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Sporobolus stapfianus

October 19, 2017 cheeseman 0

Sporobolus stapfianus is a member of one of the largest and most important plant families, the Poaceae, but, alas, as Gaff et al. have put it, it is “obscure”. In this case, the desiccation tolerance is not apparent in all tissues, but is restricted to immature leaves of intact plants, and an as yet uncertain portion of the root system. Young leaves can tolerate drying to a comparable to the dryness of seeds for at least a year. Additional stress tolerances are to ionizing radiation, extreme temperatures and salinity to at least 215 mM NaCl.

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Rhizophora spp.

March 28, 2017 Cheeseman 0

The genus Rhizophora contains more species of mangrove than any other. Their tangled prop root systems – illustrated in the header photo – are the […]

Thellungiella parvula in situ

Schrenkiella parvula

March 28, 2017 atc 0

Schrenkiella parvula – a 7 chromosome member of the Brassicaceae – has an eXtreme ability, in the natural world, to function in the hypersaline conditions surrounding Lake Tuz in central Anatolia, Turkey.  It is also notable for its tolerance of high levels of other cations, especially Li+ and Mg2+ and of Boron. These extreme adaptations were central to the initial decision to sequence the genome of this species.

What is an extremophyte?

December 14, 2015 Cheeseman 0

Extremophytes, or eXtreme plants, or plant extremophiles, are plants evolutionarily adapted to thrive in environments characterized by a high degree of abiotic stress. The list of […]