Screening of Epstein-Barr Virus Early Antigen Expression Inducers from Chinese Medicinal Herbs and Plants

Ether extrilcls of 1693 Chinesc medicinal herbs and plilnts from 268 families werestudied for the induction of Epstcin-Barr viral (EBV ) early antigcn (EA ) expression in theRaji cell line. Fifty-two from 18 families were found to have inducing activity. Twenty-fiveand seven of them were from Euphorbiaccae and Thymclaeaceae, respectively. Some ofthem, such as Croton tiglium, Euphorbia kansui, Daphnc genkwa, Wikstrocmia chamacdaphen, Wikstroemia indica, Prunus mandshurica Koehne and Achyranthes bidentata arecommonly used drugs. The significance of these herbs in the activation of EBV in vivo andtheir relation to the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma were discussed.

The Register and Characteristics of Chinese Key Protected Wild Plants in Dabie Mountains National Nature Preserve, Hubei Province

A study was conducted on the newly promulgated key protected wild plants distributed in the Dabie Mountains National Nature Reserve in Hubei in 2021.According to statistics,Dabie Mountains National Nature Reserve of Hubei Province has a total of 41 species of wild plants under national key protection,including 7 species in the first class and 34 species in the second class.Among them,6 are cultivated species,4 in the first class,and 2 species in the second class.The characteristics of Chinese key protected wild plants in the Dabie Mountains National Nature Reserve in Hubei Province were analyzed.

Twenty years of Chinese vascular plant novelties,2000 through 2019

From 2000 to 2019,11,895 new names or new additions to the Chinese vascular flora were proposed by 4226 individuals(4086 articles and 140 books),as documented in the Chinese Plant Names Index(CPNI).During those 20 years,4407 new taxa of vascular plants were described from China,including 7 new families,132 new genera,3543 new species,68 new subspecies,497 new varieties and 160 new forms.Additionally,3562 new combinations and names at new rank and 306 new replacement names were also proposed.Among these various new names were 150 invalid names and 108 illegitimate names,including some that have not been resolved.Six hundred and forty three vascular plants were reported as new to China,while 2349 names were reduced to synonyms of 1406 taxa.The data show that the Chinese flora increased in size at the rate of about 200 taxa annually during those years.Despite the increased attention given to biodiversity in recent years,the evidence indicates that a large number of species in China have yet to be discovered.Further basic investigation of the Chinese flora is needed.Additionally,in the past two decades only 8.5%of the newly published species have been based on molecular evidence,but in the past five years such data have increased significantly,reaching about 20%.Molecular data will undoubtedly become increasingly significant in the discovery of new species in the coming years.Yunnan,Guangxi,Sichuan,Xizang and Taiwan were important sources of new discoveries,with more than 3300 new taxa and records from these five provinces.By area,Taiwan and Hainan,two islands in southern China,have the highest density of newly discovered species.Regional plant surveys are still needed,especially in areas in the southwest and on the southern islands.

Red list assessments of Chinese higher plants

Based on the two most recent assessments of Chinese higher plants in 2013 and 2020,of 34,450 and 39,330 species,respectively,we analysed the threatened status of Chinese higher plants.In 2020,around 4,088(10.39%)of the assessed species in China are threatened,2,875(7.31%)Near Threatened,27,593(70.16%)not currently threatened and categorised as Least Concern and 4,752(12.08%)categorised as Data Deficient.While in 2013,3,767(10.93%)of the assessed higher plants in China are threatened,2,723(7.90%)Near Threatened,24,296(70.53%)Least Concern and 3,612(10.48%)Data Deficient.Estimates of the Red List Index in the two years show different patterns when using different weighting methods with the equal steps weighting method showing a slight decrease(0.91675-0.91495)and the extinction risk weighting method showing a slight increase(0.98792-0.98797).We inferred that China's threatened plant species were likely/relatively effectively protected.However,attention should also be given to the non-threatened species in the future as an additional strategy for their conservation,to maintain their non-threatened status.

Securing a future for China's plant biodiversity through an integrated conservation approach

The severely threatened Chinese flora urgently needs a new, well adapted to China and properly formulated conservation strategy. The present review provides a detailed conservation methodology that complements previously described guidelines for preservation of plant species with extremely small populations(PSESP) in China. This review adds to the above concept in several aspects, making it relevant to all threatened Chinese plant species. The proposed integral conservation strategy has the following crucial components:-ecoregional basis for conservation planning and implementation;-a unified scoring system that is used in regional systematic planning for reserve design,monitoring and assessment of efficiency of a reserve network, and creation of seed banks and living collections;-a focus on population demography and the presence of naturally occurring regeneration as the key criteria for defining the conservation status of a species and the appropriate major focus of the species recovery plan;-creation of multi-species living collections that preserve species genetic variation and provide material for in situ actions;-experimental translocation of threatened species into multiple locations within and outside their known range.Adopting and implementing these strategies successfully and more fully in China requires that the country changes PA legislation and improves PA management, the National Science Foundation of China(NSFC) re-prioritizes the type of research that receives research funds, and local scientists improve their approach toward information sharing.

Automated Chinese medicinal plants classification based on machine learning using leaf morpho-colorimetry,fractal dimension and visible/near infrared spectroscopy

The identification of Chinese medicinal plants was conducted to rely on ampelographic manual assessment by experts.More recently,machine learning algorithms for pattern recognition have been successfully applied to leaf recognition in other plant species.These new tools make the classification of Chinese medicinal plants easier,more efficient and cost effective.This study showed comparative results between machine learning models obtained from two methods:i)a morpho-colorimetric method and ii)a visible(VIS)/Near Infrared(NIR)spectral analysis from sampled leaves of 20 different Chinese medicinal plants.Specifically,the automated image analysis and VIS/NIR spectral based parameters obtained from leaves were used separately as inputs to construct customized artificial neural network(ANN)models.Results showed that the ANN model developed using the morpho-colorimetric parameters as inputs(Model A)had an accuracy of 98.3%in the classification of leaves for the 20 medicinal plants studied.In the case of the model based on spectral data from leaves(Model B),the ANN model obtained using the averaged VIS/NIR spectra per leaf as inputs showed 92.5%accuracy for the classification of all medicinal plants used.Model A has the advantage of being cost effective,requiring only a normal document scanner as measuring instrument.This method can be adapted for non-destructive assessment of leaves in-situ by using portable wireless scanners.Model B combines the fast,non-destructive advantages of VIS/NIR spectroscopy,which can be used for rapid and non-invasive identification of Chinese medicinal plants and other applications by analyzing specific light spectra overtones from leaves to assess concentration of pigments such as chlorophyll,anthocyanins and others that are related active compounds from the medicinal plants.

Cultural Practices for Propagation of Spatholobus suberectus via Cutting into Polybags

In this paper,the propagation of Spatholobus suberectus Dunn.was optimized based on the research results conducted in propagation for many years and the actual need for the planting materials.According to the requirements of Good Agricultural Practices for Chinese Medicinal Drugs,cultural practices for propagation of S.suberectus were summed up and standardized,including the environmental requirements,land preparation,bed preparation,cutting of scions,cuttings treatment,cutting,management of cuttings at the nursery,bagged cuttings ready for transplanting,packing and handling,transportation,and preparation of records for archives.

Book Review on the Illustrated Seeds of Chinese Medicinal Plants

Medicinal plants are important source for Oriental and Western medicines.There are more than 500 herbs commonly used today in China,in which near 30% of them are seed medicines and over

Effects of plant growth regulators on the rapid proliferation of shoots and root induction in the Chinese traditional medicinal plant Atractylodes macrocephala

We developed an efficient plant regeneration protocol for rapidly propagating Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz,an important traditional Chinese medicinal plant,via shoot organogenesis.Shoot multiplication was induced on Murashige-Skoog(MS)medium supplemented with various concentrations of N-phenyl-N-1,2,3-thidiazol-5-ylurea(TDZ),6-benzylaminopurine(BA)andα-naphthaleneacetic acid(NAA).Rooting was induced on half-strength MS medium supplemented with NAA and indolebutyric acid(IBA).The maximum mean number of shoots(5.61)was obtained from a single explant by the combined effect of 1.08μmol/L NAA and 2.25μmol/L TDZ.The longest roots and a minimum number of roots were produced when they were cultured in a medium without plant growth regulators.The shortest roots and the largest number of roots were observed in the medium supplemented with 2.7μmol/L NAA.