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The genus Saraca L. (Leguminosae) is a universal panacea in herbal medicine. The present study investigates the comparative pollen morphology of four species of Saraca viz. S. asoca (Roxb.) de Wilde, S. declinata (Jack) Miq., S. indica L., and S. thaipingensis Cantley ex Prain growing in India to reveal differences of their pollen structures to aid taxonomic and evolutionary values. The detailed morphology and surface structure of pollen grains were studied and described using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The pollen grains of Saraca showed isopolar, para-syncolporate, tricolporate, with radially symmetric, prolate and prolate-spheroidal structure. The surface of pollen of S. indica is rugulate with large lirae but in S. declinata, the surface is micro-rugulate to vermiculate with relatively thin lirae and that of S. thaipingensis is indistinct as the psilate surface with a frequent protuberance and fewer perforations were observed along with the gemmae like structure. Exine ornamentation helped to separate S. indica and S. asoca. Exine thickness varies from 3-4 μm. Presence of protuberance and exine thickness varies among individuals of the species spread over different locations. Present work also provides a unique palynological identity and interrelationship of these four species based on cluster analysis taking 23 pollen characters with the help of statistical method like the plotting of ternary graph. Ternary plots also helped to calculate the level of plasticity of each character in the intra-and inter-specific level.

An efficient induction of protocrom-like bodies (PLBs) and plantlet regeneration from the young leaves of in vitro grown seedlings of Coelogyne flaccida, an horticulturally and medicinally important endangered epiphytic orchid, was accomplished in order to develop mass-scale propagation. The young leaves (1.5 cm in length) from 110 days old aseptically germinated seedling were grown in vitro in Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) medium supplemented with different concentrations and combinations of NAA ( 0.5-2 mg/L), BAP (0.5-2 mg/L) and Kn ( 0.5-2 mg/L ). The explants produced protocorm-like bodies directly from the epidermal cells of leaf without the formation of intervening callus tissue within four weeks of culture. The highest number of plantlets regenerated through PLBs per explant after 15 weeks was 35-36 in presence of NAA (2mg/l) and Kn (2mg/l). Within 20-25 weeks individual plantlets produced 2-3 leaves and 2-3 roots. Chromosome number from all plants regenerated from leaf explants showed the same chromosome number as the mother plant as 2n = 40. During acclimatization, 80% of the plantlets survived after one month of transplantation.

Background Saraca L. is one of the treasures throve of medicinally important plants in Indian subcontinent with its four species among which two are naturally distributed. It is one of the important resources of highly active phytochemicals due to which it proclaims a legendary position from ancient medicinal practices to modern ages. The crude extracts of flowers of four species were prepared using Soxhlet apparatus in petroleum benzene, ethyl acetate and 90% methanol sequentially. RP-HPLC (reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography)-based analysis of the presence of different phytochemicals using 15 different polyphenolic phytochemical standards was done to assess and quantify different phytochemicals. Results RP-HPLC-based evaluation revealed the presence different polyphenolic compounds like catechins, chlorogenic acid, vanillic acid, caffeic acid, gallic acid, t-cinnamic acid, anthrol, p-coumaric acid, biochanin A, etc., in a considerable amount which is very crucial for the phytomedicinal field. The correlations of the presence of known phytochemicals give a basis of phytochemical correlation among the four species. The RP-HPLC chromatographic data were applied to develop the complete phytochemical coding according to the complete set of chemicals found among the species to evaluate phytochemical correlation among them in a different way. This application also produces strong evidence of distinguishing features of S. indica and S. asoca that were considered as same species by some traditional taxonomy. Conclusion Extracts of S. thaipingensis contain highest amount of polyphenolic compounds, and the lowest amount was found in S. declinata. The phytochemical relations among S. asoca and S. declinata are high, and S. indica also has close relations with them, but S. thaipingensis has distinct divergence.

Mulberry (Morus sp.), belonging to moraceae family, is perennial in nature but maintained mostly as bushes for commercial purposes; its foliage serves as feed for silkworm. The present work was undertaken to study the variability among 29 exotic genotypes for yield and yield related traits, viz., total shoot length/plant/crop, fresh weight (g) of 100 leaves/plant/crop, fresh weight (g)/leaf and specific leaf weight (g) per square meter. Three-year data with five crops per year were used for the present study. Parameters like heritability (broad-sense), genetic coefficient of variation, phenotypic coefficient of variation, genotypic correlations, phenotypic correlations and environmental correlations suggested that the traits under study were under genetic control and could be used to improve mulberry. Mahalanobis divergence analysis, followed by Tocher method of clustering, provided three genotypic clusters. The analysis also revealed that mulberry varieties of different geographic origin might not be different genotypically.