The abundance of Coniferae in Szechuan Province is a well-known fact, especially of the Order Pinales. There are so far 19 genera 68 species and varieties belonging to the Pinaceae, Taxodiaceae and Cupressaceae. This paper dealing with the fundamental features in the distribution of these plant-groups may be not only of scientific interest but also of great importance to forestry. According to an analysis of the influence of historic, geographic and ecological conditions on the distribution of plants, it is shown that the differantiation of geographical distribution of genera and species in these 3 familias between the eastern and the western areas is very evident. There are (Tab. 1) 18 genera and 27 species in the eastern area, including 6 monotypic genera, they are Cathaya, Pseudolarix, Metosequoia, Glyptostrobus, Fokienia and Platycladus. As the great concentration of the monotypic and paleo-endemic genera is not found elsewhere, this area therefore distinctly indicates the relic nature. It seems most probably that they came originally into existence in subtropical and warm-temperate climates of middle lalitudes in the northern hemisphere, and most of them are in the lands bordering the Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, there are 13 genera and 56 species in the western area with only one monotypic genus (Platycladus) present, and most genera are polytypic with wide ranges. The number of species in these genera here is larger than in any other areas, for example, Abies and Picea are represented 12 species each (Fig. 1-4). There are 10 species in Sabina (Fig. 5). It might be considered that each genus has developed into a great centre, In addition, it has been discussed in detail regarding the vicarious distributions in geography, verticality, and ecology of ralated species in Abies, Picea, Tsuga, Keteleeria, Larix, Pinus and Cupressus (Fig. 3-5), as well as the re lationship of these species. As shown above, these plants are also, without doubt, of very old origin. Moreover, they are most likely very much closely related with Tethys in the past, but the majority species apparently have arisen in relalively recent times. They are due to the effect of mountain-making and glaciation, principally in consequence of the cooling process of the climatic vicissitude.

With highly varied ecological conditions resulted from wide latitudinal and altitudinal ranges and from adequate precipitation, China has developed a very rich flora of great diversity. As far as Taxads and Conifers is concerned, there are 158 species and 43 varieties of them in China, belonging to 6 families and 30 genera, of which 9 genera are endemic. In the present paper the ecological distribution of these endemic genera and its phytogeographical significance are discussed. 1. There are 9 endemic genera of Taxads and Conifers in China and neighbouring area. They are distributed in the mountain areas of southern, southeastern and southwestern China (fig. 1-2) at an altitude of 100-1800 meters, with a few endemic genera reaching as high as 2800 meters. 2. The mean annual temperature varies between 10℃-20℃, with an extreme minimum between -6.3℃ to-11.3℃. The soil pH is between 4.5-5.5, indicating an acidic reaction. 3. As is shown in figure 3, 24 endemic genera of Taxads and Conifers are known to occur in differant parts of the world. Among them, China and neighbouring area ranks the first in having 9 genera. Australia is the second with 5 genera, southern Chile is third (3), followed by Japan (2), western North America (2), New Caledonia (2), and southeastern Siberia, USSR (1). Of the Chinese endemic genera, the first appearence in the fossil records is in the deposits of late Cretaceous or Tertiary (table 1.). It is probable that the southern, southeastern and south-western parts of China is not only the main centre of recent distribution, but also one of the chief survival cen-ters of endemic genera of Taxads and Conifers in the world.

22 kinds of seed oils were extracted from 8 genera of the family Ulmaceae in China The seed oils were examined for their characteristics and fatty acid compositions by gas liquid chromatography. The fatty acid compositions of these oils were found to fall into two classes. Some genera (such as Ulmus, Zelkova) contain mainly lower saturated acids, in which the chief acid is capric acid 10:0, while the genera (such as Celtis, Pteroceltis, Aphananthe, Trema, Gironniera) contain mainly unsaturated acids, in which the chief acid is linoleic acid 18:2. Hemiptelea davidii (Hance) Planch contain however either certain amount of short-chain saturated acids or higher unsaturated acids, it appears a intermediate genus between the two classes. According to the component acids we support that the Ulmaceae be split into two subfamilies. The genera arrangement based on the component acids corresponds basically with the view based on mophological characters and flavonoids found in leaves of Ulmaceae, but there are some discrepancies in certain genera, for example, the Aphananthe should beplaced in Celtoid instead of Ulmoid by the present study.

Abstract We have analysed diterpene quinone constituents of 79 species (containing variety and form) in the genus Salvia by different chemical methods, and found that 38 species of them contain diterpene quinone on this ground, as well as its morphologic, histological structure of root and geographical distribution, we come to a conclusion as follows: l. According to literatural and our analytical date, so far the diterpene quinone have mainly been found in the Labiatae plants that possess the fertile stamen 2 versatile namely in Salvia Linn., upon which a new subfamily Salvioideae is preliminarily proposed here. 2. Deterpene quinone, as a chemotaxonomic charater, is of phylogenetic significance and can be used for identifying the spicies of the genus. 3. A further rearrangement of some species of some series and sections in attribu-tion is needed.

Abstract The genus Cathaya discovered in Kwangsi, Sichuan, Hunan and Guizhou is endemic in China. Only one species (C. argyrophylla Chun et Kuang) has so far been known in the genus. The question on it’s systematic position in the family Pinaceae has been much debated. However, according to some taxonomists and morphologists, this genus is related to genera Pinus, Picea and Pseudotsuga of the Pinaceae. No phytochemical data, especially of serratene components on Cathaya have been recorded. This paper deals with the systematic position of Cathaya in Pinaceae based on seven known components of serratene family which are isolated from the trunk of Cathaya argyrophyua growing in Sichuan. A comparative study on serratene components of Cathaya with other genera ofPinaceae showed that Cathaya is related to genera Pinus and Picea.

The authors have for the time observed that somatic cell of Cathaya argyrophylla contains 24 chromosomes (2n=24) (plate I, 3). One pair of them are subtelocentric chromosomes and the rest are metacentric or submetacentric (Fig. 1). This shows that Cathaya is similar to most of genera in Pinaceae in chromosome numbers, but different from Pseutotsuga (2n-26). It seems that Cathaya is not closely related to Pseudot-suga, although its wood anatomy is very similar to that of Pseudotsuga.

Chromosome numbers are reported for 26 species and varieties of Umbelliferae which belong to 3 subfamilies and 19 genera in this paper. Of these, 13 counts are new records and some problems about chromosome numbers of Umbelliferae are simplydiscussed.

The present paper is a first instalment on the Chromosome counts by the authors of Chinese ferns, representing 13 species collected from the eastern coastal provinces of China. Our findings agree pretty well with the previous ones by botanists mainly in Japan. The voucher specimens for the present study are all preserved in the Department of Biology, the East China Normal University, Shanghai. We wish to thank Professor R. C. Ching for his constant encouragement andguidance in the study of Chinese fern cytology.

The presence of stolons is taxonomically significant in the genus Liriope Linn. However, probably due to a lapse of attention, F. T. Wang and T. Tang failed to recognize Ophiopogon muscari Decne., type of Liriope muscari (Decne.) Bailey, a nonstoloniferous taxon, and erroneously referred it as a synonym to the stoloniferous L. spicata Lour. At the same time, however, they described another non-stoloniferous species-L. platyphylla Wang et Tang (L. muscari Bailey) as new. What, then, is the difference between L. platyphylla Wang et Tang and L. muscari (Decne.) Bailey? A comparison of the type photo of Ophiopogon muscari Decne. with specimens of L. platyphylla Wang et Tang shows that the two forms are much alike, but the latter has longer scapes usually overtopping the foliage, as well as longer spikes and broader leaves. L. H. Bailey must had combined the two forms into one species. Furthermore. there are another two non-stoloniferous forms, both having scapes shorter than their foliage, but differing from L. muscari (Decne.) Bailey in their much narrower leaves. One of them has very short leaves and looks like L. minor Makino. Finally, what are the correlations among the above four forms? By using methods of quantitative analysis, such as pictorialized scatter diagram and histogram, on herbarium material, it has been found that the L. muscari complex can be separated into two parts: 1) muscari (M), and 2) platyphylla (P). But since these two parts display a continuous variation pattern as a whole, it seems advisable to treat both as varieties of the same species, i. e., L. muscari (Decne.) Bailey var. muscari, and L. muscari var. communis (Maxim.) Hsu et L. C. Li. (Ophiopogon spicatus Ker-Cawl. var. communis Maxim.) As to the other two narrow-leaved forms, they can hardly be regarded as sufficient for two distinct infraspecific units, for they are found to be inseparablefrom each other as well as from muscari.

The genus Solms-Laubachia of Cruciferae was established by Muschler in 1912 on the basis of the Chinese species Solms-Laubachia pulcherrima of Yunnan Province. Since then, nine species, two varieties and two forms have been recorded. They are almost all endemic in China except one species—Solms-Laubachia retropilosa Botsch. which was discovered in Sikkim. We described in this paper thirteen species, three varieties and one form, of which, we suppose, three species, one variety and one combination have never been reported before. Most species grow in the mountainous regions of Szechuan, Yunnan, Tibet,Ching-hai and Sinkiang in China.

C. Juzepcuk, in the flora of the USSR X, had divided Sibbaldia L. (sensu lat.) into three genera: Sibbaldia L. (sensu ang.), Dryadanthe Endl. and Sibbaldianthe Juz., based on the number of stamens (5 or 10). We have discovered, however, that the number of floral parts of S. pentaphylla J. Kraus from China is both 4 and 5. We have also found two new species, S. pulvinata Yü ti et Li and S. glabriuscula Yü et Li, to have 5-7 stamens. For this reason, we have to accept a wider genus-Sibbaldia L. (sensu lat.). In the present paper, four new species are described and the description of S. pentaphylla J. Krause is amended.