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The kodachrome above is the eastern enscarpment of the Sierra San Pedro Martir. The massif in the center of the slide is Cerro Providencia (Pichaco del Diablo), a 3,000 meter peak of the Peninsular Mountains, Baja California Norte, Mexico (photographed by the writer).
Yale University Research News (March 2010):
Molecular phylogenetic studies by Yale University colleagues suggest a late Triassic age for the flowering plant crown group (March 2010). Contrary to assertions reported in the Science Daily, Stephen A. Smith et al. (2010) are not the first scientists to propose a Triassic origin of angiosperms.
Discussion Meeting Issue "Darwin and the Evolution of Flowers" (February 2010):
Volume 365, Number 1539 of the Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences (2010), edited by Peter R. Crane, Else Marie Friis, and William G. Chaloner is devoted to a discussion of Charles Darwin and the origin of flowers.
Fifteen articles are devoted to the topic including papers by:
Endress, P. A. 2010. The evolution of floral biology in basal angiosperms. Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences 365(1539): 411-421.
Friis, E. M., K. R. Pedersen, and P. R. Crane. 2010. Diversity in obscurity: fossil flowers and the early history of angiosperms. Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences 365(1539): 369-382.
Jasinski, S., A. C. M. Vialette-Guiraud, and C. P. Scutt. 2010. The evolutionary-developmental analysis of plant microRNAs. Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences 365(1539): 469-476.
Mathews, S., M. D. Clements, and M. A. Beilstein. 2010. A duplicate gene rooting of seed plants and the phylogenetic position of flowering plants. Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences 365(1539): 383-395.
Rudall, P. J. and R. M. Bateman. 2010. Defining the limits of flowers: the challenge of distinguishing between the evolutionary products of simple versus compound strobili. Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences 365(1539): 397-409.
Charles Darwin Bicentennial Issue of the American Journal of Botany (January 2009):
The January 2009 issue of the American Journal of Botany explores the origin, evolution, and radiation of flowering plants. More than twenty articles are devoted to the topic.
Contributions to The Jepson Manual Second Edition (July 2008):
John has revised and submitted treatments of Anacardiaceae (Malosma, Pistacia, Rhus, and Schinus), Cucurbitaceae (Brandegea, Citrullus, Cucumis, Cucurbita, and Marah), Lamiaceae (Acanthomintha, Glechoma, Hedeoma, Lycopus, Marrubium, Melissa, Moluccella, Nepeta, Poliomintha, Prunella, Salazaria, Satureja, and Teucrium), and Montiaceae (Calandrinia, Calyptridium [with C. Matt Guilliams], Cistanthe [with C. Matt Guilliams], Claytonia, Lewisia, and Montia), for a second edition of The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California.
Back Issues of Selected Botanical Journals Are Available (March 2007):
These volumes are available free-of-charge (recipient must make financial arrangements with a carrier, and pre-pay shipping charges from California, USA, to destination). I will box them and hand-carry to the shipping vendor for weighing. The gigantopteroid.org web site will not be involved in any financial transactions.
Allertonia Volumes 1 and 2
Systematic Botany (Volumes 1 through 31)
Kindly note that the Systematic Botany volumes are heavy, weighing more than 100 hundred kilograms. If interested, please contact me.
Paleobotanical Books, Graphics, and Reprints are Sought (March 2007):
I welcome complementary copies of recent editions of books, reprints of paleobotanical monographs, and reprints of journal articles on paleontology on an exchange basis. Could someone donate a copy of the out-of-print book titled "Fossil Floras of China Through the Ages"?
Articles in pdf format are sought, but electronic versions must be in compliance with the copyright laws of the originating country.
I am also interested in receiving images and graphics for use on the gigantopteroid web site (with permissions, please). Scientific and software publishers and free-lance artists are encouraged to help me improve and enhance the educational value of this web site. If interested, please contact me.
Systematics of Claytonia [Portulacaceae] (July 2006):
Interested persons may order a copy through the editorial office of Systematic Botany Monographs or other booksellers including NHBS Environmental Bookstore, Devon, UK.
Death Valley Desert Blooms (April 2005):
The 2005 bloom season was extraordinary on the floor and alluvial debris fans of Death Valley, a graben located east of the Panamint Mountains, Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California, USA. The author and his associates visited the region in April 2005 and captured these images, among others.
To the left is an image of a Holocene debris fan of the Amargosa Mountains (the Panamint Mountains are to the right): the yellow color is a population of Geraea canescens (Asteraceae, Asterales, Asteranae). To the right is a close-up of Eremalche rotundiflora (Malvaceae, Malvales, Rosanae) photographed by Homer Hobi (who accompanied John together with Ed Dipesa).
Fairy Lantern Field Biology (April 2004):
Together with Tim Armstrong, the author discovered a previously undocumented population of Calochortus pulchellus (Liliaceae, Liliales, Lilianae) from a volcanic plateau in southern Solano County, California, USA. The Mount Diablo fairy lantern was previously known from Contra Costa County on Mount Diablo, a prominent mountain peak of the Diablo Range rising above the foothills south of the Carquinez Straits and Suisun Bay of western North America.
Students may wish to read about Calochortus pulchellus in recent biosystematic studies of some Calochortus species published by Bryan Ness in 1989 (Systematic Botany 14:495-505).
REVISED AND POSTED MAY 9, 2010
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