Chamaerops humilis L.: variabilità ed ecologia delle popolazioni naturali in Sicilia. Prima parte.

EVALUATION OF THE DNA BARCODING APPROACH IN HYPERICUM SPP. DISCRIMINATION

Hypericum, with more than 450 species, is widespread in temperate zones all over the world. In Italy 30 taxa are known (1), 26 species and 4 subspecies; ten of them are native to Sicily, in addition to H. calycinum which is recoded as naturalized. Hypericum biochemical compounds (flavanols, flavonoids, cumarins, glicosidys, terpens, tannins, essential oils) are well recognized for many pharmacological activities: antiflogistic, improving blood flow, against traumas, in wounds and burns recovering. The most important activity is ascribed to the hipericyn, a compound especially derived from Hypericum perforatum L., with successfully application in anti-depressive phytotherapy. The medical rel…

Application of the DNA barcoding in the identification of Mediterranean wild plants with ornamental attitude.

I cinghiali (Sus scrofa L.) come fattore di potenziale decremento della palma nana (Chamaerops humilis L.)

Monitoraggio visivo su palmacee potenziali ospiti del Punteruolo rosso e del Castnide delle palme presenti in Sicilia

Attacks of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus on natural specimens of dwarf fan palm Chamaerops humilis in Sicily.

The red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus was recently introduced into Europe where it has destroyed many Phoenix canariensis palms. This weevil attacks different species of palms in different countries, mainly cultivated date palms (Phoenix dactylifera) in Egypt and cultivated Canary palms (Phoenix canariensis) in Europe. In Europe, sporadic attacks of the weevil to native dwarf fan palm (Chamaerops humilis) have been reported. The current paper reports attacks of R. ferrugineus on dwarf fan palms in natural environments of Sicily. This insect represents an important threat to dwarf palms and to the complex ecosystem where they live.

Phylogenetic analysis of the Sicilian Hieracium taxa (Asteraceae) using "DNA barcoding": preliminary data

Chamaerops humilis L.: variabilità ed ecologia delle popolazioni naturali in Sicilia. Seconda parte.

Genetic and morphologic diversity of European fan palm (Chamaerops humilisL.) populations from different environments from Sicily

Chamaerops humilis is decreasing in abundance in Mediterranean Europe, which has induced the European community to call for its protection in Special Areas of Conservation. However, information about its genetic and morphological variability, which is crucial to the development of any conservation strategies, is insufficient. The present study aimed to investigate the genetic and morphological variability of C. humilis in Sicily, which was selected as a model because of the high number of dense populations. The relationships between morphological traits and climatic variables were studied to highlight patterns of adaptation to the environment, along with the genetic similarity among the pop…

Effectiveness of "DNA BARCODING" approach for the molecular identification of the endangered Sicilian flora

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus attack affects a group of compounds rather than rearranging Phoenix canariensis metabolic pathways.

The red palm weevil (RPW; Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) is spreading worldwide and severely harming many palm species. However, most studies on RPW focused on insect biology, and little information is available about the plant response to the attack. In the present experiment, we used metabolomics to study the alteration of the leaf metabolome of Phoenix canariensis at initial (1st stage) or advanced (2nd stage) attack by RPW compared with healthy (unattacked) plants. The leaf metabolome significantly varied among treatments. At the 1st stage of attack, plants showed a reprogramming of carbohydrate and organic acid metabolism; in contrast, peptides and lipid metabolic pathways underwent more c…

Produzione di semi sintetici di Capparis spinosa (L.). Innovazione e tradizione

The caper bush (Capparis spinosa L.) is a rupiculous species. It is widespread on rocky areas and it grows on different soil associations. Caper can be propagated from fresh seeds, gathered from ripe fruit, or by stem cuttings both methods with unsatisfying results, due to the low germination percentage and to the season-dependent answer of the cutting technique. The aim of the present research has been to evaluate the attitude, for caper in vitro propagules , to be encapsulated. Micro cuttings from in vitro plantlets, were dissected and put on two different Murashige and Skoog liquid media enriched with 4% sodium alginate and 1,4% di CaCl2 separately, for the encapsulation. The synthetic s…