The nomenclature of a number of taxa that occur in Southeast Asia in Baeckea, Decaspermum, Leptospermum, Melaleuca, Psidium, Rhodamnia, Rhodomyrtus and Tristaniopsis is discussed: eight lectotypes are designated, six taxa are shown to have been previously lectotypified under Article 9.9 with second-stage lectotypification being deemed unnecessary for two of them, and comments are made on two species that we cannot yet typify.

Two new species of Convolvulus (Convolvulaceae), C. excelsus R.R.Mill and C. infantispinosus R.R.Mill, are described from Saudi Arabia. Convolvulus excelsus, an exceptionally tall species, has affinities with C. erinaceus Ledeb. but is phytogeographically disjunct from that and other allied species. Two new subspecies are also described: Convolvulus hystrix Vahl subsp. dhofarica R.R.Mill, from Oman, and C. oxyphyllus Boiss. subsp. sheilae R.R.Mill, from Saudi Arabia. Each novelty is given a provisional IUCN conservation assessment.

Omphalodes luciliae Boiss. subsp. pisidica R.R.Mill subsp. nov. (Boraginaceae, tribe Cynoglosseae) is described from Isparta and Antalya vilayets, Turkey. Its relations with the other subspecies of Omphalodes luciliae are discussed.

Four new Asian taxa are described and illustrated as part of a forthcoming taxonomic revision of the cultivated species of Begonia (Begoniaceae). The new species B. argenteomarginata (sect. Symbegonia) is described from Papua New Guinea. Two new species from section Petermannia are described: B. polilloensis from the Philippines and B. rachmatii from Sulawesi, Indonesia, both of which are unusual in having palmately compound leaf blades. A key is provided for these and a previously described species, B. oligandra, also with palmately compound leaf blades and in section Petermannia. The new subspecies B. brevirimosa subsp. exotica (sect. Petermannia) is described from the Central Range of Papua New Guinea and a brief history of its cultivation is presented.

Crocidura tadae was first reported as a new species from Orchid Island by Tokuda & Kano (1936). However, both C. tadae and C. kurodai from Taiwan were considered as subspecies of C. horsfieldii by subsequent researchers. In the present study, the karyotypic and morphological differences among the potential C. tadae specimens from Taiwan main island and two offshore islands (Orchid Island and Green Island) were examined. The results revealed that there is no significant difference in the karyotypes of these shrews but that their karyotype is different from that of other Crocidura species. Therefore, the Tadae's shrew C. tadae Tokuda & Kano, 1936 should be a valid species. Furthermore, morphological variation in 25 external and cranial characters of 106 specimens were analysed using univariate statistics, and eight selected characters were used for multivariate analyses. Univariate statistical comparisons of the three insular samples revealed that shrews of the Green Island population were the largest in most measurements of characters and shrews of the Orchid Island population were the smallest. Multivariate analysis differentiated the Taiwan samples from the other two insular samples. Therefore, three subspecies of C. tadae are recognized: C. t. tadae (Orchid Island); C. t. kurodai (Taiwan) and C. t. lutaoensis subsp. nov (Green Island).

Salsola cyrenaica subsp. antalyensis (Chenopodiaceae) from the S Anatolian coast near Finike is illustrated and described as a new subspecies. Its anatomy, relationships, ecology and phytogeography are discussed. The new subspecies differs from subsp. cyrenaica by the reduced number of flowers per leaf axil, very dense axillary hairs, the smaller size of most floral organs, mostly 3 instead of 2 stigmas and 5 not 3 wings on the fruit. The new taxon grows in a narrow coastal strip of c.2km only, in open dwarf-shrub communities on limestone rocks from sea level to c.40m. It is the first representative of the S. longifolia group, sect. Coccosalsola, from Turkey and from the northern shores of the Mediterranean.

A distinctive and geographically isolated population of red colobus monkey Procolobus badius has been discovered in the Niger Delta within what was previously believed to be a discontinuity in the distribution of the species some 1200 km across. This Delta red colobus represents a new subspecies, P. b. epieni, most closely resembling the taxon on Bioko (P. b. pennantii) in such features as black hands and feet, and lack of orange-brown tones on head and neck, but differing in having whitish arms and hair whorls above the ears. It is less similar to subspecies on the mainland to the west or east (P. b. waldroni in Ghana and P. b. preussi in Cameroon, respectively), implying a complex zoogeographical history for the species. The Delta red colobus occupies an exceptionally low lying habitat of marsh forest, and its range lies within an area that had been independently identified as a centre of primate endemism, so it may have survived climatic vicissitudes of the Pleistocene in a Delta refuge. As it is confined to an area of about 1500 km2, it is now vulnerable to increasing human pressures.

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.