Pedicularis ser. Tenuirostres Maxim. (Orobanchaceae) is demonstrated to be the correct name for the group usually referred to as P. ser. Pectinatae Prain. The series is here revised and 12 species are accepted. Its species are centred in the NW Himalaya, particularly Pakistan where there is much local infraspecific variation. Two species are excluded from the series: Pedicularis rhynchotricha P.C.Tsoong from China (Xizang) is placed in P. ser. Rhynchotrichae R.R.Mill and P. birmanica Bonati is confirmed as a member of P. ser. Brevifoliae (Prain) Bonati. One new species of Pedicularis ser. Tenuirostres is described: P. yamazakiana R.R.Mill from Nepal, which was formerly confused with P. pectinata subsp. palans Prain. Pedicularis jainii Aswal & Mehrotra is demonstrated to be a superfluous name for P. pyramidata Royle ex Benth. Pedicularis kashmiriana var. ornata Pennell is considered to be indistinguishable from P. pyramidata although P. kashmiriana var. kashmiriana is a recognisable taxon. An IUCN conservation assessment is proposed for Pedicularis rhynchotricha and for each taxon within P. ser. Tenuirostres.

Three new species of Aeschynanthus (Gesneriaceae) from Sulawesi (Celebes), A. batesii, A. burttii and A. lobaticalyx, are described and illustrated. The phylogenetic position of A. batesii and A. lobaticalyx is briefly discussed; A. burttii has not yet been sequenced.

This paper provides two new combinations and formal descriptions for eight new species and three new subspecies that have resulted from the preparation of accounts for Volume 1 of the Flora of the Arabian Peninsula and Socotra for the genera Cleome (Capparaceae), Polycarpaea, Silene, Gypsophila and Dianthus (Caryophyllaceae), and Rubus (Rosaceae).

The morphological difference between the monospecific genus Brachychilum and Hedychium is bridged by the recently described Hedychium muluense R. M. Smith. Cytological studies reported here show that at least one stock of B. horsfieldii (Wall.) O. Petersen shares the same basic chromosome number and morphology with Hedychium. The genus Brachychilum should therefore be placed in synonymy with Hedychium, and B. horsfieldii should revert to Hedychium horsfieldii [R. Brown ex] Wall.

Six new species of the Neotropical genus Tetrapterys (Malpighiaceae) are described and illustrated: T. amazonica C.E.Anderson (Brazil, Colombia and Peru), T. andersonii C.E.Anderson (Mexico), T. callejasii W.R.Anderson (Colombia), T. molinae W.R.Anderson (Honduras), T. rzedowskii W.R.Anderson (Mexico) and T. steyermarkii W.R.Anderson (Colombia and Venezuela). All have 4(–6)-flowered umbels as the ultimate inflorescence units, glabrous yellow petals, and samaras with a small dorsal wing in addition to the four large lateral wings.

Fourteen miscellaneous Bornean species of Cyrtandra are treated. Descriptions and discussion are provided for C. integerrima and C. neiothiantha, originally published with diagnoses only, and C. warburgiana is redescribed. Cyrtandra arachnoidea, C. asikii, C. banyingii, C. keithii, C. lineariloba, C. mendumae, C. palimasanica, C. parvifructa, C. sublanea, C. tubibractea and C. undata are newly described.

A new species of Gesneriaceae, Ornithoboea emarginata D.J.Middleton & N.S.Ly, is described from Vietnam. A proposed IUCN conservation assessment is provided.

A new species, Rhinacanthus flavovirens Amarasinghe & Wijesundara (Acanthaceae), from Sri Lanka, is described and illustrated. It is compared with the closely allied Rhinacanthus nasutus and R. polonnaruwensis. A key to Rhinacanthus species in Sri Lanka is also presented.

Thesmophora scopulosa Rourke (Stilbaceae) a monotypic genus endemic to the Ceres mountains, South Western Cape Province, South Africa, is described. It is characterized particularly by its pendulous ovules and 4-lobed corolla.

A detailed description of Nepenthes reindwardtiana Miquel is provided, and its distribution is reviewed. One new variety, N. reindwardtiana var. samarindaiensis Adam & Wilcock, from Kalimantan in Borneo is described.

Within Rhytidocaulon macrolobum Lavranos, which is a widespread stapeliad in Saudi Arabia and in the Yemen, the subspecies minimum Meve & Collenette is described as new. This taxon is restricted to SW Saudia Arabia; it can be easily recognized by its miniature flowers, which are conspicuously smaller than the diameter of the stems, and by its bright-coloured corona.

Coprinellus phaeoxanthus A.R.Gomes & Wartchow is described as a new species and is characterised by cordiform basidiospores similar to those of the recently described Coprinellus arenicola. However, it differs in the presence of voluminous pleurocystidia in the velar elements, which are shorter than in Coprinellus arenicola, and in the lack of clamp connections. In addition, exsiccatae of a Brazilian collection identified as ‘Coprinus xerophilus’ are analysed, and because of the star-shaped velar patch on the pileus and the non-volvate stipe base, it is considered to be the same as Coprinus calyptratus, representing a new record from South America.

A taxonomic revision of Begonia veitchii Hook.f. is presented. Two taxa are newly recognised as synonyms of Begonia veitchii: B. baumannii Lemoine and B. clarkei Hook.f. Addditionally, two infraspecific taxa are newly described and illustrated: Begonia veitchii var. machupicchuensis Tebbitt, which is endemic to the Cusco Department of Peru, and B. veitchii var. lanatifolia Tebbitt, which is endemic to Chuquisaca Department, Bolivia. Begonia veitchii, as well as four taxa recognised as synonyms of B. veitchii – B. baumannii, B. rosaeflora Hook.f., B. coriacea A.DC. and B. clarkei – are lectotypified. A key, descriptions, distribution map and illustrations are provided for all the recognised infraspecific taxa of Begonia veitchii.

A new variety of Agalmyla tuberculala Hook. f. is described; it extends the range of the species from Mt Kinabalu, Sabah, to Mt Murud, N Sarawak. Five new species and four new varieties of Cyrtandra are described from Mt Kinabalu; there are also two new species of Cyrtandra from Sarawak.

Syzygium cratermontensis, S. kipidamasii, S. pseudomegistophyllum and S. ubogoensis are newly described from Papua New Guinea. Some notes on the taxonomic position and geographic distribution of S. megistophyllum Merrill & Perry are also provided.

Plant conservation genetics has been hampered by a lack of markers for studies of levels and patterns of variation in rare species. We investigated the levels of variation in several rare and widespread species of the western North American genus Lomatium Raf. (Apiaceae) using two relatively new molecular markers: AFLPs and single-strand conformation polymorphisms (SSCPs). For each species, approximately 150 AFLP loci have been scored, yielding estimates of species-level percent polymorphic loci in rare species ranging from near zero to over 80%. Levels of AFLP diversity were similar in two of the rare species, L. bradshawii (Rose ex Mathias) Mathas & Constance and L. ochocense Helliwell & Constance, and the widespread species. The third rare species, L. cookii Kagan, which has small populations, has low levels of diversity based on AFLPs. We also examined nucleotide diversity at the single-copy nuclear-DNA locus glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (Gap-C). PCR-amplified segments were analysed for allelic variation using SSCPs, and intrapopulational nucleotide polymorphisms were identified in both L. bradshawii and L. cookii. In the 211bp segment of Gap-C analysed, five nucleotide sites were segregating within populations of L. bradshawii and two in L. cookii.

Pterospermum mengii P.Wilkie (Dombeyoideae, Malvaceae/Sterculiaceae) from Cambodia and Vietnam is described as new to science and illustrated. It is most similar to Pterospermum pecteniforme Kosterm., sharing a distinctive wavy ridge at the margin of each locule of the capsular fruit, but differing by its larger leaves, oblong to obovate leaf shape, deeply cordate leaf base, and stellate indumentum on the undersurface of the leaves and fruit.