J. Hugo Cota-Sánchez

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor at University of Saskatchewan

Vivipary, the germination of seeds before they are shed from the parent plant, is a rare event in angiosperms involving complex ecophysiological processes. Pseudovivipary and cryptovivipary occur in approximately 30 (2%) species of the cactus family. A remarkable case of vivipary in Epiphyllum phyllanthus is described here. Information is provided...

Vivipary, the germination of seeds within the fruit prior to abscission from the maternal plant, is an important event in plants. Two main types of vivipary are known in vascular plants: true vivipary and pseudovivipary. In crop grasses, pseudovivipary is an undesirable character as it results in lower yields. To date, vivipary in the Cactaceae has...

Vivipary, a rare reproductive strategy in flowering plants, has been previously reported in only four species of the Cactaceae. In this paper, eight additional examples (Cleistocactus smaragdiflorus, Disocactus martianus, the hybrid Epiphyllum X Fern la Borde, Harrisia martinii, Lepismium ianthothele, L. monacanthum, Rhipsalis micrantha forma micra...

In this Note,I discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the curriculum of biological sciences with an emphasis on courses in plant (botany-related) sciences. Based on my own experience, I consider some options on how to effectively deliver remote courses and train students in botany, taxonomy, and plant systematics using virtual collections and, whenever...

This review examines the historical research progress and areas of vivipary currently investigated in the Cactaceae. Vivipary, a rare attribute, has evolved multiple times in numerous plant lineages; however, a complete understanding of this event is still lacking in the cactus family and plants, in general. This literature search combines the res...

The basic aspects of vivipary, precocious germination within the fruit, are known. Consequently, research on this topic in the Cactaceae has increased in the last two decades and becoming more diversified. The family is amongst the most viviparous-rich angiosperm families together with some mangrove lineages. In this paper we report a new case of f...

The basic aspects of vivipary, precocious germination within the fruit, are known. Consequently, research on this topic in the Cactaceae has increased in the last two decades and becoming more diversified. The family is amongst the most viviparous-rich angiosperm families together with some mangrove lineages. In this paper we report a new case of f...

The basic aspects of vivipary, precocious germination within the fruit, are known. Consequently, research on this topic in the Cactaceae has increased in the last two decades and becoming more diversified. The family is amongst the most viviparous-rich angiosperm families together with some mangrove lineages. In this paper we report a new case of f...

Vivipary also known as the precocious germination of seeds while still attached to the mother plant or fruit, it's a relatively common phenomenon in angiosperms. However, the proliferating seedlings though interesting to look at, deter customers from eating the fruits. Similarly, vivipary is an adverse phenomenon for the agroindustry because of the...

Floral appendages display an array of shapes and sizes. Among these organs, staminodes are morphologically diverse structures that have lost the ability to produce pollen, but in some instances, they produce fertile pollen grains. In the family Cactaceae staminodes are uncommon and range from simple linear to flat to spatulate structures, but studi...

Staminodes are floral structures occurring in approximately one-third of the angiosperms. These organs often go unnoticed in nature because they may mimic other floral parts. Consequently, their macro- and micromorphological portrayal in the literature is limited. This study presents a detailed descriptive account of staminodes in the Cactaceae, sp...

Reviewer Acknowledgement

As taxonomists who have embraced the amalgamation of traditional and modern research techniques, we have witnessed dramatic changes and the gradual disappearance of one of the oldest disciplines in biological science, that is, taxonomy and the associated application of nomenclature. In this note we address some of the causes and effects behind redu...

Shifting agriculture (SA), a common practice in tropical areas, involves fallow phases between crop cycles, enabling the recovery of plant communities and soil fertility. However, the reduction of fallow length adversely influences forest structure and topsoil properties. The diversification in tree composition is considered to favour suitable leve...

The purpose of this Special Issue is to expose the research projects that past graduate students have conducted as part of the requisites for the completion of a graduate course on Floral Biology and Pollination of Native and Cultivated Plants. This course has been traditionally offered by the Comparative Biology Graduate Program at the Universidad...

Within the flower, the stamens are among the structures that have undergone morphological and functional changes. The pantropical family Dilleniaceae includes ca. 400 species distributed in four subfamilies and 11 genera is among the flowering plants with flowers combining primitive and ancestral structures and poricidal anthers. The aim of this st...

This note discusses the current issues imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on professional meetings. The effects of remote collaborative work are discussed following Baldini's initial note.

This study investigated pollen load in africanized Apis mellifera honey bees foraging on Cosmos sulphureus and Momordica charantia, two species from rural and urban environment in the city of Maringá, Paraná. The collections were divided into two localities, the first in rural settings and the second in urban gardens. Forty bees presenting pollen i...

Shifting agriculture (SA) involving fallow intervals between crop cycles is common in tropical areas. It allows the recovery of soil fertility for subsequent crops. However, the diminishing of fallow intervals (referred here as intensification of SA) is a main cause of forest degradation. Agroforestry systems (AFSs) based on modification of mature...

The family Cactaceae exhibits an assortment of fleshy and dry fruit types with various shapes dictated by the gynoecium outline and surrounding pericarpel. Consequently, conflicting terminology exists regarding cactus fruit classification because the fruit is a complex structure in which various floral parts participate in development. We examined...

This study focuses on variation in reproductive systems in Acer (maple) species, and how Acer might be a useful genus for understanding floral morphology and the evolution of these highly variable systems. The goals were (1) to conduct a survey of reproductive characters in the genus Acer with an emphasis on floral morphometrics of A. ginnala Maxim...

Saussurea lappa (Decne.) Sch. Bip. (Asteraceae) is a crop used for its medicinal and aromatic properties, but it has become critically endangered due to overharvesting in natural habitats. It is included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and current proactive efforts include the la...

Polyploidy, the possession of more than two sets of chromosomes, is a major biological process a ecting plant evolution and diversi cation. In the Cactaceae, genome doubling has also been associated with re- productive isolation, changes in breeding systems, colonization ability, and speciation. Pachycereus pringlei (S. Watson, 1885) Britton & Rose...

Aims Deforestation and biodiversity loss are two alarming, closely related problems and the main factors triggering changes in land use. Indigenous agricultural practices in the western Amazon Basin are known as chakras, and their structure and dynamics are seemingly optimal for forest management. However, the variability in tree species and the de...

Studies on breeding systems and flower morphology are valuable to infer how environmental factors impose evolutionary change in plants. This study focused on the characterization of floral morphs and reproductive systems in Pachycereus pringlei and how this iconic columnar cactus might be a useful genus to understand the evolution of these highly v...

In plants, vivipary (precocious or premature germination) involves the germination of seeds while still on the parent plant. It is a widespread phenomenon in plants characterized by the lack of seed dormancy. Here, the first formal account of vivipary in tomato is presented. The aims of this study were to: (i) disseminate a straightforward descript...

The genus Opuntia, commonly known as prickly pear cactus, includes species that produce nutritious fruits and young, edible cladodes (stem pads, also called joints), which are used as a vegetable. The prickly pear fruit is known as tuna, Indian fig, Christian fig, and tuna de Castilla. Mexico is considered one of the major areas of genetic diversit...

abstract: We revised the distribution and conservation status of Sparganium L. for the Canadian Prairie Provinces (cpp ) based on herbarium voucher specimens. In the region, we recognized eight species: Sparganium americanum, S. angustifolium, S. emersum, S. eurycarpum, S. fluctuans, S. glomeratum, S. hyperboreum, and S. natans. Among these, Sparga...

We provide distribution maps of carnivorous plants as well as an assessment of rarity status and potential threats to diversity of carnivorous taxa in Saskatchewan using a biodiversity informatics approach. Saskatchewan is home to ten carnivorous species ranging from the Mixed Grassland ecoregion in the southwest to the Selwyn Lake Upland ecoregion...

Seedling morphology is relevant in classification, taxonomy, and vegetation studies to understand plant life cycles, germination succession and requirements, and developmental progression. However, most morphological studies of seedlings lack analysis of organ anatomy, impeding the comprehension of series of development and establishment in a parti...

The movement of sensitive stamens in flowers of the Plains Prickly Pear (Opuntia polyacantha) is describedin detail along with the external and internal filament anatomy. The goals of this investigation were: (1)to provide a synthesis of floral phenology and determine whether this rather unique stamen movementis nastic or a tropism and (2) to condu...

This study provides preliminary data on floral morphology and anatomy in representative members of tribes Hylocereeae and Rhipsalideae (subfam. Cactoideae).

This study was undertaken to better understand Allium infrageneric taxonomy, character evolution, species diversification, and patterns of radiation in disjunct species between the New and Old World using morphological and molecular data. Taxonomic sampling focused on northeastern Asian (mainly Korean and northeastern Chinese) and representative di...

Plant mines are structures with the form of a cavity caused by consumption of host plant tissue by the insect's miner larvae. Plant mines are more common in leaves, but in Cipocereus minensis, a species in which the leaves are modified spines, the miner activity is restricted to the stem. The aim of this paper was to document the morphological and...

Scanning electron microscopy has allowed the characterization of cell pattern and ornamentation of the bulb coat, leaf, and seed coat, thereby improving and providing consistency to the taxonomy of Allium. However, the pollination biology and taxonomic understanding of Allium is far from complete, in part because floral structures have been investi...

This is a reply to Ortega-Baes’ et al. (2010) survey of 25 Argentinean species of cacti evaluated for vivipary. We argue that the sample size and geographic area of the species investigated is insufficient to totally exclude the putative commonness of this condition in the Cactaceae. We indicate possible reasons why they did not find viviparous fru...

The taxonomy, rarity, and conservation status of AlliumL. is revised for the Canadian prairie provinces, based on analyses of herbarium specimens and fieldwork. Five species are recognized: AlliumschoenoprasumL., A.geyeri S.Watson var. tenerum M.E.Jones, A.textile A.Nelson & J.F.Macbride, A.cernuum Roth, and A.stellatum Ker Gawler. Distribution map...

A SEM survey of seed, stem, stomata, and fruit characters was conducted to investigate patterns of infraspecifi c variability in Rhipsalis baccifera. New and Old World seeds were analyzed to assess the taxonomic value of their morphological features and the presence of gigas characters in polyploid versus diploid subspecies. The seeds are mussel-sh...

A SEM survey of seed, stem, stomata, and fruit characters was conducted to investigate patterns of infraspecific variability in Rhipsalis baccifera. New and Old World seeds were analyzed to assess the taxonomic value of their morphological features and the presence of gigas characters in polyploid versus diploid subspecies. The seeds are mussel-sha...

Chromosome counts are reported for 68 individuals in 64 taxa (including one interspecific hybrid) in 36 genera of 15 families. Of these, 11 taxa are counted for the first time.

Paspalum, an American genus of the x = 10 Paniceae clade, includes about 330 species, four subgenera, and 27 informal groups. Within the genus, the Quadrifaria and Virgata groups are well-represented in South and Central America. Interspecific variability make the delimitation of these groups difficult; hence several species have been included or e...

Phylogeny reconstruction is challenging when branch lengths vary and when different genetic loci show conflicting signals. The number of DNA sequence characters required to obtain robust support for all the nodes in a phylogeny becomes greater with denser taxon sampling. We test the usefulness of an approach mixing densely sampled, variable non-cod...

La familia Cactaceae es característica del Nuevo Mundo. La diversidad taxonómica y carácter monofilético hace a este grupo de plantas un modelo interesante para estudiar aspectos biológicos, evolutivos y filogenéticos. Entre estos, destaca la viviparidad, un raro evento en angiospermas. Viviparismo es un proceso reproductivo genético y metabólicame...

This study focuses on the floristic composition of aquatic and semi-aquatic plants in the SASKWater canal system and their potential effect on irrigation systems. A checklist, evaluation, and synthesis of the species identified in this survey before and after the application of the herbicide Magnacide are provided, in addition to a brief discussion...

In this study, we investigated the floristic relationships between China and Canada based on comparative analysis of their spermatophyte floras. Floristic lists were compiled from standard floras and then subjected to cluster analysis using UPGMA and NMS ordination methods. Our data demonstrate that the Chinese spermatophyte flora is considerably m...

This study comprised a scanning electron microscope survey of abaxial epidermal features in subfamily Danthonioideae, with emphasis on North American Danthonia. The survey included 21 taxa, encompassing seven genera (Austrodanthonia, Cortaderia, Danthonia, Merxmuellera, Notodanthonia, Rytidosperma, Tribolium) and the eight North American Danthonia...

This report summarizes major changes in previously published protocols for DNA extraction to improve the quality of DNA extracted from plants. Here, we highlight the critical modifications in the original protocols. The efficiency of these changes results in high-quality DNA ready to use in a variety of phytogenetically distant plant families, in p...

With nearly 164000 specimens, the W. P. Fraser Herbarium (SASK) ranks among the top 15 major herbaria in Canada. SASK is involved in the development of botanical collections, floristic inventories, taxonomic, systematic and biodiversity studies in Saskatchewan and specializes primarily in the province’s native flora. In this paper an annotated list...

Parsimony analysis of plastid rpl16 sequences from 62 members of Tribe Cacteae, and four outgroup taxa yielded 1296 equally parsimonious trees of length 666. Strict consensus evaluation of these trees established a highly pectinate topology, which delimited clades within the tribe that correspond to several previously considered generic groups. Azt...

The cacti of Canada include four taxa: Escobaria vivipara var. vivipara, Opuntia fragilis var. fragilis, O. humifusa, and O. polyacantha var. polyacantha. These species are well adapted to survive the freezing temperatures prevalent during the long Canadian winters. Although they are widely distributed in the southern portion of the country, some s...

DNA sequence data from the chloroplast gene ndhF were analyzed to estimate the phylogeny of the subfamily Panicoideae, with emphasis on the tribe Paniceae. Our data suggest that the subfamily is divided into three strongly supported clades, corresponding to groups with largely identical base chromosome numbers. Relationships among the three clades...

An analysis of chloroplast DNA restriction site variation was undertaken to investigate the evolutionary divergence of Ferocactus and its possible relationship with North American columnar cacti of tribe Pachycereeae. Our chloroplast DNA study using parsimony-based phylogenetic reconstruction methods provides molecular synapomorphies to define majo...

Peyote: The Divine Cactus. E. F. Anderson 1996. ISBN 0-8165-1654-5 (paper US$19.95, cloth US$50.00) 272pp. University of Arizona Press, 1230 N. Park Avenue, Suite 102, Tucson AZ 85719. - This book represents the second edition of a book first published in 1980. It introduces the reader to the extraordinary and fascinating world of peyote (Lophophor...

Meiotic and mitotic chromosome numbers were determined for 14 taxa of Ferocactus. Chromosome numbers are reported for the first time for seven species, including two varieties of F. peninsulae, and chromosome counts were confirmed for an additional six species. All taxa investigated were diploid and have a basic chromosome number of x =11. Within t...

The deletion of an approximately 700-bp intron in the chloroplast-encoded gene rpoC1 was shown in 21 representative species of the subfamily Cactoideae of the angiosperm family Cactaceae. Members of the subfamilies Pereskioideae and Opuntioideae were found to possess the intron, as did members of the related families Aizoaceae, Basellaceae, Didiere...

Book Review about individual case studies of endangered species of cacti in Mexico and strategies to safeguard them.

Mitotic chromosomes of 11 diploid (2n = 22) species of Echinocereus and five varieties of the polyploid (2n = 4x = 44) E. engelmannii included in the seven taxonomic sections of the genus were studied. The genus exhibits relatively symmetric karyotypes, having mostly metacentric chromosomes. Likewise, interspecific and intraspecific variability was...

Analyses of meiotic and mitotic chromosomes were undertaken in 16 taxa of Echinocereus belonging to 12 species and all seven taxonomic sections (sensu Taylor). Chromosome numbers are reported for the first time for eight taxa, and previously published chromosome counts are confirmed for the remaining eight. Both diploid and polyploid counts were ob...

A general overview about the floral biology and pollination syndromes in the genus Echinocereus (Cactaceae) is discussed in conjunction with the possible mechanisms for diversification.

Chromosome numbers and karyotypes were determined in 16 taxa of Echinocereus belonging to 12 species and all seven taxonomic sections (sensu Taylor). Chromosome numbers are reported for the first time for eight taxa, and previously published chromosome counts are confirmed for the remaining eight. Both diploid and polyploid counts were obtained. El...

Typescript (photocopy). Thesis (M.A.)--Claremont Graduate School, 1992. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-41).

The taxonomy, rarity, and conservation status of Allium L. is revised for the Canadian prairie provinces, based on analyses of herbarium specimens and fieldwork. Five species are recognized: Allium schoenoprasum L., A. Distribution maps and a key to species are provided, as well as complete descriptions of the species examined, including new illust...