Chromosome number determinations from 152 collections representing 42 genera and 106 species of the Australian Gnaphalieae and Plucheeae are reported. The chromosome numbers of 75 of these species have not been previously counted or differ from those previously reported for species. Chromosome numbers have been documented for the first time for 14 genera: Argyroglottis (n = 12), Cephalosorus (2n = 24), Decazesia (n = 14), Dielitzia (2n = 26), Eriochlamys (n = 14), Erymophyllum (n = 11 and 14), Gilruthia (n = 13), Leucochrysum (n = 9), Myriocephalus s. str. (n = 14, 2n = 24), Polycalymma s. str. (n = 14), Pterocaulon (n = 10), Pterochaeta (n = 12), Quinetia (2n – 24) and Sondottia (2n = 6). Remaining counts augment and agree with previously reported determinations. Some problems with generic delimitation and interpretation of chromosome data are outlined. There is an array of karyotypes within the Australian Gnaphalieae and dysploidy is widespread. Polyploidy has also played an important role in the evolution of some taxa. Evidence suggests that the base number for Australian Gnaphalieae is x = 14. This may be the base number for the entire tribe.

Micrometer-sized, monodisperse, ”golf ball-like” particles that have numerous dimples at the surfaces were prepared by seeded dispersion polymerization of n-butyl methacrylate (n-BMA), with polystyrene/poly(styrene-co-sodium styrene sulfonate) composite particles as seed, in the presence of dodecane droplets in a methanol/water (80/20, w/w) medium, followed by the evaporation of dodecane. The dimples at the surface were formed by the volume reduction of poly(n-BMA)/dodecane (Pn-BMA/dodecane) domains, because of the evaporation of the dodecane. The size and number of dimples at the surfaces of the obtained golf ball-like particles decreased as the sodium styrene sulfonate content of the seed particles increased. The Pn-BMA/dodecane domains were engulfed deeper in the surface layer of the seed particle, and, thus, dimples became apparently smaller at the surface with an increase in the hydrophilicity of the surface of the seed particle.

Micrometer-sized, hemispherical particles were successfully prepared as a result of the cleavage of Janus PMMA/PS composite particles by dispersion into acetone/water (9/1-10/0 v/v) media or a THF/water (8/2 v/v) medium. The spherical composite particles having a Janus structure were prepared by the slow evaporation of toluene from homogeneous PMMA/PS/toluene droplets dispersed in an aqueous medium in advance. It was clarified that the difference in affinity between PMMA and PS phases with respect to the media caused the cleavage of the composite particles. This method is expected to be a novel approach to the preparation of nonspherical polymer particles.

Micrometer-sized, monodisperse polystyrene (PS)/poly(styrene-co-sodium styrene sulfonate) (P(S-NaSS))/poly(n-butyl methacrylate) (Pn-BMA) composite particles having a 'golf ball-like' shape were prepared by seeded dispersion polymerization of n-butyl methacrylate with PS-core/P(S-NaSS)-shell seed particles with various shell thicknesses in the presence of dodecane droplets in a methanol/water (80/20, w/w) medium, followed by evaporation of the dodecane. The effects of the hydrophilic P(S-NaSS)-shell properties of seed particles on the formation of golf ball-like particles were investigated on the basis of thermodynamic and kinetic considerations. The dimples at the surface formed by the volume reduction of Pn-BMA/dodecane domains were deep when PS/P(S-NaSS) seed particles, the hydrophilic shell of which was thick, were used, whereas PS/P(S-NaSS)/Pn-BMA composite particles, the P(S-NaSS) hydrophilic shell of which was thin, exhibited a polyhedral shape. This is attributed to the fact that the molecular weight of the shell moiety comprising P(S-NaSS) was reduced by lowering the monomer concentration to decrease shell thickness, which seems to result in an increase in the mobility of Pn-BMA/dodecane domains at the particle surface. On the basis of this finding, when the molecular weight of the shell moiety of the seed particle was increased, golf ball-like particles were formed, even if the shell thickness of seed particles was thin.

The generic circumscription and intra-generic relationships of the genus Podolepis Labill., with various chromosome numbers from n = 12 to n = 3, were examined by sequences of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA and the matK gene of chloroplast DNA. The topology of the ITS tree for 17 species and the matK tree for 18 species of the genus Podolepis sensu Davis (1957) and Anderberg (1991) and 15 taxa from eight related genera (Anderberg 1989, 1991, 1994) are basically concordant. Except for P. georgei Diels andP. kendallii F.Muell., parsimony analyses support the monophyly of the genus Podolepis sensu Davis (1957) and Anderberg (1991). The genera of Asteridea Lindl. and Pterochaeta Steetz are sisters toPodolepis in the combined tree based on the ITS and matK sequences. Within the monophyletic clade of the genus Podolepis, three lineages are identified. The chromosome base number of x = 12 may be ancestral in the genus Podolepis. The dysploidal reduction in chromosome number from n = 12 to n = 10 and 9, from n = 12 to n = 8 and 7, and from n = 12 to n = 11 and 3 in three lineages, respectively, is the primary mode of chromosomal evolution in this genus. Total karyotypic length (= genome size) is much greater in perennials than in annuals within the genus Podolepis. The number of pappus bristles on outer female florets tends to decrease and they are absent in some annuals of this genus, while myxogenic cells on the pericarp become prominent.