Plant fitness is reduced by pollen limitation when the amount and quality of pollen deposited on stigmas is restricted. Pollen limitation has direct implications in mating system and floral evolution, and negatively affects population dynamics. We assessed pollen limitation in the cactus Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus from the western Chihuahuan Desert. We performed a supplementary pollen treatment then compared outcomes with naturally pollinated flowers using generalized linear models (GLM) and a pollen limitation index (L). Floral aperture was compared between days of anthesis using a single ANOVA, whereas nectar production was contrasted between covered/uncovered flowers and days of anthesis using a factorial ANOVA. Results of both GLM and L show that seed set proportion decreases 0.22 as a result of pollen limitation in natural pollinated flowers contrasted with pollen-supplemented flowers. Most flowers opened two days, and floral aperture between the first and second day varied slightly. Nectar volume was higher in covered flowers, showing that floral visitors consume this reward. However, high variances in nectar volumes obscured potential differences between treatments. Competition for pollinators among flowers as a result of its synchronous flowering and patchy distribution, as well as limited bee abundance generated by anthropogenic disturbance, are the more plausible causes of pollen limitation in A. kotschoubeyanus.

The taxonomic history and application of the name Aloe ×schoenlandii Baker (Asphodelaceae: Alooideae), a hybrid between Aloe maculata All. and Aloe striata Haw., is reviewed. It is shown that the name Aloe ×schimperi Tod., which predates the name Aloe ×schoenlandii by several decades, refers to the same hybrid and should be adopted. The name Aloe ×paxii is also discussed and its application resolved. The name Aloe ×schimperi is lectotypified.

Lophocereus (Pachycereus) schottii has lignified thorns with secondary growth connecting areoles to the vascular cylinder, which may help support their massive highly parenchymatous shoots.

Opuntia Ser. Chacopuntiae Oakley & R. Kiesling nov. ser., a new series of the genus Opuntia Mill. (Opuntieae, Opuntioideae, Cactaceae) from austral South America (Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay) is described here. The type species is Opuntia quimilo K. Schum. The relation with another Opuntia s. str. species and another genus of the Opuntioideae it is mentioned.

The correct orthography of the specific epithet commemorating Hermann Sello in the genus Furcraea Vent. is discussed and clarified. It is shown that the epithet to be used is ‘selloana’, not ‘selloa’, nor ‘selloi’, yielding the species name Furcraea selloana K.Koch for this horticulturally popular New World member of the Asparagaceae subfam. Agavoideae / Agavaceae.

Plants have evolved an internal body clock — the circadian system — that allows the optimization of behavior during the day by anticipating regular environmental change. This timing mechanism also serves as an internal reference to control flowering time. One observable consequence of the circadian system is the rhythmic regulation of processes that underlie photosynthesis, which persists after plants are transferred to constant conditions. Many cacti and succulents use Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) as a modification of the predominant C3 method of photosynthesis to limit water loss. CAM allows the temporal separation of carbon capture from the atmosphere and the Calvin-Benson cycle, and so separates stomatal opening from some of the biochemical aspects of photosynthesis. Here we document the diversity of circadian rhythms in several Kalanchoe species and reveal differences in the period, phase and amplitude of circadian outputs derived from regulation of the photosynthetic apparatus.

There are nine species of Nopalea and the most widely distributed is N. cochenillifera (L.) Salm-Dyck. This species and its wild congeners inhabit dry and subhumid tropical and subtropical regions in western and eastern Mexico down to Panama. In Mexico, its tender, young cladodes (known locally as nopalitos) and flower buds (tunitas) are eaten as vegetables, its developed cladodes are used as forage in different parts of the world, and the plants are used as living fences and also as ornamentals. The fruits of N. cochenillifera have received little attention in the specialized literature; therefore, the purpose of this note is to describe a set of fruits that was bought in a traditional market in San Luis Potosí, México. The fruits of N. cochenillifera were, on average, two centimeters shorter than those reported in the literature; by weight, the pulp accounted for 45.70 % on average, the peel 48.07 % and the seeds 6.23 %. Mean sweetness was 10.62 oBrix, somewhat lower than that of Opuntia cultivars, which is 12.95. Due to the lack of abortive seeds, we infer that the fruit of Nopalea have been of little interest to humans.

Three new species, Brachystelma matthewianum Bruyns & Britto, B. rapinatianum Britto & Bruyns and B. saldanhae Britto & Bruyns (Apocynaceae, Asclepiadoideae, Ceropegieae), from different parts of the province of Tamil Nadu in southern India are described and illustrated.

The natural hybrid between Aloe arborescens Mill. and A. chortolirioides A.Berger var. chortolirioides (Asphodelaceae) is here formally described as a nothospecies, A. ×inopinata Gideon F.Sm., N.R.Crouch & Oosth. The hybrid occurs at Kamhlabane, about 37 km [22 miles] east of Barberton, as well as at Twello 373JU in the Barberton district, Mpumalanga. It has been known in horticulture for many years, following the introduction of wild-sourced material by Gilbert W. Reynolds.

Kalanchoe montana Compton was regarded as a subspecies of Kalanchoe luciae Raym.-Hamet, as K. luciae subsp. montana (Compton) Toelken, in the Flora of Southern Africa treatment of the family Crassulaceae. We here reinstate K. montana Compton at species rank. Descriptions are provided for K. luciae and K. montana, and characters distinguishing them noted and illustrated. Geographical distribution maps are provided for both species in southern Africa. A lectotype is designated for K. montana.

Adenia natalensis W.J.de Wilde, considered Critically Endangered and possibly Extinct according to IUCN Red List criteria, has been rediscovered in the lower Tugela River Valley in central KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This species was last gathered in the early 1860s and was until now known from just two collections, both made by William Tyrer Gerrard, with the provenance recorded only as ‘Natal’ or ‘Natal, Zulu-land’. Female plants are yet to be observed and described. A lectotype is designated for Adenia natalensis.