The plant Camellia fascicularis, belonging to family Theaceae, has high ornamental and medicinal value, and rare gene resources for genetic improvement of Camellia crops, but is currently threatened with extinction because of the unique and extremely small wild populations. Molecular markers have clarified the wild plant species’ genetic diversity structure, new gene resources and relationship with crops. This will be beneficial for conservation of these valuable crop-related wild species and crop improvement. In this study, we identified 95,979 microsatellite loci from 155,011 transcriptome unigenes, and developed 14 polymorphic expressed sequence tag-derived simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) microsatellite markers for C. fascicularis. The number of alleles (Na) per locus was 2–8 with a mean of 4.86. The genetic diversity of 40 individuals from four natural populations of C. fascicularis was analysed using these polymorphic markers. The number of alleles (Na) for EST-SSR ranged from 2 to 5, with the expected heterozygosities (He) and observed heterozygosities (Ho) in all loci ranging from 0.183 to 0.683, and from 0.201 to 0.700, respectively, implying a rich genetic variation present in wild C. fascicularis populations. Moreover, the phylogenetic analysis among four populations, using the 14 EST-SSR markers developed in this study, grouped 40 individuals into three groups, which coincide with their geographic distribution. These results showed that 14 EST-SSR markers are available for the analysis of genetic variation in C. fascicularis populations and genetic improvement of new Camellias cultivars by interspecific hybridization, and are beneficial for conservation of the endangered species.

Freziera grandiflora (Pentaphylacaceae), a new species from western Ecuador with relatively large leaves, flowers and fruits, is described and illustrated. Its distribution, phenology, habitat and relationship to allied species are discussed. Its conservation status is tentatively considered Vulnerable.

The new species Camellia oconoriana Orel, Curry & Luu (Theaceae), endemic to Lam Dong Province, Vietnam, is described and illustrated. It is compared to Camellia species in sections Archaecamellia, Stereocarpus, Piquetia and Chrysantha. Morphological evidence supports a transitional placement in Camellia sect. Chrysantha ser. Chrysanthae.

A new species of Camellia L. (Theaceae) from Vietnam, C. inusitata Orel, Curry & Luu, is described, illustrated and compared with six Camellia species from sections Thea (L.) Dyer, Corallina Sealy and Paracamellia Sealy. Reproductive morphology and molecular evidence supports taxonomic placement in the genus Camellia but the vegetative morphology is so distinct that a new section, Camellia sect. Bidoupia Orel, Curry & Luu, is established.