens in a new tab)., pp. 191–201)

Vol. 135 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2022)

The AS2 gene is responsible for morphogenesis of Arabidopsis leaves (Machida et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 3–14). These photos show subcellular localization of the AS2 protein fused with yellow fluorescent protein (AS2-YFP) in interphase cells (upper left) and cells during mitosis: metaphase (lower left); anaphase (upper right); telophase (lower right) in the adaxial domain in leaf primordia. DNA was stained with 4,6-diamidino2-phenylindole (DAPI). In the interphase cells, two distinct YFP signals are visible as granules (designated AS2 bodies) at the periphery of nucleoli (central dark regions). During mitosis, as chromosomes are distributed to daughter cells, AS2 bodies are also segregated. Bridge-like structures are observed between them. Photos by Lilan Luo, reproduced and modified from Luo et al. (2020) Plant J. 101, 1118–1134, with permission from John Wiley and Sons.

Vol. 134 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2021)

Scanning electron microscopy image of the thallus in the model liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, which has a mutation in the MpDYRKP gene (Mpdyrkp mutant: Mpdyrkp-1^ge). Furuya et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 1265–1277) demonstrated that a protein kinase MpDYRKP contributes to orderly tissue morphogenesis in M. polymorpha. The epidermal surface of Mpdyrkp mutants appeared uneven and disordered compared with that of the wild-type plant. In addition, the shapes of the air pores and epidermal cells were altered in the Mpdyrkp mutants. Photo by Tomoyuki Furuya, Department of Biology, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University, Japan.

Vol. 134 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2021)

Hymenophyllum multifidum, an epiphytic filmy fern (family Hymenophyllaceae) from Moorea, French Polynesia. Nitta et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 971–988) tested desiccation tolerance across life stages of filmy ferns from Moorea and found that tolerance of sporophytes tended to match environmental conditions, whereas that of gametophytes was generally lower than sporophytes, possibly due to gametophytes' usage of protected microhabitats. Photo by Joel H. Nitta on Mt. Tohiea, Moorea, French Polynesia.

Vol. 134 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2021)

Top left and middle: Optical properties of the forest canopy (Noda et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 737–751). Scheme of multi-scale measurements of optical data at individual-leaf, canopy, and landscape scales (top left) and fisheye photographs of the seasonal canopy in a deciduous broadleaf forest at the Takayama site in 2006 (middle). Top right: Images of chlorophyll fluorescence (F_o) from photoinhibited leaves exposed to strong light for 0, 3, and 9 h (from left to right) under artificial inhibition of PSII repair. Red and blue represent higher and lower F_o values (Hikosaka and Tsujimoto (this opens in a new tab), pp. 695–711). Bottom left: Visualization of PRI in maize plants in the field. Control stands (blue; left) and drought stress (red; right) (Kohzuma et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 683–694). Bottom right: Screening by chlorophyll fluorescence imaging in cyanobacterial cells spotted on an agar plate. (F_p-F_o)/F_p is shown with a pseudo-color (Ogawa and Sonoike (this opens in a new tab), pp. 653–664).

Vol. 134 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2021)

Upper left: Already patterned (upper) and de novo patterned flowers (lower) separated by a mechanical wound (gray band) on a Gerbera hybrida inflorescence (Zhang et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 431–440). Photo by Teng Zhang (University of Helsinki, Finland). Upper right: A transverse section of the apical cell and merophytes of Physcomitrium patens (Kamamoto et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 457–473). Photo by Masaki Shimamura (Hiroshima University, Japan). Lower left: A high order spiral pattern of female flowers of Amorphophallus titanum (Yin (this opens in a new tab), pp. 373–401). Photo by Xiaofeng Yin (The University of Tokyo, Japan). Lower right: An unusual phyllotactic pattern of tepals of Anemone keiskeana (Kitazawa (this opens in a new tab), pp. 403–416). Photo by Miho S. Kitazawa (Osaka University, Japan).

Vol. 134 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2021)

Legumes are a rich source of flavonoids, which play an important role in symbiosis with rhizobia as well as protection against pathogens and environmental stresses. Aoki et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 341-352) used the model legume Lotus japonicus B-129 ‘Gifu’ to study the characteristics of anthocyanin accumulation in the stem and screened the mutants including wild accessions. Genetic analysis identified five loci involved in the anthocyanin accumulation in the stem, which were named VIRIDICAULIS (VIC). Among them the mutants lacking proanthocyanidins (condensed tannins) were included. The cover shows L. japonicus growing near the coast of Chiba Prefecture (left and upper right), B-129 (middle right) and vic1 mutant (lower right). Photographs by the late Professor Toshio Aoki (Nihon University).

Vol. 134 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2021)

Green mat of Annulotesta cochlephila gen. et sp. nov. on the shell of Pinguiphaedusa platydera collected from Kashiwazaki City, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Typical thallus (upper left), filaments extending from thallus (lower left), global image (upper right), and enlarged image (lower right). Namba and Nakayama investigated the morphology and molecular phylogeny of shell-attached algae growing on door snail shells collected from several locations in Japan, and showed that these algae represent a new genus and new species of the family Kornmanniaceae (Ulvales, Ulvophyceae). Photos by Noriaki Namba. (Namba and Nakayama (this opens in a new tab), pp. 77–89).

Vol. 133 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2020)

Two morphotypes of Justicia adhatoda identified across India (Berry et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 783–805). The S morphotype (top) grows in drier habitats, is shorter, has smaller and thicker leaves, smaller flowers, smaller and lighter seeds, and contains higher levels of saturated fatty acids and lower levels of the medicinal alkaloid vasicine, compared with the B morphotype (bottom). These differences in traits suggest functional implications for the two forms growing in different environments, the S morphotype in drier habitats and the B morphotype in wetter habitats. Habitat photos—Sariska, Rajasthan, India (S) and South 24-Parganas, West Bengal, India (B). Flower photos of transplanted plants—botanic garden, University of Delhi, India. Photos by Eapsa Berry.

Vol. 133 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab)  (September 2020)

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Fallen leaves of Gleditsia japonica (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae) seen in a stream. At leaf fall, part of leaf nitrogen is resorbed and recycled in new organs. Senesced leaf nitrogen concentration was higher in legumes than in nonlegumes, suggesting that legumes were not proficient at resorbing nitrogen from senescing leaves (Oikawa et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 639–648). It was also found that the senesced leaf nitrogen concentration tended to be lower in caesalpinioid than in papilionoid species. This may be because most papilionoid species form nitrogen fixing root nodules, whereas very few caesalpinioid species are known to nodulate. Photo by Shimpei Oikawa.

Vol. 133 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab)   (July 2020)

The nuclei in the root apical meristem of Arabidopsis thaliana wild-type Columbia grown on MGRL medium. The nuclei (green) were stained with SYBR Green-I and the cell walls (blue) were stained with Calcofluor White. The dense region seen in the nucleus is called the chromocenter, which contains centromeric heterochromatin. Although it is still being elucidated, technological advances in chromatin analyses have suggested the biological significance of proper centromere positioning in the nucleus (Oko et al (this opens in a new tab)., pp. 471–478). Photo by Takuya Sakamoto, Tokyo University of Science.

Vol. 133 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab)   (May 2020)

Apical stem cells and meristems from diverse plant species. Counterclockwise from the bottom left: Marchantia polymorpha (liverwort) gemma apical notch expressing plasma-membrane marker MpSYP13Bpro:mCitrine-MpSYP13B (Suzuki et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 311–321). Image by Hidemasa Suzuki. Physcomitrella patens (moss) protonemata with an apical cell at each tip (bottom) and developing bud with leaflet initials visible (top); stain: propidium iodide (Moody (this opens in a new tab), pp. 283–290). Images by Yuki Hata and Laura Moody, respectively. Lycopodium clavatum (lycophyte) RAM showing EdU-labeled (green) and DAPI-stained (blue) nuclei superimposed on a phase-contrast image (Fujinami et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 291–296). Image by Rieko Fujinami. Equisetum arvense (fern) SAM with apical-cell type histology (Cammarata and Scanlon (this opens in a new tab), pp. 331–342). Image by Molly Edwards and Margaret Frank. Arabidopsis thaliana (dicot) SAM showing nuclei (gray) and WUSCHEL-GFP protein (green) (Fuchs and Lohmann (this opens in a new tab), pp. 297–309). Image by Michael Fuchs. Oryza sativa (monocot) showing preferential expression of TAWAWA1-GFP (green) in leaf primordia (Naramoto et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 323–329). Image by Satoshi Naramoto.

Vol. 133 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab)   (March 2020)

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An allopolyploid and its diploid parents in Cardamine in northeast Switzerland. Documentation is still rare on trait variation in allopolyploids and the parental species in natural environments. Empirical data on flowering phenology and floral morphology indicate trait-dependent resemblance of phenotypes of the allotetraploid C. flexuosa (left) to diploid parents C. hirsuta (upper right) and C. amara (lower right) in natural habitats on the local scale. They also suggest that variation in some reproductive traits is associated with the mating system. Photo by Reiko Akiyama in the region in and around Zurich. (Akiyama et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 147–155).

Vol. 133 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab)   (January 2020)

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Leaf of taro (Colocasia esculenta). Taro is native to Southeast Asia and India, and is widely grown in the humid tropics of Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific for its starchy underground stem, or corm. In the Hawaiian Islands, taro is cultivated in upland fields, as well as wetland fields. The authors clarified how taro grows under flooded culture, focusing on formation of both aerenchyma and a barrier to radial oxygen loss in roots (Abiko and Miyasaka (this opens in a new tab), pp. 49–56). Photograph by Tomomi Abiko (Faculty of Agriculture, Experimental Farm, Kyushu University, Japan) at a wetland taro field in Haleiwa on Oahu Island, Hawaii.

Vol. 132 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab)   (November 2019)

Four fern species endemic to the Japanese Archipelago, Diplazium amamianum (upper left), Hymenophyllum mikawanum (upper right), Ophioglossum kawamurae (lower left), and Blechnum niponicum (= Spicantopsis nipponicus) (lower right). The fern and lycophyte flora of Japan comprise 721 native taxa (including subspecies and varieties), 125 of which are thought to be endemic (Ebihara and Nitta (this opens in a new tab), pp. 723–738). Photos by Atsushi Ebihara.

Vol. 132 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2019)

Microscopic image of the palisade layer of an Arabidopsis leaf, overlay with flow cytometry data on nuclear ploidy level of leaves of rice (upper left), Arabidopsis (upper right), peppermint (lower left), and lettuce (lower right). Endoreduplication has a role in cell-size regulation in Arabidopsis, but this role has been overestimated or over-generalized. The cover photo shows that cell size is quite uniform in the palisade layer of Arabidopsis leaves despite a mosaic occurrence of repeated cycles of endoreduplication; and that endoreduplication is not always observed in other plant species. Tsukaya (this opens in a new tab) (pp.571–580) reviewed the role of endoreduplication in cell-size regulation in Arabidopsis to reveal biases in previous studies on this topic. Photograph by Hirokazu Tsukaya, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo.

Vol. 132 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2019)

Cultivation experiment with Daturainoxia and D. stramonium. Hirano et al. showed that both Datura species underwent morphological and physiological changes under low light conditions, enabling them to use carbon and nitrogen to increase light acquisition while maintaining their chemical defense capability. The lower right photo is for D. inoxia, and the other three photos are for D. stramonium. Photos by Itsuka Hirano, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Shinshu University, Japan. (Hirano et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 473–480)

Vol. 132 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2019)

Part of a root of Arabidopsiswild-type Columbia grown on half-strength MS medium. Root hairs contribute to efficient acquisition of nutrients, microbe interactions, and plant anchorage by expanding the root surface area. Although it is a well-known phenomenon that the length of root hairs is affected by environmental conditions, the mechanisms underlying that phenomenon are still being elucidated (Shibata and Sugimoto (this opens in a new tab), pp. 301–309). Photo by Michitaro Shibata, RIKEN CSRS.

Vol. 132 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2019)

Transgenic liverworts, Marchantia polymorpha, that overexpress MpBHLH12 putatively encoding the IIIf-clade bHLH protein were grown on a 1/2 Gamborg’s B5 agar medium for 3 weeks. Arai et al. demonstrate that MpBHLH12-overexpressing M. polymorpha reduced the number and size of gemma cups (Arai et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 197–209). Photo by H. Arai at the Department of Applied Biological Science, Tokyo University of Science.

Vol. 132 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2019)

Gymnospermium scipetarum (Maddalena Mts., Southern Apennines, Italy) at the early stage of flowering. Gymnospermium is a small genus of threatened early flowering tuberous herbs. We determined that insects are crucial for successful pollination. The presence in the flowers scent of several aldehydes and one ketone could be related to the dominance of muscoid flies as pollinators. Floral morphology and the pollinator community indicate a generalist pollination behavior related also to its early phenology. Pollination by muscoid flies can be considered an advantage because Diptera are active at lower temperatures than Hymenoptera are (Rosati et al. (this opens in a new tab) pp. 49–56). Photo by Leonardo Rosati.

Vol. 131 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2018)

A new 3D ozone FACE (Free Air Controlled Exposure) for young trees of Siebold’s beech, oak, and birch distributed in cool temperate regions in Sapporo, northern Japan (right), and for seedlings of the olive oil tree, evergreen oak, alder, European beech, and other kinds of plants in a Mediterranean climate in Florence, northern Italy (left). We can estimate responses of several kinds of species to elevated ozone in natural conditions. Photos by T. Koike (Hokkaido University, Japan) and L. Zhang and Y. Hoshika (Institute of Sustainable Plant Protection, Italy) (Zhang et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 915–924)

Vol. 131 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2018)

Botryococcus braunii Showa producing large amounts of triterpene hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbons are synthesized by the methylerythritol phosphate pathway (Uchida et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 839–848) and recognized as one of the most desirable algal biofuels. Phase contrast image (upper left), BODIPY493/503-stained image (bottom left), and image stained by DAPI and BODIPY493/503 (right). Photos are taken under an Olympus epifluorescence microscope equipped with ×40 objective lens by Hidenobu Uchida, Laboratory of Aquatic Natural Products Chemistry, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan with support from Prof. Tsuneyoshi Kuroiwa, Department of Chemical Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Japan Women's University, Japan.

Vol. 131 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2018)

Begonia pavonina showing intense blue iridescent foliage. The color varies with the viewing angle, which is a key characteristic of iridescence (Pao et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 655–670). Begonia pavonina is a Malaysian endemic species, narrowly distributed in the Cameron Highlands in humid deep shade habitats of primary forest. The species is therefore at risk from forest disturbance. Photographed by Wei-Hsin Hu assisted by Joanne Tan P. C. and Ong P. T. (Forest Research Institute Malaysia), understory of primary tropical montane forest, elevation 1,500 m, near Kuala Terla, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.

Vol. 131 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2018)

Flowers of Butomus umbellatus. The species is a member of petaloid Alismatales and has clear “stamen pairs” in its flowers (anther-dehisced stamens in the cover photo), which have been considered to be important to elucidate the origin of the trimerous pentacyclic floral Bauplan of monocots. Iwamoto et al. observe the floral development of five members of petaloid Alismatales including Butomus umbellatus and suggest that the origin of the floral Bauplan of monocots is closely linked to the position of stamen pairs and the rate of petal development (Iwamoto et al. (this opens in a new tab) pp. 395−407). Photo by Akiotoshi Iwamoto at Mizunomori Water Botanical Garden, Shiga, Japan.

Vol. 131 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2018)

The Japanese mallotus, Mallotus japonicus (Euphorbiaceae) (Upper left), produces extrafloral nectar (Lower right) that attracts many ant workers to its leaves. Leaf damage induces extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) on newly produced leaves, but the plants decrease the cost of the induction by reducing the number of EFNs on leaves produced later. Photos show the nectar-sucking ants Tetramorium tsushimae (Lower left) and Pristomyrmex punctatus (Upper right). Photos by Akira Yamawo. (Yamawo and Suzuki (this opens in a new tab), pp. 255−260).

Vol. 131 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2018)

Ectopic xylem (blue) and phloem (green) differentiation induced by VISUAL (Upper left). Photo by Yuki Kondo, The University of Tokyo, Japan (Kondo, pp. 23−29). Duckweed (Lemna gibba) and luciferase luminescent spots (Upper right). Photo by Tokitaka Oyama, Kyoto University, Japan (Muranaka and Oyama, pp. 15−21). Secondary cell wall thickenings stained by WGA in xylogenic culture (Middle right). Photo by Yoshihisa Oda, National Institute of Genetics, Japan (Oda (this opens in a new tab), pp. 5−14). Pollen tube growth in the pistil of self-pollinated Arabidopsis thaliana (Lower). Photo by Masahiro M. Kanaoka, Nagoya University, Japan (Kanaoka, pp. 37−47).

Vol. 130 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2017)

Stevia is one of thelargest genera in Asteraceae, consisting of approximately200 species distributed in the Americas. In Mexico, the genus shows a high diversity of life form from shrubs (S. nelsonii: left), perennials (S. hypomalaca: upper right), to annuals (S. ephemera: lower right). All photos were taken in Mexico by Akiko Soejima, Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, Japan. (Soejima et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 953–972).

Vol. 130 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2017)

Cretaceous fossil flower Archaestella verticillata Takahashi, Herendeen, et Xiao gen. et sp. nov. was recovered from the Kamikitaba locality (ca. 89 MYBP, early Coniacian: Late Cretaceous) of the Futaba Group in Japan. The fossil flower exhibits well-preserved three-dimensional structure and was analyzed using synchrotron-radiation X-ray microtomography to document its composition and internal structure. The morphological features of A. verticillata indicate a possible relationship to Trochodendraceae in the basal grade of eudicots. The fossil currently provides the earliest record of the family and documents the presence of Trochodendraceae in eastern Eurasia during the middle part of the Late Cretaceous (Takahashi et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 809–826). Illustration by Michael Rothman.

Vol. 130 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2017)

Scanning electron micrograph of Pera glabrata (Schott) Poepp. ex Baill. seed in raphal view, showing its surface and massive caruncle. Its development is described by de Olivera Franca and De-Paula (this opens in a new tab) in “Embryology of Pera (Peraceae, Malpighiales): systematics and evolutionary implications” on pp. 709–721 in this issue. For this image, seeds were fixed in FAA 50, dehydrated in an ethanol series and a CO₂ critical point dryer. The dried seeds were fixed on aluminium stubs, coated with gold using a sputter coater. Micrographs were taken using a scanning electron microscope. The whole seed is about 6 mm in length. (Image: Orlando Cavalari De-Paula).

Vol. 130 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2017)

Sequential images of flagellar movement at 4-ms intervals of the sea urchin Anthocidaris crassispina sperm (upper) and the prasinophyte Pterosperma cristatum (lower). Bars 20 μm. Pterosperma cristatum, with four flagella, usually swims bundled with the cell body at the anterior end, strongly resembling sperm swimming. Shiba and Inaba (this opens in a new tab)'s studies (pp. 465–473) demonstrate that waveforms of Pterosperma flagella become symmetric at high Ca²⁺ concentration, a response opposite to that of sperm flagella. The authors discuss how the mechanism of the Ca²⁺-dependent flagellar response has evolved in eukaryotes. Microphotographs by Kogiku Shiba and Kazuo Inaba, Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba.

Vol. 130 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2017)

Orobanche boninsimae, a nonphotosynthetic parasitic flowering plant. Applying molecular phylogenetic and karyological data, Li et al. showed that this endemic species of the Bonin Islands, originally considered a separate genus, Platypholis, indeed belongs to the Old World genus Orobanche. Photo taken in Higashidaira Sanctuary, Chichijima Island, Bonin Islands, Japan, by Hidetoshi Kato, Makino Herbarium, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan. (Li. et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 273–280)

Vol. 130 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2017)

Large mudwort (Limosella curdieana) distributed in Australia and New Zealand. Ito et al. provide new evidence for a close phylogenetic relationship between this species and a group comprising both African and the northern circumpolar species. Photo taken at Bimbowrie Conservation Park in the Olary Ranges of South Australia, Australia, by Daniel Duval, a Seed Collection Officer of the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre, Australia (http://www.saseed-bank.com.au). (It et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 107–116).

Vol. 129 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2016)

Mt. Norikura (summit elevation 3,026 m above sea level) in central Japan. Takahashi and Tanaka showed that the speciesassemblage of alpine and subalpine plants was determined mainly by habitat filtering, indicating that abiotic environmental factors are more important for species assemblage than interspecific competition. Photo taken at the base of Mt. Norikura in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, by Koichi Takahashi, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Shinshu University, Japan. (Takahashi and Tanaka (this opens in a new tab) pp. 1041–1049).

Vol. 129 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2016)

Flowers of Laelia speciosa froman oak fores in west-central Mexico (the phorophyte is Quercus deserticola). For these plants, a δ¹⁵N of -3.1, owing to agricultural activities conducted in the region, contrasts with the δ¹⁵N of 1.3 for plants from the nearby city of Morelia (population of 800,000), where vehicular and industrial sources lead to a higher rate of nitrogen deposition. Photo taken near Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán, Mexico, by Edison Díaz-Álvarez,Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. (Díaz-Álvarez  et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 863–872).

Vol. 129 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2016)

Callicarpa saccata is an ant-plant possessing a pair of sac-like structures at the base of the leaves that are inhabited by ants. The ants stick organic carton materials to construct aisles along the midrib. Photo taken in Betung Kerihun National Park in Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia, by Hirokazu Tsukaya, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan. (Nakashima et al. (this opens in a new tab) pp. 591–601).

Vol. 129 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2016)

Top: Hemispheric images taken from the lower canopy of temperate evergreen species Nothofagus fusca in Christchurch, New Zealand (left), and of longleaf pine (Pinus pulstris) at the Southeast Tree Researcg and Education Site, North Carolina, USA (right). Photos by Ülo Niinemets (this opens in a new tab). Middle: Sunlight penetrating through forest canopy (left), and a sunfleck on the forest floor (right) in Makaysia's Pasoh Forest Reserve. Photos by Hajime Tomimatsu (Tomimatsu and Tang (this opens in a new tab), pp. 365–377). Bottom: Visual output of a simulation of crop–weed interaction. Image generated using the functional–structual plant modelling platform GroIMP by Jochem Evers (Evers and Bastiaans (this opens in a new tab), pp. 339–351).

Vol. 129 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2016)

Chloroplasts in the palisade cells of Arabidopsis thaliana and the molecular shape model of the dark-adapted phototropin of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Chloroplasts show accumulation and avoidance responses in response to weak (left, upper photo) and strong light (left, lower photo), respectively, which are mediated by phototropin (Kong and Wada (this opens in a new tab), in this issue). The model was calculated from the profile of small-angle X-ray scattering (Okajima (this opens in a new tab), in this issue). The crystal structure of three functional domains, LOV1 (yellow), LOV2 (pale blue) and ser/thr kinase (green and orange), were fitted into the molecular shape (right). Cover photo credits: Fumio Takahashi (Ritsumeikan University, Japan), Kouji Okajima (Keio University, Japan)

Vol. 129 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2016)

Propidium iodide-stained infection organ of powdery mildew fungus Golovinomyces orontii surrounded by host Arabidopsis thaliana actin microfilaments labeled with green fluorescent protein (top and middle). Inada et al. extracted actin microfilaments around the infection organ (bottom) and quantitatively analyzed changes in their organization during maturation of the infection organ. Photos taken in Nara, Japan, by Noriko Inada, Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan, and Takumi Higaki, Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo. (Inada et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 103–110)

Vol. 128 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2015)

Flowering individuals of Solidago altissima, a herbaceous perennial plant native to North America which has become a widespread invasive weed in East Asian countries. By using microsatellite and chloroplast DNA markers, Sakata et al. showed that at least two independent colonization events gave rise to current S. altissima populations in Japan, and the majority of the populations were genetically similar and likely shared a common origin. Photo taken in Shiga, Japan, by Yuzu Sakata, Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Japan. (Sakata et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 909–921) 

Vol. 128 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2015)

The inset shows the fruit of an extinct species, Cedrelospermum asiaticum, against a background of the outcrop where the fruit was found. Jia et al (2015) described the first fossil record of Cedrelospermum in Asia. Incorporating morphological and fossil data, the historical biogeography of the genus was hypothesized. Photo taken in Yunnan Province, China, by Lin-Bo Jia, Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China. (Jia et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 747–761)

Vol. 128 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2015)

Flowering individual of the deceptive orchid Cephalanthera falcata. Suetsugu et al. showed that C. falcata is pollinated by the andrenid bee and the fruit set was positively correlated with the number of flowers per inflorescence. Photo taken in Kanagawa, Japan, by Takuto Shitara, Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan. (Suetsugu et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 585–594).

Vol. 128 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2015)

Root explants of Arabidopsis thaliana harboring WIND1pro:GFP construct, cultured on shoot induction medium for 16 days, after 4 days’ culture on callus induction medium. Strong promoter activity is shown in the callus forming at the wound site of the root explants. IND1 functions in callus formation as well as succeeding shoot regeneration in the tissue culture system. Photo by Akira Iwase, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Japan. (Iwase et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 389–397; Iwase et al. (this opens in a new tab), Curr Biol 21:508–514).

Vol. 128 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2015)

A flowering individual of Arundina graminifolia f. revoluta in its native habitat at Betung-Kerihun National Park, West Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia (January 2010). Yorifuji et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 239–247) showed that this rheophytic form of A. graminifolia is defined by its unique morphological features in the leaves but not by the plant height or the flower size.They also found that the rheophytic form is not yet differentiated from the land-type standard form in terms of matK sequence data. Photo by Hirokazu Tsukaya, The University of Tokyo, Japan.

Vol. 128 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2015)

Protonemata of a Physcomitrella patens transformant which constitutively expresses photoconvertible fluorescent protein Dendra2. A single protonemal cell was labeled from green to red by photoconversion of Dendra2. Using this transformant, Kitagawa and Fujita established a system for quantitatively analyzing macromolecular movement from any single cell in protonemata. Photo by Munenori Kitagawa at RIKEN, Japan. (Kitagawa and Fujita (this opens in a new tab), pp. 63–72).

Vol. 127 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2014)

A frond of Dryopteris pacifica, a member ofthe D. varia complex. Based on the nucleotide sequencecomparison of plastic rbcL and nuclear PgiC genes, Hori et al. showed that this apogamous fern species is ofhybrid origin between D. varia and  D. protobissetina, which was recently found as a new diploid sexual species of the complex in Yakushima Island. Photo by Kiyotaka Horiin Tokyo, Japan. (Hori et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 661–684).

Vol. 127 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2014)

Natural habitat of Biebersteinia orphanidis. Biebersteinia is a genus of perennial herb comprising five species distributed from Greece to Central Asia. Until recently, the genus had long been considered to be placed in or near Geraniaceae, but recent molecular analyses have shown the genus be assigned to Sapindales as the sole member of Biebersteiniaceae. Embryological evidence supports its placement within Sapindales and further supports the distinctness from the other Sapindalean families, suggesting that the family may represent an early divergent linage of Sapindales. Photo by Dionyssios D. Vassiliades on a mountain close to Mt. Killini, Greece (Yamamoto et al. (this opens in a new tab),pp. 599–615).

Vol. 127 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2014)

Flowers of Lathyrus pubescens, the mostwidespread species of the Notolathyrus section. The species of this section are endemic to South America and constitute a key group for understanding the evolution of the genus Lathyrus (tribe Fabeae, Fabaceae). Photo taken in Rivera, Bajada de Pena,Uruguay, by Guillermo Seijo, Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste (UNNE-CONICET), Argentina. (Chalup et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 469–480).

Vol. 127 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2014)

Taxus cuspidata S. et Z. is an evergreen tree with a single, main trunk, growing mostly on mountain ridges in northeastern Manchuria, Korea, and Japan. Photo by Chunghee Lee on Mt. Seorak, Korea. (Balkrishna et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 373–388).

Vol. 127 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2014)

A syntype specimen of Pinus trifolia Miki (section Trifoliae, Pinaceae) from the Middle to Late Miocene in Hatagoya, Mizunami-shi, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. Pinus trifolia is a representative species that was described in the early days of Japanese paleobotany. This specimen, stored now in the Osaka Museum of Natural History as #OSA F19363, was described in The Botanical Magazine Tokyo, Vol. 53(1939), by Shigeru Miki (p. 241 and Plate IV). The cone is 14.1 cm long and 9.0 cm wide. Photo by Minoru Tsukagoshi (Yamada and Nishida (this opens in a new tab), pp. 185–186; Yamada et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 193–208).

Vol. 127 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2014)

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (F1NPP), destroyed by explosions after the 11March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and some of the activities in the Fukushima area reported in the current JPR Symposium (this opens in a new tab). Center: F1NPP, photo courtesy of Airphoto Service Co. (Niigata, Japan). Other photos: top two: Planting and growth of more than a hundred rice varieties (photos by T. Fujiwara); second from top: Testing of phytoremediation by agricultural and horticultural crops (photo by D. Kobayashi); third and fourth from top: Planting and growth of rice using different fertilizers (photos by H. Sekimoto); lower left two: Collection of macro algae from destroyed Fukushima seashore (photos by H. Kawai); lower second from right: Testing of phytoremediation by pasture grasses (main photo by I. Terashima; inset by H. Fukuda); lower far right: Autoradiogram of a Sasa leaf polluted by fallout from F1NPP (photo by T. Mimura).

Vol. 126 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2013)

Egeria densa is a fast-growing aquatic plant that appears green under light, as shown in the inset. When the leaves were detached and incubated in a sucrose solution under light, chlorophyll was degraded and anthocyanin synthesis was induced within several days, as shown in the main photo, which was a good experimental system of “autumn coloration”. If the leaves remained attached to the stem, this phenomenon did not occur, suggesting that the stem might play an important role in the induction of “autumn coloration”. Photo by Tadayuki Momose. (Momose and Ozeki (this opens in a new tab), pp. 859 – 867).

Vol. 126 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2013)

Stachyurus macrocarpus var.  prunifolius (Stachyuraceae) is a critically endangered shrub endemic to the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands of Japan. Kaneko et al. provided essential genetic and ecological information for effective management of this species based on complete genotyping using microsatellite markers. Photo by Hidetoshi Kato in the Hahajima Islands, Japan. (Kaneko et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 635–642).

Vol. 126 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2013)

Rheophilous fern Osmunda lancea, whichhybridizes with a dryland ally, Osmunda japonica to produce semi-fertile F1 hybrids.Yatabe-Kakugawa et al. created a mapping population using the spores obtained from a semi-fertile F1 hybrid. Photo by Yoko Yatabe-Kakugawa in the Naguri Ravine, Hanno, Japan. (Yatabe-Kakugawa et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 469–482).

Vol. 126 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2013)

Echinomastus  mariposensis  is a small, solitary, globose to slightly cylindrical cactus which has large seeds showing  a positive photoblastic germination response. Distribution: The Big Bend region of Texas in the United States and the states of Coahuila and Nuevo León in Mexico. It is included in Appendix I of CITES, although little is known about the present status of its populations. Photo by Salvador Arias on the Saltillo–Monclova road, Coahuila state. (Rojas-Aréchiga et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 373–386).

Vol. 126 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2013)

Neolitsea sericea is an evergreen broad-leaved tree commonly found in the evergreen forests of Korea and Japan and shows a disjunctive distribution on Lanyu Island of Taiwan and the Zhoushan Archipelago of China. This species is represented by two varieties: var. sericea and var. aurata. N. sericea var. aurata shown on the cover is distinguished by the persistent golden-brown hairs on the lower surfaces of its leaves, and its habitats are restricted to Lanyu and the Ryukyu Islands. The results by Lee et al. suggest that these two varieties have undergone a speciation event by geographical fragmentation. Photo by Jung-Hyun Lee, August 2010, on Lanyu Island, Taiwan. (Lee et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 193–202)

Vol. 126 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2013)

In the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, actin microfilaments exhibit unique dynamic sliding motility, which is accelerated by stabilization or depolymerization of microtubules. The cover photo shows sliding actin filaments labeled by Life Act–Venus in a micro-tubule-stabilized cell. Time-sequential images taken every 3 s are colored red, green, and blue, respectively, and superimposed. Sliding actin filaments are shown as colorful lines with gradation along a long axis of filaments from red to blue. Photo taken by Atsuko Era, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan. (Era et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 113–119)

Vol. 125 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2012)

The interconnected walkways of the tree tower–canopy walkway system at the Pasoh Forest Reserve in Peninsular Malaysia. Typical Malaysian lowland rain forest with a highly stratified structure, which is now on the decrease, remains at this site. Gas exchange observation at both the leaf and canopy scale is conducted with micrometeorological monitoring. Photo taken by Masahito Ueyama, a participant in the 2012 Asia Flux field trip to Pasoh, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Japan. (Kosugi et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 735–748)

Vol. 125 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2012)

Apogamous triploid Cyrtomium fortunei, a parent sporophyte, “K220”. Ootsuki et al. showed genetic segregation occurring in a strain by a genetic and cytological comparison between the parent and its offspring. Photo taken in Tokyo, Japan, by Ryo Ootsuki, Department of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Komazawa University, Japan (Ootsuki et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 605–612).

Vol. 125 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2012)

Alpine timberline vegetation on the south-eastern slope of Mt. Fuji, in central Japan. Dominants at the timberline are the dwarf trees Alnus maximowiczii,Salix reinii, and Larix kaempferi. Above the timberline, there are stands of perennial herbs such as Aconogononweyrichii var. alpinum. Photo by Hitoshi Sakio, Sado Station, Field Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Faculty of Agriculture, Niigata University, Japan (Sakio and Masuzawa (this opens in a new tab), pp. 539–546).

Vol. 125 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2012)

Balanophora japonica and B. yakushimensis are two non-photosynthetic parasitic plants, thought to be present mostly in southern Japan. Su et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 317–326) studied the populations of Balanophora species in Taiwan, however, and based on morphological observation and the molecular markers, confirmed that the two taxa are also present in Taiwan. The results of molecular phylogenetic analyses show that both taxa are closely related to B. laxiflora, which is widely distributed from Southeast China to Taiwan. Balanophora japonica, as shown in the inset photo, can be distinguished by its yellow ovaries, compared with red ones in B. yakushimensis. The hosts of these two parasites were identified using chloroplast matK sequences and showed a certain degree of specificity among populations in Taiwan and Japan.

Vol. 125 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2012)

Flowers of Arabidopsis kamchatica ssp. Kawasakiana (Brassicaceae). This subspecies is designated an endangered species (category EN). Only a few seashore populations remain, while inland populations on the shore of Lake Biwa are still abundant. Lake Biwa harbors many coastal plants that commonly inhabit the seashore, including this plant, beach morning glory, beach pea, and black pine. Photo by Hiroaki Setoguchi, Kyoto University, at Takashima, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. (Higashi et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp.223–233).

Vol. 125 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2012)

Natural occurrence of Lavoisiera camposportoana (Melastomataceae) in rocky fields of the Espinhaço Mountain Range in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. This region is subject to very seasonal rain between long dry periods (April to October). The flowering commences at the start of the rainy season. This endemic plant is threatened, and populations are found in discontinuous locations. Photo by Marcos Hanashiro Silva of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, obtained 110 km north of the city of Belo Horizonte in the Serra do Cipó National Park. (França, M.G.C. et al (this opens in a new tab), pp. 85–92).

Vol. 124 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2011)

Dwarf bamboo species have extensive vegetative growth systems, but they are monocarpic and rarely flower. In May 2006, Kitamura and Kawahara (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 683–688) studies the single-genet small-scale flowering of the dwarf bamboo species Sasa cernua in the experimental forest of the Hokkaido Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Hokkaido. Photo by Keiko Kitamura at Hokkaido Research Station FFPRI, Sapporo Japan.

Vol. 124 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2011)

A Ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) feeding on nector from one of the South American sage species, Salva guaranitica “Black and Blue” (Lamiaceae). Hummingbirds are restricted to the New World and are often associated with ornithophilous flowers. In this issue, Jenks and his colleagues (this opens in a new tab) investigated the phylogenetic history of Salva divinorum, a powerful phychoactive plant, native to cloud forest in the isolated Sierra Mazateca of Oaxacam Mexico (pp. 593–600). Photo by Daniel R. Ripplinger at St. Louis, MO, USA.

Vol. 124 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2011)

Various plant species discussed in the JPR Symposium in this issue, representing the roles of abscisic acid (ABA) in cellular, physiological, ecological and evolutional aspects. Background: Pre-harvest sprouting grains of a wheat line, Chinese Spring (photo by Takakazu Matsuura and Izumi Mori); upper inset: autofluorescence of chloroplasts in protonemal cells of Physcomitrella patens; middle inset: stoma in the epidermal strip from Commelina benghalensis (photo by Toshinori Kinoshita); lower inset: rate white-flowering morph of Hydrocleys nymphoides at a side near Poconé, in the northern Pantanal, Brazil (photo by Dierk Wanke).

Vol. 124 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2011)

Moneses uniflora, a member of the Pyroleae (Monotropoideae, Ericaceae), occurs as a perennial understory herb in northern temperate zones. Based on maximum parsimony and Baysian analyses with nrDNA ITS and three cpDNA intergenic spacers (atpB-rbcL, trnS-trnG and trnL-trnF), Liu et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 325–337) investigated the phylogenetic relationships among four Pyroleae genera. Photo by You Zhou at Tongha Normal College, Jilin, China.

Vol. 124 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2011)

The flower pigmentation phenotype of a heterozygous F1 plant displaying intermediate pigmentation between that of two homozygous parental plants is regarded as the best example of incomplete dominance. The mutable a^flaked (a^f) allele at the A locus of the common morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea) confers incomplete dominance in flower pigmentation. Johzuka-Hisatomi et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 299–304) showed that dosage-dependent expression of CHS-D, which encodes chalcone synthase for anthocyanin biosynthesis, is the primary cause of the observed incomplete dominance. Photo by Eiji Nitasaka at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.

Vol. 124 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2011)

Shorea leprosula, a member of the Dipterocarpaceae family, is a canopy tree species and is important for forestry and the ecosystem in Southeast Asia. Tsumura et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 35–48) have created a chloroplast DNA database for classifying Shorea species and have developed methods for extracting and analyzing DNA from dipterocarp wood products. Photo by Kevin Kit Siong Ng, Pasoh Forest Reserve, Malaysia.

Vol. 123 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2010)

Symplocarpus foetidus (L.) Nutt., one of the skunk-cabbage species, occurs in swamps and wet woods, along streams, and in other wet low areas of temperate northeastern North America. Lee et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 723–729) investigated the pollen morphology of the genus Symplocarpus by light and scanning electron microscopes and found that S. foetidus in North America had pollen morphology similar to that of S. foetidus var. latissimus in eastern Asia. Photo by James Dake, March 9, 2010, in Ithaca, New York, USA.

Vol. 123 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2010)

Acer saccharum and Fagus grandifolia are co-dominant deciduous broad-leaved tree species in temperate forests in North America. Takahashi et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 665–674) compared regeneration traits between the two species along a slope gradient. Photo by Koichi Takahashi, October 2008, at Mont0saint-Hillaire in Quebec, Canada.

Vol. 123 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2010)

Major study sites for ecosystem carbon cycling presented in the JPR Symposium in this issue. Background: Cool-temperate deciduous broadleaf forest at the Takayama site in Gifu, Japan (photo by Hiroyuki Muraoka); upper inset: an alpine meadow ecosystem at the Haibei site on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China (photo by Mitsuru Hirota); middle inset: Pinus densiflora forest in Uljin, Korea (photo by Yowhan Son); lower inset: evergreen coniferous forest with flux tower at the Takayama site (photo by Taku M. Saitoh).

Vol. 123 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2010)

Efficient gas exchange between a plant and the atmosphere requires coordinated spacing of stomata, turgor-driven valves on the plant epidermis. Molecular signals that enforce proper stomatal patterning have recently been identified as the EPIDERMAL PATTERNING FACTOR-LIKE (EPFL) family of small, secreted cysteine-rich peptides. Cover depicts in cartoon fashion an Arabidopsis seedling with stomatal precursors and internal tissues emitting the EPFL-family peptides. Background is a confocal microscopy image showing a mutant epidermis with increased expression of EPF2 reporter (green). Cartoon and micrograph by Kylee Peterson (Rychel, Peterson, and Torii (this opens in a new tab), pp. 275–280).

Vol. 123 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2010)

Preferential disappearance of mt^- (male) chloroplast (cp-) nuclei (nucleoids) visualized in a living zygote of Chlamydomonas reinharadtii. The living zygote was stained with SYBR Green I, and the preferential disappearance was observed under blue-light irradiation. Fluorescent images of identical zygotes before (upper) and after (lower) the referential disappearance are shown. The mt⁺ (female, left) and mt^- (male, right) chloroplasts are emitting red autofluorescence. The cell nucleus, cp-nuclei (large fluorescent spots) are visualized with SYBR Green I staining. The cp-nuclei in the male chloroplasts disappeared completely within 10 min. Photo by Yoshiki Nishimura and Tsuneyoshi Kuroiwa.

The year 2010 is the 100^th anniversary of the discovery of uniparental inheritance. To mark this centennial, Prof. Kuroiwa (this opens in a new tab) edited a JPR symposium on the topic in this issue (pp. 125–230).

Vol. 123 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2010)

A major source of plant form diversity is the great variation in leaf shape and size. Shown here are leaves that were collected on the Hongo and Yayoi campuses of The University of Tokyo, Japan, illustrating a rich diversity of leaf shape. The JPR Symposium “Leaf development and evolution” in this first issue of volume 123 provides an overview of the recent knowledge of how such leaf shape diversity has evolved. (See pp. 3–55 for details.) Selections for the cover illustration were made from hundreds of scanned images of leaves collected in autumn 2088, scanned by Kumiko Fujishima and processed by Hirokazu Tsukaya at The University of Tokyo.

Vol. 122 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2009)

Petrosavia is a genus of rare, leafless, achlorophyllous, mycoheterotrophic monocotyledons comprising two species, P. sakuraii and P. stellaris, which are distributed from Japan and China through southeastern Asia to Borneo. Recent molecular analyses show that Petrosavia, along with Japonolirion, endemic to Japan, comprises the Petrosaviaceae. Embryological evidence supports the distinctness of the family from other monocots and its placement in its own order, Petrosaviales (Tobe and Takahashi (this opens in a new tab), pp. 597–610). Photo by H. Takahashi, August 19, 2009, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.

Vol. 122 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2009)

Pinus albicaulis is an alpine conifer in the mountains of western North America. Tsutui et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 509–521) compared to mtDNA, cpDNA, and nrDNA phylogenetic trees in the genus Pinus subgenus Strobus and found a significant similarity of the organelle DNA combination between P. albicaulis and two Eurasian pine species, P. pumila and P. koraiensis. Photo by Takashi A. Ohsawa, July 1999, at Tioga Pass in the Sierra Nevada of California, USA.

Vol. 122 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2009)

Saxifraga callosa Sm. grows in more or less vertical limestone rocks at an altitude of 700–2000 m and ranges from eastern Spain through the southwestern Alps and the Apennines (including the Apuan Alps) to southern Italy. Seeds are dispersed only by wind, and the flowers are pollinated mainly by insects. S. callosa survived within the Italian Peninsula refugium during the Last Glacial Maximum; today it is protected in the Maritime Alps by regional laws. See Grassi et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 337–387, this issue. Photo by Gabriele Casazza, June 2007, on Mount Grai (Maritime Alps).

Vol. 122 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2009)

Fagus crenata is a deciduous, borad-leaved tree, and forms typical cool temperate forests in Japan (called beech forests). Hiraoka and Tomaru (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 269–282) provided clear evidence of nuclear genetic divergence between populations along the Japan Sea and Pacific sides of the archipelago. Photo by Michiko Nakagawa, May 2008, in a beech forest at the Men-noki Pass, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Vol. 122 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2009)

The Japanese morning glory (Ipomoea nil) is a traditional horticultural plant in Japan, and a number of spontaneous mutations related to colors and shapes of its flowers and leaves have been isolated. Hoshino et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 215–222) showed that its two mutations, r1-1 and r1-2, are caused by insertions of DNA transposable elements in the CACTA superfamily into the CHS-D gene for anthocyanin pigmentation. The r1-2 mutant in the cover photo displays white flower limbs with colored tubes and carries additional mutations conferring altered flower and leaf morphology. Photo by Atsushi Hoshino, September 2008, at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.

Vol. 122 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2009)

Acer rufinerve is a deciduous broad-leaved tree, and the branching node normally bears three daughter branches. Leonard da Vinci found that, within a tree, the sum of the cross-sectional areas of all the branches at every height is equal to the trunk cross-sectional area. This can be rephrased as: the branch cross-sectional area below a branching node is equal to the sum of the cross-sectional areas of the daughter branches above the node. Sone et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 41–52) showed that branch death is necessary for this rule to hold. Photo by Kosei Sone, November 2008, at The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

Vol. 121 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2008)

Litsea acuminata is a common broad-leaved evergreen tree in warm-temperate forests in Japan, distributed mainly around valley areas. Comparing survival related to topography, relatively high seeding survival was observed around ridge areas (Tsujino and Yumoto (this opens in a new tab), pp. 537–546, this issue), whereas adult survival was better around valley areas (Tsujino and Yumoto (this opens in a new tab) 2007; J Plant Res 120: 687–695). The adult plant habitat associations for this species are likely determined by seed dispersal and survival at adult stages. Photo by Riyou Tsujino, May 2002, in the western part of Yakushima Island, Japan.

Vol. 121 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2008)

Determinate inflorescences of Phyllostachys meyeri McClure (Poaceae: Bambusoideae). This clump cultivated in the Fuji Bamboo Garden exhibited monocarpic mass flowering from February through June 2004. One of the nuclear genes, flowering-promoting gene FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) homolog, PmFT, was highly expressed in the leaves of the mass-flowered clums. Hisamoto et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 451–461) investigated phylogenetic relationships among 27 bambusoid and early-diverging grasses using PmFT homolog sequences, suggesting that the FT tree is significant for resolving the tribal taxon and reflects phylogenetic relationships with regard to spikelet type, whether unifloret or multifloret. Photo by Mikio Kobayashi (Utsunomiya University), April 2004, in the Fuji Bamboo Garden at Nagaizumi, Shizuoka, Japan.

Vol. 121 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2008)

Hydrobryum japonicum is a liverwort-like “river weed” with green, foliose roots that grow prostrate on seasonally submerged rocks. The vegetative shoots arise from the roots during the rainy season, whereas the reproductive shoots arise during the subsequent dry season. Katayama et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 417–424) showed that the reproductive shoots from bracts endogenously without a shoot apical meristem in the same way as that of the vegetative shoots, but the floral organs arise exogenously from the floral meristem. Photo by Natsu Katayama, November 2007, in the Ogawa River at Minamiosumi-cho, Kagoshima, Japan.

Vol. 121 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2008)

Rhododendron semibarbatum (Ericaceae) requires outcrossing via bumblebee pollinator visitation for effective seed production. Species and castes of bumblebees differed between two study populations in Japan: Bombus honshuensis workers and B. ardens males. The photo shows a male B. ardens visiting flowers at Miyama (Hachioji, Tokyo). Observed differentiation in floral characteristics and reproductive output between the R. semibarbatum populations may have resulted from differences in resource requirements and visitation behaviors between the pollinators (Ono et al. (this opens in a new tab), pp. 319–327). Photo by Ikumi Dohzono.

Vol. 121 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2008)

Cymbidium aloifolium (Orchidaceae), growing on a tree in western Myanmar, is exposed to full sunlight. In this issue, Motomura et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 163–177) investigated correlations among the level of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) activity, environment of the habitats, life forms, and phylogenetic relationships in Cymbidium. CAM expression in this genus was confined to the epiphytic and lithophytic species. Notably, all these species from tropical to subtropical rainforest exhibited CAM activity, whereas the terrestrial species always exhibited C₃ metabolism irrespective of their varied habitats. Photo by Tomohisa Yukawa.

Vol. 121 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2008)

Oxygyne shinzatoi, a mycoheterotrophic species endemic to Okinawa Island, Japan, was discovered more than 30 years ago, but no flowers of this species had been seen after the original description. In 2004, Prof. M. Yokota and colleagues of the University of the Ryukyus rediscovered the species in the type locality. In this issue, Yokoyama et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 27–32) provide a molecular phylogeny of the species using the materials collected in 2006. Photo by Hirokazu Tsukaya.

Vol. 120 No. 6 (this opens in a new tab) (November 2007)

Norrisiella sphaerica is a chlorarachniophyte alga with spherical cells; it was isolated from water along the coast of Baja California, Mexico. In this issue, Ota et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp.661–670) provide a morphological characterization of this algal culture and describe it as a new genus and species. Detailed observation of its life cycle using time-lapse video microscopy is also provided. Photo by Shuhei Ota.

Vol. 120 No. 5 (this opens in a new tab) (September 2007)

Aster microcephalus is a successful amphidiploid species putatively originated from hybridization between Aster and Kalimeris, and is distributed widely in Japan from Kyushu to Hokkaido. It has a unique bimodal karyotype in that it possesses 18 long chromosomes and 18 short chromosomes, inherited from each parent, respectively. Matoba et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp.585–593) showed evidence of the hybrid origin of A. microcephalus using simultaneous GISH to infer chromosome similarities. They also showed the distribution of the Ty1-copia-like retrotransposon on the chromosomes of Aster and Kalimeris for the purpose of comparing the long and the short chromosome structures. Photo by Masashi Igari, at Shin-shiro, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, autumn 2006.

Vol. 120 No. 4 (this opens in a new tab) (July 2007)

Potamogeton anguillanus Koidz. Is a reciprocal natural hybrid between P. perfoliatus L. and P. malaianus Miq., and is one of the dominant species in Lake Biwa, Japan. Usually they grow submerged in fresh water, but formation and survival of terrestrial shoots have been known during a drought period in summer in P. malainans and in the hybrid. Iida et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 473–481) performed drought experiments and DNA typing using nuclear and chloroplast genes, and found maternal effects have led to the adaptive divergence of the hybrid. Photo by Satoko Iida, at Mano Beach, Lake Biwa, Shiga Prefecture, Japan.

Vol. 120 No. 3 (this opens in a new tab) (May 2007)

Yakushima Island (Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan) is well known for the occurrence of many dwarf plant variants. Ainsliaea apiculata has been noted to exhibit a wide range of variation in leaf size and shape in Yakushima Island; however, detailed analyses of such variation in leaf shape had not been carried out. Tsukaya et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 351–358) analyzed the variation in leaf size and shape of populations from Yakushima Island in comparison with those in populations from other areas of Japan. Photo by Hirokazu Tsukaya, at Mt. Tachu-dake, Yakushima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.

Vol. 120 No. 2 (this opens in a new tab) (March 2007)

Ranunclusu nipponicus is a perennial macrophyte of the Ranunculaceae distributed on the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido. Koga et al. (this opens in a new tab) (pp. 167–174) assessed the genetic diversity and structure within and among populations using ISSR polymerase chain reaction in association with combinations of propagation pattern and genotypic geographical structure. Photo by Keiichi Koga, at Takimi, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.

Vol. 120 No. 1 (this opens in a new tab) (January 2007)

Conocephalum japonicum (Thunb.) Grolle is a liverwort widely distributed in East Asia and is the only species of bryophyte that produces a linear spore tetrad. Miyawaki (this opens in a new tab) reviews the microtubule systems in land plants, for readers to rethink the classical cytological question, “Why did plants lose the centriole?” (pp. 45–51). Photo by Misao Itouga, at Towadako-cho, Aomori Prefecture, Japan.