Dissochaeta atrobrunnea (Melastomataceae–Dissochaeteae) from Kalimantan (Borneo, Indonesia) is described and illustrated. The species can be assigned to Dissochaeta sect. Dissochaeta and is easily recognized by its dense cover of light brown, sessile, stellate hairs and dark brown, 4–6 mm long bristles on branches, leaf undersurfaces, petioles, inflorescences, bracts and hypanthia. Like all other species of Dissochaeta sect. Dissochaeta, D. atrobrunnea shows heterantherous flowers.

Physospermopsis siamensis Esser & M.F.Watson is described as a new species from material collected in northern Thailand. This is the first record of Physospermopsis (Umbelliferae, Apiaceae) from Thailand, and represents a significant southern extension of the geographic range of this largely Sino-Himalayan genus. Comparison is provided with P. shaniana, its closest morphological ally, and the key to genera given in the Flora of Thailand account for Umbelliferae is revised.

Two new species of Gaultheria (Ericaceae) from India, G. akaensis and G. lohitiensis, are described and illustrated.

Sclereid presence and distribution were studied in leaves from 50 species of Dionysia (Primulaceae). Of 16 species not previously investigated, 11 were shown to possess sclereids. The sclereids are dermal, terminal or diffused (according to the position in the leaf) and develop from different tissues, and hence are not homologous structures. The presence of different types of sclereids in different species is discussed. Sclereid characters are optimized on a cladogram based on an analysis of three DNA regions. Some clades are associated with certain types of sclereids. Terminal sclereids are most common in Iran, and diffused sclereids in Afghanistan. The evolution of sclereids in the genus is discussed, and a redefinition of what can be called a sclereid in Dionysia is presented.

Pedicularis L. series Curvipes (Prain) Hurus. (=Pedicularis [unranked] Curvipes Prain) in the Orobanchaceae (often included in the Scrophulariaceae s.l.) is revised. It is demonstrated that the correct name for the series is Pedicularis ser. Curvipes, not Pedicularis ser. Curvipedes as used by at least two previous authors. Arguments are presented for the retention of the three existing species, Pedicularis curvipes Prain, Pedicularis nagaensis H.L.Li and Pedicularis amplicollis T.Yamaz., and the taxonomic history of each is summarized. Pedicularis curvipes from Sikkim and Pedicularis nagaensis from NE India are very similar but can be distinguished on corolla and seed characters. Flowering material of Pedicularis curvipes collected from cultivated material of uncertain origin in 1900 is positively identified as that species for the first time. The known geographical range of Pedicularis nagaensis, which was previously believed to be endemic to a restricted area of Nagaland in NE India, is extended to include Manipur. Pedicularis amplicollis from Bhutan is distinct from both the other two and easily separable by its woolly, 4-lobed calyx. A key to the series and formal taxonomic accounts of each species are provided. The relationships of the series with related series, particularly Pedicularis ser. Furfuraceae, are discussed.

Two new species of Aeschynanthus (Gesneriaceae) from Sulawesi, A. citrinus and A. sojolianus, are described.

The new species Clinopodium jacquelinae (Labiatae) is described from Peru. Distribution and morphological variability of Clinopodium cylindrostachys are examined and discussed.

Podocarpus rotundus de Laub. (1978), which has been used for an extant species of Podocarpus L'Hér. ex Pers. from the Philippines and Kalimantan, is an illegitimate name, being published later than its homonym P. rotundus Bocharn. (1960) that has been used for a Palaeocene fossil pollen morphospecies described from Sverdlovsk Oblast in the Urals (Russia). For the species from the Philippines and Kalimantan, the replacement name Podocarpus ramosii is here proposed.

Four new species of Selaginella from Bolivia are described and illustrated: S. alampeta, a species from humid montane forests at 1200–1700 m that is most similar to S. flexuosa; S. arroyoana, a presumably poikilohydric species found on the walls of periodically dry stream beds and in fissures among rocks on Precambrian sandstone massifs at 750–900 m in eastern Bolivia; S. bryophila, an epiphytic species known only from the type collection made among mats of liverworts in humid montane rain forest, and S. chiquitana, from semideciduous forests at 800 m on a Precambrian sandstone massif in southeastern Bolivia.

A species checklist is presented for a stretch of the seasonally flooded Macal River in the Cayo District of Belize, together with preliminary phytosociological data for the primary riverine communities. A total of 229 species were recorded in the seasonally flooded riparian zone, representing 7% of the flora of Belize. Results of quantitative sampling indicate that Inga vera subsp. vera dominates the river corridor. Other important woody associates include Cuphea calophylla, C. utriculosa, Calyptranthes bartlettii, C. lindeniana, Lindenia rivalis, Pleuranthodendron lindenii, Calliandra tergemina and Nectandra salicifolia. One of the most significant threats to riparian vegetation in the region is the Chalillo Dam upstream of the study site. The current work provides baseline floristic and ecological data for this threatened riparian habitat and documents the structure and composition of vegetation that exists downstream from the dam before its construction.

Surveys over a period of 38 years have shown a rapid successional change in the remaining areas of cerrado vegetation in western São Paulo State. Cerradão (the dense, tall, forest form of cerrado (sensu lato)) and cerrado/Atlantic forest ecotonal vegetation have replaced more open forms (such as campo cerrado) during this period. An aerial photographic survey in 1962 showed 75% cerrado (sensu stricto), 16% campo cerrado, and only 9% cerradão, while a survey combining Landsat imaging of 1992 with aerial photography of 1984 gave 69%, 0.6%, and 30.5% respectively for the same physiognomies. Visiting 10% of the sites of the latter survey in 2000 showed that cerradão had become the dominant vegetation of 68% of them. In a particular 180 ha site in Assis municipality, cerradão increased from 12.0 to 41.4% of the area in 22 years. Reduction of anthropic pressures, such as fire and cattle-grazing, is considered responsible for these rapid changes. Conservation issues and research priorities related to these changes are discussed and proposed.