Monograph of Diplachne (Poaceae, Chloridoideae, Cynodonteae).

Diplachne P. Beauv. comprises two species with C4 (NAD-ME) photosynthesis. Diplachne fusca has a nearly pantropical-pantemperate distribution with four subspecies: D. fusca subsp. fusca is Paleotropical with native distributions in Africa, southern Asia and Australia; the widespread Australian endemic D. f. subsp. muelleri; and D. f. subsp. fascicularis and D. f. subsp. uninervia occurring in the New World. Diplachne gigantea is known from a few widely scattered, older collections in east-central and southern Africa, and although Data Deficient clearly is of conservation concern. A discussion of previous taxonomic treatments is provided, including molecular data supporting Diplachne in its newer, restricted sense. Many populations of Diplachne fusca are highly tolerant of saline substrates and most prefer seasonally moist to saturated soils, often in disturbed areas. Some populations of Diplachne fusca in southern Asia combine nitrogen-fixation, high salinity tolerance and palatibilty to livestock, which should be pursued with further research for purposes of soil reclamation. Diplachne fusca subsp. uninervia is the most invasive of the subspecies and is becoming weedy in some non-native areas, including in the Old World. This monograph provides detailed descriptions of all taxa, a key to the species and subspecies, geographic distributions and information on the anatomy of leaves, stems, lemmatal micromorphology and discussions of the chromosome numbers. Lectotypes are designated for: Atropis carinata Grisb.; Diplachne acuminata Nash; Diplachne capensis (Nees) Nees var. concinna Nees; Diplachne capensis (Nees) Nees var. obscura Nees, Diplachne capensis (Nees) Nees var. prolifera subvar. minor Nees, Diplachne halei Nash, Diplachne maritima E.P. Bicknel, Diplachne muelleri Benth., Diplachne reverchonii Vasey, Diplachne tectoneticola Backer, Leptochloa imbricata Thurb., Leptochloa neuroglossa Peter, Leptochloa uninervia var. typica fo. abbreviata Parodi, Triodia ambigua R. Br. and Triodia parviflora R. Br.

Establishing Australian Norms for the Jebsen Taylor Test of Hand Function in Typically Developing Children Aged Five to 10 Years: A Pilot Study.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to present preliminary normative data for the Jebsen Taylor Test of Hand Function test (JTTHF) in Australian children. Normative data provide reference values for comparison of upper limb capacity when evaluating and planning treatment. METHODS: The JTTHF administration procedures and materials were standardized. One hundred and two typically developing children aged 5 to 10 years in Brisbane, Australia, were then assessed using the JTTHF. RESULTS: Five-year-old children were significantly different to all other groups (one year age bands), and 6-year-old children were significantly different from 9-year-old children in the dominant hand. Regression modeling showed improvements of 0.9 and 0.89 s in JTTHF total time for the dominant and nondominant hands, respectively, for every 12 months of maturation in 6- to 10-year-old children. CONCLUSIONS: This paper presents preliminary JTTHF norms for Australian typically developing children 5 years, 6 to 7 years, 8 to 9 years, and 10 years of age.

Grassroots e-floras in the Poaceae: growing GrassBase and GrassWorld.

GrassBase and GrassWorld are the largest structured descriptive datasets in plants, publishing descriptions of 11,290 species in the DELTA format. Twenty nine years of data compilation and maintenance have created a dataset which now underpins much of the Poaceae bioinformatics. GrassBase and GrassWorld can continue to grow productively if the proliferation of alternative classifications and datasets can be brought together into a consensus system. If the datasets are reconciled instead of diverging further apart a long term cumulative process can bring knowledge together for great future utility. This paper presents the Poaceae as the first and largest model system for e-taxonomy and the study of classification development in plants. The origin, development, and content of both datasets is described and key contributors are noted. The challenges of alternative classifications, data divergence, collaborative contribution mechanisms, and software are outlined.

Chloroplast Genome of Novel Rice Germplasm Identified in Northern Australia.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) was probably domesticated from O. rufipogon in Asia in the last 10,000 years. Relatives of cultivated rice (A genome species of Oryza) are found in South America, Africa, Australia and Asia. These A genome species are the close relatives of cultivated rice and represent the effective gene pool for rice improvement. Members of this group in Northern Australia include, an annual species, O. meridionalis, and two recently distinguished perennial taxa, to one of which the name O. rufipogon has been applied and the other a perennial form of O. meridionalis. Comparison of whole chloroplast genome sequences of these taxa has now been used to determine the relationships between the wild taxa and cultivated rice. The chloroplast genomes of the perennials were both found to be distinguished from O. rufipogon from Asia by 124 or 125 variations and were distinguished from each other by 53 variations. These populations have remained isolated from the overwhelming genetic impact of the large domesticated rice populations in Asia and may be unique descendants of the gene pool from which domesticated rice arose. The conservation of this wild genetic resource may be critical for global food security.

Molecular relationships between Australian annual wild rice, Oryza meridionalis, and two related perennial forms.

BACKGROUND: The perennial, Oryza rufipogon distributed from Asia to Australia and the annual O. meridionalis indigenous to Australia are AA genome species in the Oryza. However, recent research has demonstrated that the Australian AA genome perennial populations have maternal genomes more closely related to those of O. meridionalis than to those found in Asian populations of O. rufipogon suggesting that the Australian perennials may represent a new distinct gene pool for rice. RESULTS: Analysis of an Oryza core collection covering AA genome species from Asia to Oceania revealed that some Oceania perennials had organellar genomes closely related to that of O meridionalis (meridionalis-type). O. rufipogon accessions from New Guinea carried either the meridionalis-type or rufirpogon-type (like O. rufipogon) organellar genomes. Australian perennials carried only the meridionalis-type organellar genomes when accompanied by the rufipogon-type nuclear genome. New accessions were collected to better characterize the Australian perennials, and their life histories (annual or perennial) were confirmed by field observations. All of the material collected carried only meridionalis-type organellar genomes. However, there were two distinct perennial groups. One of them carried an rufipogon-type nuclear genome similar to the Australian O. rufipogon in the core collection and the other carried an meridionalis-type nuclear genome not represented in the existing collection. Morphologically the rufipogon-type shared similarity with Asian O. rufipogon. The meridionalis-type showed some similarities to O. meridionalis such as the short anthers usually characteristic of annual populations. However, the meridionalis-type perennial was readily distinguished from O. meridionalis by the presence of a larger lemma and higher number of spikelets. CONCLUSION: Analysis of current accessions clearly indicated that there are two distinct types of Australian perennials. Both of them differed genetically from Asian O. rufipogon. One lineage is closely related to O. meridionalis and another to Asian O. rufipogon. The first was presumed to have evolved by divergence from O. meridionalis becoming differentiated as a perennial species in Australia indicating that it represents a new gene pool. The second, apparently derived from Asian O. rufipogon, possibly arrived in Australia later.