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1. Vaccinium paradoxum (Vaccinieae, Ericaceae), an unusual new species from sea cliffs on ultrabasic forest of Luzon Island, Philippines

   Tamayo, M.N.; Fritsch, P.W. (January 2022, Taiwania)

   Vaccinium paradoxum is described as a new species of blueberry from the lowland ultrabasic forest of Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, Luzon Island, Philippines. It resembles V. halconense, but differs by having shorter inflorescences, fewer flowers per inflorescence, a glabrous inner surface of the corolla, absence of anther spurs, and a glabrous style. Vaccinium paradoxum is unique among the currently known blueberries in Malesia by the presence of sessile glands borne on the pedicel and predominantly near the centre or scattered on the calyx lobes. It is also the only known Philippine Vaccinium to inhabit lowland ultrabasic forest on sea cliffs. 

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2. The SvFUL2 transcription factor is required for inflorescence determinacy and timely flowering in Setaria viridis

   https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiab169  

   Yang, Jiani; Bertolini, Edoardo; Braud, Max; Preciado, Jesus; Chepote, Adriana; Jiang, Hui; Eveland, Andrea L (April 2021, Plant Physiology)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Inflorescence architecture in cereal crops directly impacts yield potential through regulation of seed number and harvesting ability. Extensive architectural diversity found in inflorescences of grass species is due to spatial and temporal activity and determinacy of meristems, which control the number and arrangement of branches and flowers, and underlie plasticity. Timing of the floral transition is also intimately associated with inflorescence development and architecture, yet little is known about the intersecting pathways and how they are rewired during development. Here, we show that a single mutation in a gene encoding an AP1/FUL-like MADS-box transcription factor significantly delays flowering time and disrupts multiple levels of meristem determinacy in panicles of the C4 model panicoid grass, Setaria viridis. Previous reports of AP1/FUL-like genes in cereals have revealed extensive functional redundancy, and in panicoid grasses, no associated inflorescence phenotypes have been described. In S. viridis, perturbation of SvFul2, both through chemical mutagenesis and gene editing, converted a normally determinate inflorescence habit to an indeterminate one, and also repressed determinacy in axillary branch and floral meristems. Our analysis of gene networks connected to disruption of SvFul2 identified regulatory hubs at the intersection of floral transition and inflorescence determinacy, providing insights into the optimization of cereal crop architecture. 

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3. Dilochia deleoniae (Orchidaceae), a new species from Mindanao, Philippines

   https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.139.46935  

   Tandang, Danilo N.; Galindon, John Michael; Tadiosa, Edwin R.; Coritico, Fulgent P.; Amoroso, Victor B.; Lagunday, Noel E.; Bustamante, Rene Alfred; Penneys, Darin S.; Fritsch, Peter W. (February 2020, PhytoKeys)

   A new species, Dilochia deleoniae Tandang & Galindon (Orchidaceae), from Mindanao Island, Philippines is described and illustrated herein. This species is distinct from other known Philippine Dilochia species by its terrestrial habit and is distinguished from all known Dilochia species by its monopodial inflorescence, rarely branching in two, and a pale yellow to dull orange or brownish-yellow labellum devoid of purple spots. 

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4. Actinostachys minuta, a new species of grass fern from Mindanao, Philippines

   https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.151.53100  

   Amoroso, Victor B.; Coritico, Fulgent P.; Fritsch, Peter W. (June 2020, PhytoKeys)

   Actinostachys minuta Amoroso & Coritico (Schizaeaceae), from Mindanao, Philippines, is described herein as a new species. This species is distinguished from all other species of Actinostachys (grass ferns) by its notably short and narrow fronds, distinct triangular stipe, and bifid apex of the sorophore lamina with profuse white long hairs. This species is distinct from the other known Philippine species of Actinostachys by its diminutive epiphytic habit and a habitat restricted to the trunks of the tree fern Sphaeropteris polypoda (Baker) R.M.Tryon. A taxonomic key to the species of Philippine Schizaeaceae that incorporates the new species is provided. 

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5. Vaccinium hamiguitanense (Ericaceae), a new species from the Philippines

   https://doi.org/10.17348/jbrit.v14.i2.1009  

   Fritsch, Peter W.; Amoroso, Victor B.; Coritico, Fulgent P.; Penneys, Darin S. (December 2020, Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas)

   null (Ed.)

   Vaccinium hamiguitanense, a new species from the Philippines, is described and illustrated. The new species is most similar to V. gitingense Hook. f. but differs by having smaller leaf blades, leaf blade margins with 2 to 4 impressed more or less evenly distributed crenations (glands) per side, inflorescences with fewer flowers, shorter pedicels that are puberulent and muriculate, and a glabrous floral disk. The new species is endemic to Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in Davao Oriental Province of Mindanao Island in Tropical Upper Montane Rain Forest and low (“bonsai”) forest on clay derived from ultramafic rock. We assign an IUCN Red List preliminary status as Data Deficient. 

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