The veracity of records of the 11 presumed Extinct or missing ferns and lycophytes from the Wet Tropics Bioregion of northern Queensland is investigated by examination of original materials and by intensive field searches of their recording sites. Two of the species, namely Hymenophyllum whitei and Oreogrammitis leonardii, were rediscovered. One of the species, Lastreopsis dissecta, is taxonomically problematic. Another taxon, Lindsaea pulchella var. blanda, is excluded as an erroneous record. The remaining seven species, namely Didymoglossum exiguum, Haplopteris dareicarpa, Huperzia serrata, Hymenophyllum lobbii, Lemmaphyllum accedens, Pseudodiphasium volubile and Tmesipteris lanceolata, all having been recorded by Karel Domin, appear to be questionable records and their presence in Australia requires ongoing consideration unless they are relocated or can be otherwise excluded.

One new species of Lindernia All. is described (L. yarun Wannan) from south-eastern Queensland. The following three species of Lindernia are newly recognised for Queensland: L. clausa (F.Muell.) F.Muell., L. procumbens (Krock.) Philcox and L. rotundifolia (L.) Alston. Illustrations of flowers, fruits, seeds, leaves, stem anatomy, and specimens are provided. Notes on habitat, distribution and conservation status are also provided. A key to eastern Australian species of Lindernia, Bonnaya Link & Otto and Yamazakia W.R.Barker, Y.S.Liang & Wannan is provided.

Psychotria corrugata S.Venter is newly described from the Hindenburg Wall area in the Star Mountains of Papua New Guinea. It can easily be distinguished from other Psychotria species by the curved, narrow, coriaceous and corrugated leaves, contracted panicle and papillate corolla lobes.

The mycoheterotrophic genus Gymnosiphon Blume is recorded for Australia for the first time after the recent discovery of plants at Mossman Gorge, Queensland. On the basis of examination of living plants in the field as well as materials preserved in spirit, the Mossman Gorge Gymnosiphon taxon is a novelty closely related to Gymnosiphon affinis J.J.Sm., which is known only from New Guinea. The new species is here described as Gymnosiphon queenslandicus B.Gray & Y.W.Low based on floral characteristics important for species distinction in the genus.

Sauropus elachophyllus (F.Muell. ex Benth.) Airy Shaw and S. rigidulus (F.Muell. ex Müll.Arg.) Airy Shaw are revised under the reinstated genus Synostemon F.Muell. (Phyllanthaceae) using morphological and nrITS sequence data. Sauropus decrescentifolius J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl and S. elachophyllus are shown to be conspecific as Synostemon elachophyllus (F.Muell. ex Benth.) I.Telford & Pruesapan and S. elachophyllus subsp. decrescentifolius (J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl) I.Telford & Pruesapan, with Synostemon elachophyllus subsp. latior (Airy Shaw) I.Telford & Pruesapan (syn. Sauropus elachophyllus var. glaber Airy Shaw p.p.) raised in rank. The ‘Top End clade’ has morphological synapomorphies of fused staminal filaments and connectives, and linear, longitudinal anthers. Four new species are named: Synostemon cowiei I.Telford & J.J.Bruhl, S. inaequisepalus I.Telford & J.J.Bruhl, S. kakadu I.Telford & J.J.Bruhl and S. nitmiluk I.Telford & J.J.Bruhl and new combinations are provided: S. crassifolius (Müll.Arg.) I.Telford & Pruesapan, S. ditassoides (Müll.Arg.) I.Telford & Pruesapan, S. dunlopii (J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl) I.Telford & Pruesapan, S. filicinus (J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl) I.Telford & Pruesapan, S. gracilis (J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl) I.Telford & Pruesapan, S. rigidulus (F.Muell. ex Müll.Arg.) I.Telford & Pruesapan, and S. stenocladus (S.Moore) I.Telford & Pruesapan, with S. pinifolius (J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl) I.Telford & Pruesapan also raised in rank.

Between 1778 and 1903, three successive generations of the Wendland family were Court Gardeners at the Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen, Hanover, Germany. In addition to their horticultural responsibilities, they published several important taxonomic accounts, some involving Australian plants. Johann Christoph Wendland (1755–1828) (J.C.Wendl.) established the endemic Australian genera Angianthus J.C.Wendl. (Asteraceae), Hakea Schrad. & J.C.Wendl. (Proteaceae) and Waitzia J.C.Wendl. (Asteraceae), and provided novel work on Melaleuca L. (Myrtaceae) and Acacia Mill. (as Mimosa L; Fabaceae); Heinrich Ludolph Wendland (1792–1869) (H. L.Wendl.) provided novel and revisionary work on Acacia and Leptospermum J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. (Myrtaceae); and Hermann Wendland (1825–1903) (H. Wendl.) specialised in the palms (Arecaceae) and wrote Palmae Australasicae with Oscar Drude, the foundational work on Australian palms. A search of all the databases and other references accessible to us has resulted in the identification of ∼148 names of Australian plants in which the author citation includes any of the three Wendlands. Of these, ∼30 are the currently accepted names. Lectotypes are here proposed for the names Acacia amoena H.L.Wendl., A. crassiuscula H.L.Wendl., A. dolabriformis H.L.Wendl., A. emarginata H.L.Wendl., A. homomalla H.L.Wendl., Aster tomentosus J.C.Wendl., Leptospermum buxifolium H.L.Wendl., L. emarginatum H.L.Wendl. ex Link, L. glomeratum H.L.Wendl., Melaleuca linearis Schrad. & J.C.Wendl., M. thea Schrad. & J.C.Wendl., Passiflora glabra J.C.Wendl., Protea nectarina J.C.Wendl., P. pulchella Schrad. & J.C.Wendl., Pultenaea daphnoides J.C.Wendl., P. linophylla Schrad. & J.C.Wendl., P. retorta J.C.Wendl. and Tristania subverticillata H.L.Wendl. Figures are provided of all the proposed lectotypes housed in GOET.

Styphelia geniculata Crayn and S. piliflora Crayn are described, phylogenetically placed and compared with related species. Their relationships within Ericaceae tribe Styphelieae, resolved by phylogenetic analysis of plastid and nuclear DNA sequences, support their description in the expanded genus Styphelia. Illustrations, pollen scanning electron micrographs, distribution maps and a key to the species and related northern Queensland taxa are provided, along with notes on the ecology and conservation status.

The artesian springs of inland Australia are a unique habitat in what is otherwise an arid environment. They support a rich collection of endemic flora and fauna. Here, morphological and molecular data are employed to describe a new species, Chloris circumfontinalis Fahey & Fensham, endemic to artesian spring systems in central Queensland. A morphological ordination failed to distinguish this species from other Australian native flora, but the shape of the florets distinguishes it from the species with which it co-occurs. Phylogenies estimated from molecular data showed that the species represents a distinct lineage that may be sister to species of Chloris from outside Australia. Chloris circumfontinalis occurs only in the saline scalds that form around the springs, and population surveys at the two sites where it occurs indicated a threat status of Endangered under the IUCN Red List criteria.

Nepenthes is a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of ∼160 species that are distributed in the paleotropics. Molecular systematics has so far not been able to resolve evolutionary relationships of most species because of the limited genetic divergence in previous studies. In the present study, we used a genome-skimming approach to infer phylogenetic relationships on the basis of 81 plastid genes and the highly repetitive rRNA (external transcribed spacer (ETS)–26S) for 39 accessions representing 34 species from eight sections. Maximum-likelihood analysis and Bayesian inference were performed separately for the nuclear and the plastid datasets. Divergence-time estimations were conducted on the basis of a relaxed molecular-clock model, using secondary calibration points. The phylogenetic analyses of the nuclear and plastid datasets yielded well resolved and supported phylogenies. Incongruences between the two datasets were detected, suggesting multiple hybridisation events or incomplete lineage sorting in the deeper and more recent evolutionary history of the genus. The inclusion of several known and suspected hybrids in the phylogenetic analysis provided insights into their parentage. Divergence-time estimations placed the crown diversification of Nepenthes in the early Miocene, c. 20 million years ago. This study showed that genome skimming provides well resolved nuclear and plastid phylogenies that provide valuable insights into the complex evolutionary relationships of Nepenthes.

A new fossil flora from central Queensland, of late Eocene or early Oligocene age, has yielded a diverse assemblage of flowering plants and ferns, including the first evidence of horsetails (Equisetum L.) from the Cenozoic of Australia. The fossils assigned to Equisetum are based on a stem fragment, 2–3 mm in diameter, and spreading leaf sheath and diaphragm. The leaf sheath is interpreted to consist of ∼24–30 leaves. The spatial arrangement of regularly arranged depressions in a section of the outer cortex is interpreted as evidence of the leaf vascular traces, and indicates a similar number of vascular traces. This specimen provides the youngest evidence of the genus from Australia and indicates that Equisetum survived for at least another 50 million years after it was thought to be extinct in Australia. Whereas molecular data for extant species of Equisetum collectively suggest a comparatively recent origin and radiation, the fossil record of the genus indicates a significantly longer and more complex history. Fossils, such as the new specimen from Makowata, Queensland, will, therefore, play a key role in understanding the history and past distribution of Equisetum in Australia. A key challenge is to assemble and characterise the morphological traits of these living and fossil plants to better understand the origins, history and radiation of this remarkable group of euphyllophytes.