The Wuliang Mountains of the Jingdong region is a settlement area of the Yi community located in south-western Yunnan Province in China. Due to its unique geographical location, this area harbours abundant medicinal plant resources. The medicinal plants used by the local people have a long history and play an important role in their daily life. During the long-term mixed lifestyle, the knowledge of traditional medicinal plants in different communities has been assimilated to some extent. Therefore, this paper is based on ethnobotanical investigations to document traditional medicinal plants used by local people and discuss the differences between the Yi and Han communities in the study area. Data on traditional medicinal plants were collected from September 2016 to August 2017 in the Yi autonomous county of Jingdong. Seven townships and 16 villages were selected for the field investigations. Information was obtained through key informant interviews. A total of 44 key informants were interviewed, and all of them were herbalists or herbal sellers. In this study, a total of 302 traditional medicinal plant species belonging to 117 families and 252 genera were investigated and documented, most of which were obtained from herbalists. Although family Asteraceae was the most prevalent, with 27 species, the most commonly utilized species were members of family Papaveraceae, Dactylicapnos scandens (D. Don) Hutch., which is used as an antipyretic drug. Herbs comprised half of the total number of species, and the whole plant is the most frequently utilized plant part. The plants were used to treat more than 93 human diseases, with antipyretic drugs being the most common form of herbal medicine. The traditional medicinal plants used in the study area possess a high ratio of being documented in the literature. According to the analysis, the Chinese Pharmacopoeia recorded 76 species and the Resources of Traditional Chinese Medicine recorded 233 species of traditional medicinal plants. By evaluating the endangered status of the traditional medicinal plants in the study area, we found good conservation status of the cited medicinal plants. Regarding the similarity between the communities, there were significant differences between the Yi and Han communities, as indicated by the Jaccard similarity index (0.232). Medicinal plants are the embodiment of wisdom from our ancestors and play a significant role in treating various human disorders. As one of the birthplaces of Yi medicine, the study area possesses a high species diversity of traditional medicinal plants used by local people. With the rapid development of modern medicine, however, the inheritance of this valuable culture is facing enormous threats even though its potential value has not yet been fully explored. Therefore, some effective protection measures should be taken, and some modern techniques should be implemented to prove the safety and improve the scientific acceptance of the traditional medicinal plants.

Rural communities in Kenya largely depend on plant resources for their livelihood. The utilization of these resources depends on the availability of plant resources and the level of knowledge of the residents. We conducted an ethnobotanical study in Tharaka-Nithi County in Kenya to determine the knowledge and utilization of various plant species by the local communities. The study was conducted in four major administrative regions from June 2018 to February 2019, involving interview schedules using semi-structured open-ended questionnaires and guided field collections with 48 informants. A total of 214 plant species distributed in 73 families and 169 genera with 616 Use Reports (URs) were documented. Fabaceae was the highest family cited by the informants (31 species) followed by Lamiaceae and Euphorbiaceae (each with 11 species). Trees (49%) and shrubs (32%) were the top life forms of the plants frequently utilized by the local residents. The general plant uses reported were medicinal, food, fodder, construction, fuel, pesticidal, religious, live fencing, and making crafts. Zanthoxylum gilletii, Prunus africana, and Solanum incanum were found to be highly valued by the local communities. Plant utilization as food and medicinal uses against snake-bite related problems had the highest Informant Consensus Factor (ICF). Only 29 (13.6%) of the species reported had their status assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Conservation measures, alongside awareness creation in this region, are highly recommended for the species endemic to the region, highly depended on by the community, and those threatened according to IUCN standards.

Large seeds interact with a wide range of animals (e.g. predators) and are dispersed via certain small animals' foraging behaviours, such as caching. Some of the most iconic species of large‐seeded plants have long fascinated ecologists studying biotic interactions, such as oaks and their relatives in the Fagaceae family. The Fagaceae acorns are dispersed through synzoochory, a specific dispersal mode in which animal partners act as both seed dispersers and granivores. Although granivory (i.e. seed herbivory) can profoundly impact the survival of plant offspring, partial damage on seed reserves is a prevalent phenomenon that does not always result in seed mortality. However, previous single‐species studies have resulted in mixed evidence across treatments and traits, leaving the impact of partial granivory on plant regeneration unclear. Using artificial granivory experiments on 1185 seeds of 20 Fagaceae species, here we quantify how partial loss of seed reserve affects seed germination, seedling growth and biomass allocation across a damage gradient from 0% to 96% biomass loss. We show that, although partial granivory reduces seedling growth (e.g. total biomass and number of leaves), it does not significantly affect seed germination or the overall biomass allocation of seedlings (e.g. leaf mass fraction and root:shoot biomass ratio). Seedlings from seeds more preyed upon have higher specific leaf area, indicating that they tend to grow larger but less protected leaves against herbivores, perhaps to compete for light. Synthesis. As seeds dispersed through scatter‐hoarding granivores have evolved relatively large sizes, like Fagaceae acorns, our findings demonstrate that this type of seeds may tolerate partial granivory in exchange for high dispersal efficiency. This study opens new perspectives to our understanding of seed size diversity and evolution. We conclude that seed size per se is a defensive trait, that large seeds counteract potential losses of seed reserve to escape full predation and allow germination.

Mt Elgon is an ancient transboundary volcanic mountain found at the Kenya-Uganda boarder possessing high plant diversity. This study documents an updated checklist of the mountain’s vascular plants obtained through random-walk field excursions and retrieval of herbarium specimen tracing back to 1900. We compiled 1709 species from 673 genera in 131 families. One new species of the family Cucurbitaceae was also reported. This checklist records respective habitat, habits, elevation ranges, voucher numbers and global distribution ranges of each species. Native and exotic species were also distinguished, where 8.4% of the total species in 49 families were exotic species. There were 103 endemic species, while 14 species were found to be both rare and endemic. IUCN conservation status revealed 2 Critically Endangered, 4 Endangered, 9 Vulnerable and 2 Near Threatened species. This study presents the first and most comprehensive plant inventory of Mt Elgon that will facilitate further ecological and phylogenetic studies.

Euphorbia mbuinzauensis, a succulent new species of theSynadeniumgroup in Euphorbiaceae from Makueni County, Kenya, is described and illustrated. Morphologically, it is most similar toE. pseudomollis, but differs mainly by its shrubby habit (up to 4 m), abaxial leaves surfaces with densely stellate hairs, 2–4-forked cymes, smaller bracts (ca. 2.5 × 3.0 mm), smaller cyathia (6 mm wide), crimson glands without narrow smooth margin, smaller fruits (ca. 8 × 7 mm) and ovoid seeds (ca. 1.8 × 2.2 mm). Furthermore, we performed a molecular phylogenetic analysis of theSynadeniumgroup in Euphorbia sect. Monadenium, based on complete nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) datasets. This phylogenetic inference also supports it to be a distinct species. The new species is assessed as Endangered using the IUCN criteria.

Sinocrassula cuonaensis, a new species of Crassulaceae from southern Xizang, is described and illustrated based on molecular and morphological evidence. Phylogenetically, it is sister to S. densirosulata with robust support. Morphologically, this new species is similar to S. indica var. viridiflava, S. densirosulata, and S. jiaozishanensis in having glabrous indumentum and long inflorescences, but it can be easily distinguished by its rosulate, thick, and near-cylindrical basal leaves, greenish white flowers, and sub-rectangular nectar scales. A key for identification of the genus, including the new species, is provided.