A new species of Diplycosia (Ericaceae), Diplycosia bartolomei Ferreras & Argent, presently known only from Mt. Mingan in the border region between Aurora and Nueva Ecija provinces in Luzon, Philippines, is described. Comments on possible relationships and differences from other Philippine species are given.

Cyrtandra phoenicolasia, C. hottae and five new species constitute a group distinguished by a suite of characters including setose vegetative parts, deeply divided calyx, small white corolla marked on the lower lip with yellow to brown, unilateral disc, ovary constricted at base, and fruit small. All species are fully described and an identification key provided.

Four new species of Bornean Zingiberaceae are described:- Amomum sceletescens, Hedychium borneense from Sabah, H. lineare which occurs in Sabah, Sarawak and Kalimantan, and Elettariopsis kerbyi from the Gunong Mulu National Park in Sarawak.

A new species of Lavandula (Lamiaceae) is described from the Western Hajar Mountains of Oman. The species is fully described and illustrated. Habitat details and an assessment of its conservation status are provided.

Eight species of Thesium are newly described, 3 apparently confined to Zambia, 3 to Zimbabwe and one to Mozambique, with another ranging from Zambia and Zimbabwe west to Botswana, Angola and Namibia.

Begonia albomaculata as circumscribed in the Flora of Ecuador and related publications is shown to be a misapplied name and represents an undescribed species. This is described as Begonia botryoides Moonlight & Tebbitt sp. nov., and is recorded from the Pichincha, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Napo, Cotopaxi, Azuay and El Oro provinces in Ecuador, and the Antioquia and Chocó departments of Colombia. The taxonomic study of this species prompted a re-evaluation of related species. It was subsequently found that the Central American material previously included in Begonia tiliifolia C.DC. is distinct from the type and other South American material of this species and represents an undescribed species. This is described as Begonia boreoharlingii Tebbitt & Moonlight sp. nov., and is recorded from the Limón province in Costa Rica, and the Bocas del Toro and Coclé provinces in Panama. Four species, Begonia tiliifolia C.DC., Begonia harlingii L.B.Sm. & Wassh., B. botryoides and B. boreoharlingii, are placed in the informally named Begonia tiliifolia group. A key, descriptions, illustrations and distribution maps are provided for the members of the Begonia tiliifolia group, and its sectional classification is discussed.

The ‘Hebridean Marsh-orchid’ is a controversial dactylorchid taxon currently regarded as endemic to the island of North Uist in the Scottish Hebrides. Re-evaluation of past taxonomic treatments reveals that none of its three names – Dactylorhiza majalis (Reichenbach f.) P. F. Hunt & Summerhayes subsp. scotica Nelson (1976, 1979), D. majalis subsp. occidentalis (Pugsley) Soó var. ebudensis Wiefelspütz (in Landwehr, 1977), and D. majalis subsp. occidentalis var. scotica (Nelson) R. M. Bateman & Denholm (1983) – has been validly published. We herein legitimize D. majalis subsp. occidentalis var. ebudensis Wiefelspütz ex R. M. Bateman & Denholm, presenting for the first time full details of its lectotype. However, we also note that this nomenclatural clarification has no relevance to determining the most appropriate rank for, and biological significance of, this taxon, which is one of many doubtfully distinct ‘critical’ taxa of dactylorchids that occur in western and northern regions of the British Isles. Taxonomic opinions expressed on these populations to date have been based on sparse, qualitative, and often contradictory data, and most lacked an explicit conceptual framework. We outline a more rigorous analytical protocol.

Nineteen boletes (Basidiomycotina) are recorded from Zambia. They belong to the tylopiloid and xerocomoid elements. Three of these boletes are described as new: Tylopilus ochraceosquamosus Watling, T. perplexus Watling & Turnbull and T. zambianus Watling. Another four cannot be assigned to formally recognized taxa, and the provisional name Tylopilus conspicuocystidiata is adopted for one of them. Two new combinations are made: Tylopilus brunneirubens (Corner) Watling & Turnbull and T. nigropurpureus (Corner) Watling.

A new species of Begonia (Begoniaceae), Begonia gorgonea Tebbitt, is described from Cajamarca Province in northern Peru. This species is allied to a group of Andean species that are currently classified in Begonia sect. Knesebeckia. An identification key to this species group is provided, and the IUCN conservation category of VU D2 is proposed for the new species.

Four new species of Boehmeria (Urticaceae) are described and named: Boehmeria listeri Friis & Wilmot-Dear and B. manipurensis Friis & Wilmot-Dear from the eastern part of the Himalayas, B. leptostachya Friis & Wilmot-Dear from southern China (Yunnan), Thailand and northern Sumatra, and B. subintegra Friis & Wilmot-Dear from Papua New Guinea. The species are illustrated and mapped and their habitat ranges are described, and conservation assessments have been produced for all.

The new species Cynoglossum vanense (Boraginaceae) from around Lake Van and Hakkâri in eastern Turkey is described and illustrated. Its larger nutlets with relatively long glochids separate it from other known species in subgenus Cynoglossum.

Three new species of Bhutanese orchids, Aphyllorchis sanguinea, Cheirostylis sherriffii and Hetaeria pelota, and one new Sikkimese species, Lecanorchis sikkimensis, are newly described. Their generic placement and affinities are discussed. A new combination in Cheirostylis is made for the Taiwanese Zeuxine tabiyahanensis Hayata. Records of five orchid species new to Bhutan are also presented.

The state of systematics, for convenience here divided into taxonomy (the delimitation, description and inventory of species) and phylogeny reconstruction, is evaluated. Molecular systematics may seem overemphasized, but the resulting gains made in our understanding of relationships in a relatively short time are very considerable. Although morphological data currently play only a limited role in detecting large-scale phylogenetic pattern, the analysis by Wortley et al. of the role morphology has played in the past is not easily interpreted. At species level, it is unclear what effect molecular techniques will have on our understanding of species limits, but it is likely to be considerable. Although taxonomy is both essential and underfunded, there seems little point in asking for more money until we can justify the limits of the species we describe more clearly and until we have cleared up the impediments that so much slow the practice of taxonomy. Business cannot remain as usual if any of the grand inventory projects we have started are to be finished within a reasonable time, or even to be of much use when they are.

Two new species of Begonia (Begoniaceae), Begonia gambutensis Ardi & D.C.Thomas and Begonia siregarii Ardi & D.C.Thomas, are described from material collected on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Both species belong to Begonia section Petermannia. A key to the species in the provinces North Sulawesi and Gorontalo is provided.

A new species of Agapetes (Ericaceae) from Thailand is described and illustrated.

Critical discussions are presented concerning two species complexes within Galium L. (Rubiaceae). the G. acutum Edgew. and G. asperifolium Wall, groups, with special reference to the E Himalayas. In the G. acutum group, two new species, G. megacyttarion R.R. Mill sp. nov. and G. rebae R.R. Mill sp. nov., are described and G. himalavense Klotzsch & Garcke is reduced to a variety of G. acutum, necessitating a new combination. Within the G. asperifolium group, G. craticulatum R.R. Mill sp. nov. is described, and G. asperifolium and G. sikkimense Gand. regarded as distinct species. The typification of several epithets (G. blinii Lev., G. bodinieri Lév., G. cavaleriei Lév., G. comari Lév. & Vaniot, and G. esquirolii Lév.), which all antedate G. sikkimense, is discussed. Only G. cavaleriei poses a potential threat but it is here maintained separate from G. sikkimense. Brief notes on G. asperifolium sensu stricto and supposedly allied plants of south India (G. asperifolium var. pilosissimum Cufod.) are given.

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 new species Onosma griersonii R. R. Mill (Boraginaceae) is described from Bhutan. The species belongs to O. sect. Maharanga (DC.) C. B. Clarke.

The following new species and subspecies are described: Carex burttii Noltie, C. griersonii Noltie, C. nigra (L.) Reich, subsp. drukyulensis Noltie, C. schlagintweitiana Boeck. subsp. deformis Noltie, C. speciosa Kunth subsp. dilatata Noltie, C. speciosa subsp. pinetorum Noltie, C. laeta Boott subsp. gelongii Noltie. The new combination C. fusiformis Nees subsp. finitima (Boott) Noltie is made. C. sikkimensis C.B. Clarke is reduced to the synonymy of C. fucata Boott ex C.B. Clarke, and C. praelonga C.B. Clarke to that of C. teres Boott. Notes are provided on C. notha Kunth, C. inclinis C.B. Clarke, C. inanis C.B. Clarke and C. alopecuroides D. Don ex Tillooh & Taylor. C. fastigiata Franch. and C. radicatis Boott are reported new to Bhutan and C. montis-everestii Kük. new to Sikkim. Lectotypes are designated for C. fucata, C. sikkimensis, C. teres, C. praelonga, C. setigera γ humilis, C. inanis. C. fusiformis, C. finitima, C. alopecuroides, C. chlorostachys D. Don ex Tilloch & Taylor and C. alopecuroides var. chlorostachya C.B. Clarke. A phytogeographical checklist is provided for species occurring in the Flora of Bhutan area.

A heterogenic system of incompatibility is described in Coprinus bisporus which involves two alleles at two loci, in addition to the unifactorial homogenic incompatibility locus already described for this two-spored species. The patterns of non-allelic heterogenic incompatibility found in C. bisporus are used to predict those expected in species with bifactorial homogenic incompatibility. This type of heterogenic incompatibility could lead to speciation.