Mycena lacrimans (Agaricales, Mycenaceae) is redescribed from material collected recently near the type locality and is for the first time reported as bioluminescent. A comprehensive description, illustrations, photographs, comparison with phenetically similar species, and discussion of phylogenetic relationships are provided.

Eria annapurnensis L.R.Shakya & M.R.Shrestha, a new species, and Gastrochilus calceolaris var. biflora L.R.Shakya & M.R.Shrestha, a new variety (both Orchidaceae), are described and illustrated from Annapurna Conservation Area, Central Nepal.

Three shrubby, succulent, spiny Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) species from western Saudi Arabia are described and illustrated as new: Euphorbia madinahensis Fayed & D.Al-Zahrani, Euphorbia saudiarabica Fayed & D.Al-Zahrani and Euphorbia taifensis Fayed & D.Al-Zahrani. Diagnostic characters, descriptions and taxonomic comments on each are given, and they are compared with closely related species. The geographical distribution of the three new species is shown.

Plesioneuron crassum subsp. chromeanum Takeuchi (Thelypteridaceae) is described as a new subspecies from one of Papuasia's most isolated karst districts. The subspecies is distinguished by bifacially glabrous pinnae with revolute lobes, conspicuously raised aerophores, and glandular-setiferous sporangia. Distributional records for Helicia acutifolia (Proteaceae) and Loranthus odoratus (Loranthaceae) are also reported with the new fern.

The shrubby, spiny, succulent species Euphorbia collenetteae D.Al-Zahrani & El-Karemy (Euphorbiaceae) from the southern Red Sea coast and islands is described and illustrated as new. Diagnostic characters, a description and taxonomic comments on the species are given. It is compared with the closely related Euphorbia fractiflexa S.Carter & J.R.I.Wood. The geographical distribution of the new species is shown.

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.

This study investigated the effect of environmental variables such as soil class, soil water availability, topography and slope on spatial distribution patterns of tree species in a Brazilian Seasonal Semideciduous Forest area. Floristic and structural data for a tree community were obtained by sampling 100 plots 10 × 10 m in which every tree with trunk diameter (dbh) ⩾ 4.77 cm at 130 cm above ground level was sampled. The area under study showed a marked soil gradient, directly associated with the topography: flat hilltops with Al3+-rich Dystric Latosols give way to steep colluvial slopes with shallower and more Dystric Cambic Latosols without Al3+, changing over, at the bottom of the hollows, to Epieutrophic Cambisols richer in nutrients. The floristic-sociological parameters analysed for the soil habitats did not differ statistically from each other. The diversity and equability indices were 3.6 and 0.84, 3.48 and 0.85, 3.49 and 0.84 for the Dystric Latosol, Dystric Cambic Latosol and Epieutrophic Cambisol, respectively. The soil variables (related to the fertility and texture) and the soil water regime (drainage) were probably the principal factors determining the spatial distribution patterns of tree species in the forest.

Pleonotoma orientalis Sandwith (Bignoniaceae), a poorly known species, is lectotypified, illustrated for the first time and a distribution map is provided. Pleonotoma orientalis Sandwith var. ratteriana Proença & Farias from the Jalapão area (State of Tocantins, Central Brazil) is described and illustrated. The new variety is apparently identical to the typical variety in floral characters but distinct in its ternate-tripinnate leaves with numerous, minute, slightly thickened leaflets, and fruits with rounded or obtuse tips. The collections of this new variety increase its range c.400 km S from Northern Brazil (Maranhão and Pará) into Tocantins in Central Brazil.

A new species of Neckeraceae, Neckera serrulatifolia Enroth & M.Ji, is described from Xizang (Tibet), China. It belongs in an Asian group of relatively robust, distinctly stipitate species with an obtuse leaf apex, relatively long costa and strongly incrassate-porose leaf cell walls, but differs from the other species by the combination of strongly complanate and undulate branch leaves, long leaf decurrencies, and serrulate margins at leaf base and at midleaf. The sporophytes remain unknown.

The new taxa Cypholophus treubii var. aciculata (Urticaceae), Polyosma rampae (Polyosmaceae) and Psychotria apiculata var. altigena (Rubiaceae) are described from montane environments in the Kaijende Highlands of Papua New Guinea. A supplementary description is provided for Solanum nolense (Solanaceae), previously known only from a fruiting collection. Synonymies are suggested for species in Cypholophus, Psychotria, and Rubus (Rosaceae).

Two new species of Gardenia (Rubiaceae), Gardenia beamanii Y.W.Low and Gardenia chanii Y.W.Low, endemic to Borneo, are described. These species are distinguished from Gardenia griffithii Hook.f. and Gardenia pterocalyx Valeton, respectively, to which they are superficially similar in calyx characters. Gardenia pterocalyx is lectotypified.

Specimens of Pseudopyxis Miq. (Rubiaceae) from China and Japan were studied and compared. As the plants from China differ considerably from those from Japan a new species, Pseudopyxis monilirhizoma T.Chen, is described and a key to Pseudopyxis is presented.

Dischidia micholitzii N.E.Br. (Apocynaceae, Asclepiadoideae), described from a cultivated plant and erroneously assumed to be from Burma, is native to the Tenimbar and Babar island groups of Maluku, Indonesia. It is closely related to Dischidia ovata Benth. from New Guinea and Australia.

Thirty-three conifer species are currently recorded from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. All species are recorded from Vietnam but only six have been recorded from Cambodia and nine from Laos. Recent botanical surveys have recorded one additional species from Cambodia and seven from Laos. New distributions within those countries have also been recorded. This paper discusses those records.

A new species of Gentiana (Gentianaceae), G. khammouanensis Hul, is described and illustrated.

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.

An overview is given of Girgensohnia (Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae). Five species are recognized including one new species, Girgensohnia bungeana Sukhor. A key for identifying species is provided together with details of their distribution. Lectotypes for the following names are chosen: Girgensohnia diptera Bunge, Girgensohnia oppositiflora (Pall.) Fenzl, Anabasis heteroptera Jaub. & Spach (= Girgensohnia heteroptera (Jaub. & Spach) Bunge), Girgensohnia imbricata Bunge and Girgensohnia pallasii Bunge (= Girgensohnia oppositiflora (Pall.) Fenzl).

A new species of Gesneriaceae, Aeschynanthus mendumae D.J.Middleton, is described from Laos. The new combination Aeschynanthus membranifolius (Costantin) D.J.Middleton is made. An IUCN conservation assessment is provided.

The members of Anemone L. sect. Himalayicae (Ulbr.) Juz. (Ranunculaceae) are mainly distributed in the Himalaya of North India, Nepal and Bhutan and the neighbouring mountains of SW China at elevations between 1850 and 4800 m. Their taxonomy is re-evaluated on the basis of a critical morphological analysis of extensive herbarium material. The section is placed in Anemone subgen. Omalocarpus and differentiated into three new series: ser. Obtusilobae, ser. Trullifoliae and ser. Rupestres. A conspectus, keys to species, subspecies and varieties, descriptions of taxa, illustrations and distribution maps are presented. Eleven species with several infraspecific taxa are recognized and their synonymy, variability and relationships are discussed. In addition to the generally accepted species Anemone obtusiloba, A. trullifolia and A. rupestris, we recognize the following: A. polycarpa, A. rockii, A. geum and A. coelestina and four Chinese endemics, A. yulongshanica, A. patula, A. subpinnata and A. subindivisa. Anemone imbricata and A. fuscopurpurea are described but excluded from the section. The origins, morphological differentiations and eco-geographical radiations of Anemone sect. Himalayicae are discussed.

A new species of Rubiaceae, Hedyotis shenzhenensis T.Chen, from Shenzhen, South China, is described and illustrated.