Lauraceae includes the genus Phoebe, and the family is linked to the evolution of magnoliids. We sequenced the genome of Phoebe bournei Nanmu. The assembled genome size was 989.19 Mb, with a contig N50 value of 2.05 Mb. A total of 28,198 protein-coding genes were annotated in P. bournei. Whole-genome duplication (WGD) analysis showed that Lauraceae has experienced two WGD events; the older WGD event occurred just before the divergence of Lauraceae and Magnoliales, and the more recent WGD was shared by all lineages of Lauraceae. The phylogenetic tree showed that magnoliids form a sister clade to monocots and eudicots. We also identified 63 MADS-box genes, including AGL12-like genes that may be related to the regulation of P. bournei roots and FIN219-like genes encoding GH3 proteins, which are involved in photomorphogenesis. SAUR50-like genes involved in light signal-mediated pedicel or stem development were also identified. Four ATMYB46-and three PtrEPSP-homologous genes related to lignin biosynthesis were identified. These genes may be associated with the formation of straight trunks in P. bournei. Overall, the P. bournei reference genome provides insight into the origin, evolution, and diversification of Phoebe and other magnoliids.

Starch is the most important form of carbohydrate storage and is the major energy reserve in some seeds, especially Castanea henryi. Seed germination is the beginning of the plant’s life cycle, and starch metabolism is important for seed germination. As a complex metabolic pathway, the regulation of starch metabolism in C. henryi is still poorly understood. To explore the mechanism of starch metabolism during the germination of C. henryi, we conducted a comparative gene expression analysis at the transcriptional level using RNA-seq across four different germination stages, and analyzed the changes in the starch and soluble sugar contents. The results showed that the starch content increased in 0–10 days and decreased in 10–35 days, while the soluble sugar content continuously decreased in 0–30 days and increased in 30–35 days. We identified 49 candidate genes that may be associated with starch and sucrose metabolism. Three ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) genes, two nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterases (NPPS) genes and three starch synthases (SS) genes may be related to starch accumulation. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to validate the expression levels of these genes. Our study combined transcriptome data with physiological and biochemical data, revealing potential candidate genes that affect starch metabolism during seed germination, and provides important data about starch metabolism and seed germination in seed plants.

Acorus tatarinowii is a useful traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and is officially documented in the Chinese Pharmacopeia with the name 'Shi Chang Pu'. It belongs to the Araceae family and is used for the treatment of dementia, epilepsy, amnesia and insomnia. We resequenced complete chloroplast (cp) genome of A. tatarinowii from Fujian, China. The whole genome was 153,453 bp in length, consisting of a pair of inverted repeats (IR 25,795 bp), a large single-copy region (LSC 83,631 bp), and a small single-copy region (SSC 18,232 bp). The complete genome contained 132 genes, including 84 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA, and 8 rRNA genes. The overall GC content of the whole genome was 38.7%. A maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis showed that A. tatarinowii is sister to A. tatarinowii which was collected in Yunnan, China. The complete chloroplast genome of A. tatarinowii will help improve and integrate the existing genome data of monocots and provide insights into the phylogenetic relationship among basal angiosperms, monocots and dicots.

A new orchid species, Cymbidium codonanthum, from Yunnan Province, China, is described and illustrated based on morphological and molecular analyses. A detailed comparison between the newly discovered orchid and other members of Cymbidium was performed. The new plant what is similar to C. cochleare, but it is characterized by several morphological features that distinguish it from the latter as well as all other known species of Cymbidium. A molecular study based on nuclear ribosomal ITS and plastid matK and rbcL DNA sequence data indicates that C. codonanthum is genetically distinct from other species and a member of Cymbidium section Cyperochis.

Alniphyllum fortunei is a subtropical tree species, a large deciduous tree with a tall and straight trunk, which is an excellent fast-growing and broad-leaved tree species with a wide range of uses we resequenced complete chloroplast (cp) genome of A. fortunei from Fujian, China. The whole genome was 154,166 bp in length, consisting of a pair of inverted repeats (IR 26,658 bp), a large single-copy region (LSC 82,438 bp), and a small single-copy region (SSC 18,367 bp). The complete genome contained 139 genes, including 89 protein-coding genes, 40 tRNA, and 8 rRNA genes. The phylogenetic analyses based on the complete chloroplast genome sequence provided solid evidence that A. fortunei has a close relationship with A. pterospermum and Bruinsmia polysperma.

Seed germination is the beginning of the plant’s life cycle, and seed biology is one of the most extensively researched areas in plant physiology, however, Castanea henryi as an important seed plant, the stable internal reference gene during germination is not clear. In this study, seven candidate genes (TUA, TUB, TIF, UBC, RPL21, RPL30, RPL34) were screened out from transcriptome data, we analyzed the expression of seven candidate reference genes in C. henryi at different germination stages with RT–qPCR, and using common algorithms including NormFinder, geNorm and BestKeeper to evaluate the candidate genes stability. The results showed that RPL34 and RPL30 were selected as the most stable genes by NormFinder; TIF was the most stable gene identified by BestKeeper; RPL34 and RPL21 were the most stable genes ranked by geNorm, and TUB was the most unstable gene identified by all of the three software. The RPL34 gene was used as the reference gene, to detected the expression trend of two starch synthetase genes SS1 and SS2 during germination by RT–qPCR, the results of RT–qPCR and transcriptome sequencing were basically consistent, which verified the stability of RPL34 candidate gene. Our result is not only showed functional genes for germination of C. henryi seeds and provide useful guidelines for the selection of reliable reference genes for the normalization of RT– qPCR data for germination of seed plants.