Pinochia, a new neotropical genus of Apocynaceae, subfamily Apocynoideae, is segregated from Forsteronia, described and illustrated. Four new combinations and a key to the species are provided.

The species of Podocarpus L’Hér. ex Pers. (Podocarpaceae) occurring in the Central America and Northern Mexico Bioregions are revised. Four species (Podocarpus costaricensis de Laub., P. guatemalensis Standl., P. matudae Lundell, P. oleifolius D.Don) occur in these bioregions as well as three infraspecific taxa, that are here all treated as subspecies [Podocarpus matudae subsp. matudae, P. matudae subsp. jaliscanus (de Laub. & Silba) Silba, P. oleifolius subsp. costaricensis (J.Buchholz & N.E.Gray) Silba]. A fifth species, Podocarpus magnifolius J.Buchholz & N.E.Gray, may also be present in Panama but this requires verification; a brief account is provided. Podocarpus monteverdeensis de Laub. is considered a synonym of P. oleifolius subsp. costaricensis, the concept of which is amplified to include all Central American material of P. oleifolius. Several previously recognised infraspecific taxa within both Podocarpus guatemalensis and P. matudae are reduced to synonymy. Within Podocarpus matudae, P. matudae subsp. matudae is regarded as including subsp. macrocarpus and subsp. reichei but P. matudae subsp. jaliscanus is regarded as a distinct, second subspecies disjunct in westernmost Mexico. Podocarpus costaricensis, P. matudae (both subspecies) and P. oleifolius subsp. costaricensis are endemic to these bioregions. A key is provided, all definitely recorded species are illustrated and the distributions of all definitely recorded taxa are mapped. The distributions are discussed in relation to the geology and geological history of the region as well as altitude and climate. New IUCN conservation assessments are proposed for Podocarpus matudae subsp. jaliscanus, P. matudae subsp. matudae and P. oleifolius subsp. costaricensis while details of the current assessments for the remaining taxa (including Podocarpus matudae as a whole) are given. Two appendices list all accepted names and synonyms, and give a list of exsiccatae.

Specimens of Hiraea (Malpighiaceae) from the Brazilian states of eastern Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, and Santa Catarina that had been determined as H. cuneata Griseb. and H. wiedeana A.Juss. were found to include four undescribed species. The assemblage traditionally named Hiraea cuneata includes, in addition to H. cuneata (Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro), two novelties: H. hatschbachii C.E.Anderson (Paraná) and H. occhionii C.E.Anderson (Rio de Janeiro). The gatherings labelled Hiraea wiedeana comprise specimens of H. reitzii C.E.Anderson (Paraná, Santa Catarina) and H. restingae C.E.Anderson (Rio de Janeiro), here newly described, and of H. macrophylla (Colla) P.L.R.Moraes & Guglielmone (Rio de Janeiro), the earlier and correct name for the species also known as H. wiedeana. In all, the flowers are borne in a single 4-flowered umbel instead of a compound arrangement, as is often characteristic of other species of Hiraea. Specimens assigned to Hiraea cuneata have the laminas abaxially sericeous initially but glabrous at maturity. In those assigned to Hiraea wiedeana the laminas are abaxially velutinous (eventually glabrescent in H. restingae). Full descriptions and synonymies are supplied, and all species are illustrated.

Two new species from the eastern Himalaya are described, one in Physospermopsis and one in Sinocarum. Additionally, new combinations are proposed for the Indian area in Bupleurum. Schulzia, Meeboldia, Sinocarum, Pimpinellu, and Angelica.

Twenty-nine new species of Corydalis (Fumariaceae) from China, mainly from Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan, are described.

The genus Phellodendron (Rutaceae) is revised. This work is based on herbarium collections and field observations in eastern Asia. Two species are recognized: Phellodendron amurense Rupr. and Phellodendron chinense C.K.Schneid. All other specific and infraspecific names published in the genus are reduced to synonymy or excluded from the genus. Detailed morphology, character variability, an identification key, a distribution map, line drawings, and taxonomic treatments and lists of specimens examined are provided.

A new monotypic genus, Tamijia (Zingiberaceae), and its species T. flagellaris are described from Sarawak, Borneo. T. flagellaris is quite unique with the lateral staminodes connate to the labellum, the plane of distichy of the leaf shoot transverse to the rhizome, long trailing inflorescences and ovary unilocular with parietal placentation. Although the species is placed in Alpineae based on the plane of distichy, it is quite distinctive from most of the species in the tribe in some other characters, and is important in considering the current system of tribes and genera of the family.

Four new species of Begonia are described from Northern, Peninsular and Southwestern Thailand. Three belong to Begonia sect. Diploclinium (B. exposita Phutthai & M.Hughes, B. pengchingii Phutthai & M.Hughes and B. pseudosubperfoliata Phutthai & M.Hughes), and one (B. phutthaii M.Hughes) to Begonia sect. Apterobegonia. All four species are karst limestone endemics. The provisional IUCN status of all the new species is ‘Vulnerable’.

A new species of Begonia (Begoniaceae), B. varipeltata D.C.Thomas, is described from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. It exhibits peltate leaves, which are rare in Begonia section Petermannia, to which it belongs.

The neotropical species of Calycobolus (Convolvulaceae) are revised. Three species are recognised. A fourth species is here recognised as belonging to the genus Porana. All four species are described, keys for identification are provided, selected characters are illustrated, distributions are mapped, and an index to numbered herbarium specimens examined is included to aid herbarium curation.

A striking new species of Begonia, B. joshii, is described from Amazonas Region, Peru. The new species is unusual among the South American members of the genus both in its combination of tuberous habit with peltate leaves and in living in a seasonally dry tropical forest environment. A phylogeny of this and closely related species is presented, and its sectional affiliation and IUCN conservation status are discussed. A key to the peltate Peruvian species of Begonia is provided.

Two new genera, Stygiomyces (Coelomycetes) with type species S. galliformis on Pseudocyphellaria faveolata from Tasmania, and Pseudonitschkia (Dothideales) with type species P. parmotrematis on Parmotrema tinctorum and P. pseudotinctorum from South America (Paraguay, Venezuela), Africa (Ivory Coast, Malawi, South Africa) and Nepal, are described. Their placement and differences from similar genera are discussed.

Ormosolenia Tausch is shown to be a separate monotypic genus of the Umbelliferae, distinct from Peucedanum L. A new combination, O. alpina (Sieber ex Schultes) M. Pimenov is proposed for the only species of the genus which is endemic to the eastern part of the Mediterranean.

Four new species of Begonia (Begoniaceae) are described from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. All four species (Begonia chiasmogyna M.Hughes, Begonia macintyreana M.Hughes, Begonia mendumae M.Hughes and Begonia stevei M.Hughes) belong to Begonia section Petermannia, and they increase the number of Begonia species known from the island to 30.

The Neotropical genus Mezia (Malpighiaceae) comprises 15 species of lianas (except M. huberi W.R.Anderson, a shrub or small tree). All have multibranched, densely brown-sericeous inflorescences with the ultimate unit a 4-flowered umbel of bilaterally symmetrical flowers. The distinctive pair of large cymbiform bracteoles subtends a rudimentary pedicel and encloses the floral bud. The flowers contain elongate sepals, the lateral four biglandular, yellow petals, the posterior often splotched with red, a heteromorphic androecium, and a tricarpellate gynoecium. The three styles are all free; the posterior pair is lyrate in five species but erect in the others. The samaras have an orbicular to oblate lateral wing and a much smaller dorsal wing; in most species, additional winglets and/or crests are present between the lateral and dorsal wings. Only Mezia mariposa W.R.Anderson has butterfly-shaped samaras lacking additional ornamentation. Four new species are proposed: Mezia andersonii C.E.Anderson, M. bahiana C.E.Anderson, M. fanshawei C.E.Anderson and M. sericea C.E.Anderson. One variety is elevated to species level and provided with a new name, Mezia peruviana C.E.Anderson; a lectotype is chosen for Diplopterys involuta var. ovata Nied. Full descriptions and synonymies are provided, as well as a distribution map. All species are illustrated.

Wild evergreen azalea populations of Rhododendron kiusianum and R. kaempferi (Ericaceae) were analysed using a chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) PCR-RFLP marker that was used to detect introgressive hybridization in our previous study of the Kirishima Mts populations.

The populations of the intermediate region in the Unzen Mts, which show phenotypic variation, were demonstrated to result from interspecific hybridization between Rhododendron kiusianum and R. kaempferi, possessing cpDNA from either R. kiusianum (1030/420 bp) or R. kaempferi (950/420/80 bp).

Most individuals of Rhododendron kiusianum in the Kujyu Mts, the Aso Mts and the surrounding mountains exhibited the PCR-RFLP pattern of R. kaempferi. These results from the Kujyu Mts and the Aso Mts indicate that natural hybridization and cytoplasmic introgression from Rhododendron kaempferi to R. kiusianum have occurred in the relatively distant past. In the case of Mt Yufudake and Mt Haneyama, the Rhododendron kiusianum population retains the effects of natural hybridization with R. kaempferi in the cpDNA as well as in the variation in flower characteristics.

All individuals of Rhododendron kiusianum on Mt Onogaradake in the Takakuma Mts exhibit R. kiusianum cpDNA (1030/420 bp), in spite of variation in flower colour.

Two new species of Begonia (Begoniaceae), Begonia didyma D.C.Thomas & Ardi and Begonia guttapila D.C.Thomas & Ardi, are described from the Latimojong Mountains, South Sulawesi (Sulawesi Selatan), Indonesia. Both species belong to Begonia sect. Petermannia.

Phylogenetic relationships are frequently inferred from rDNA ITS sequences obtained employing universal primers. Whereas in most cases phylogenetic topologies inferred from ITS data make good biological sense, caution has to be used when a number of taxa vary greatly in PCR yield. The phylogenetic implications of such a scenario are discussed.

Two new Primulina species with yellow flowers, Primulina versicolor F.Wen, B.Pan & B.M.Wang and P. alutacea F.Wen, B.Pan & B.M.Wang (Gesneriaceae), from Guangdong, China are described and illustrated.

Cystopteris dickieana R. Sim is a fern species that currently receives legal protection in Britain on the basis that it is endemic to Scotland and extremely rare. However, ever since it was first discovered in the 1830s, there has been considerable debate about its taxonomic status within the Cystopteris fragilis complex. This debate centres on the relative importance of two characters, the architecture of the fronds and the surface sculpturing of the spores, in delimiting C. dickieana from other taxa in the C. fragilis complex and is complicated by the fact that most comparative studies reputed to have included ‘C. dickieana’ have failed to include either the type material of C. dickieana or material from the ’type population‘ (i.e. the population of plants, of uniform and distinctive morphology, that still grows at the type locality for C. dickieana). The principal aim of this investigation was to generate some of the critical data and information currently missing from the debate concerning the taxonomic status of C. dickieana by including material from the ’type population‘ in an allozyme study of several Scottish Cystopteris populations. The frond architecture, spore sculpturing, and allozyme banding patterns were investigated in five natural and two cultivated populations of the C. fragilis complex. All plants from the ‘type population’ of C. dickieana had the distinctive frond architecture and rugose spores of the type material. Two populations comprised plants that had the frond architecture and echinate spores typical of C. fragilis. Also examined were two populations containing plants that had frond architecture typical of C. fragilis but rugose spores similar to those of the type material of C. dickieana. These plants occurred with typical C. fragilis in one of the populations and with typical C. dickieana in the other. In the latter population, situated close to the ‘type population’ for C. dickieana, a third, ‘smooth’ spore type occurred in nine out of 55 fertile plants. Consistent and analysable allozyme results were obtained for seven enzymes at ten loci: eight loci were polymorphic and all but the smallest population showed variation at one or more loci. In total, 22 allozyme phenotypes were recorded in 226 individuals. No consistent correlation was found between frond architecture, spore sculpturing and allozyme banding pattern. Our results provide no support for the recognition of C. dickieana as a distinct species related to C. fragilis.