Macrothumia M. H. Alford is described as a new genus of Salicaceae based on Neosprucea kuhlmannii Sleumer from Brazil. The deciduous perianth, papillate leaf teeth, presence of receptacular disk glands, and analyses of plastid DNA data suggest that the new genus is more closely related to Ahernia Merrill and Pleuranthodendron L. O. Williams than to Banara Aublet or Neosprucea Sleumer. The monotypic genus Aphaerema Miers of Brazil and Argentina is transferred to Abatia Ruiz & Pavón, based on analyses of plastid DNA sequences and on the lack of morphological discontinuities between the genera. Because the name Abatia spicata (Turczaninow) Sleumer already exists, Abatia angeliana M. H. Alford is published as a replacement name for Aphaerema spicata Miers. A lectotype for Aphaerema spicata is also designated. The monotypic Hispaniolan genus Priamosia Urban, originally described as separate from Xylosma G. Forster based on its few stamens (four, instead of eight to numerous), is transferred to Xylosma, and a neotype is designated for Xylosma domingensis (Urban) M. H. Alford.

Astragalus asotinensis Björk & Fishbein (Fabaceae) is newly described from a single population on limestone of the Limekiln Formation at the mouth of Hells Canyon in Washington and Idaho in the United States. This population of several thousand plants has yet to be found on any of the non-calcareous substrates in the vicinity. Its affinities appear closest to Astragalus sect. Podosclerocarpi A. Gray, which hitherto encompassed three species of the Columbia Basin of British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington, in northwestern North America. Astragalus asotinensis represents a disjunct element of section Podosclerocarpi, the nearest population of which, in the form of A. sclerocarpus A. Gray, occurs 150 km northwest. With species of section Podosclerocarpi, A. asotinensis shares a strongly cauline habit, creamy white petals, non-gibbous calyx base, and stipitate, curved fruits. It is unique within section Podosclerocarpi in having sparse pubescence, a much longer ratio of peduncle-to-raceme length (4:1), and an intermediate leaflet length-width ratio (5:1).

Taxonomic revision of the populations belonging to the Anthyllis hermanniae L. species complex (Fabaceae, Faboideae) of the Mediterranean flora is given. Two distinct species are recognized: A. hystrix (Willkomm ex Barceló) Cardona, Contandriopoulos & Sierra, restricted to Minorca (Balearic Islands), and A. hermanniae, widespread in the central and eastern Mediterranean area. Within A. hermanniae, seven new subspecies are recognized: subspecies hermanniae (northeastern Mediterranean area), subspecies melitensis (Maltese Archipelago, Malta), subspecies sicula (Italy, Sicily), subspecies brutia (Italy, Calabria), subspecies japygica (Italy, Apulia), subspecies ichnusae (Italy, Sardinia), and subspecies corsica (France, Corsica). Each of these new taxa is described and illustrated. A key of the surveyed taxa is provided.

A new species of Cytinus L., C. visseri Burgoyne, a root holoparasite from Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces of South Africa and from Swaziland is described. Morphological and phenological differences separate it from the two existing South African species. The distributional range of C. visseri is also highly disjunct compared to that of the other two species, and the species is considered vulnerable (VU D2). Fruit morphology is described in detail for the new species; this is a first for the genus, as previous descriptions were based on flowering material only, and therefore fruit comparisons to the other South African species are not yet possible. A key to all known southern African species is given.

A new species, Thompsonella garcia-mendozae P. Carrillo & Pérez-Calix, is described and illustrated. This taxon occurs in the Balsas River Basin of southern Michoacán, Mexico. The new species is unique in the genus Thompsonella by possessing young leaves with an aristate apex and hyaline margin, as well as sepals with a recurved apex. It is similar to T. platyphylla Rose and T. colliculosa Moran, from which it is distinguished by the possession of the lower cincinni up to 6.5 cm long and with 4 to 18 flowers. Furthermore, the flowers have pedicels up to 3 mm long. In T. platyphylla and T. colliculosa the cincinni are up to 3 and 5 cm long, respectively, and up to 12 flowers are borne, on pedicels 1 mm long or shorter. A key to the identification of species of Thompsonella is provided.

Wigandia ecuadorensis Cornejo is a new shrubby to treelet species restricted to the fragmented and disturbed tropical dry forests in the province of Manabí, on the coast of Ecuador. It is somewhat similar to W. urens (Ruiz & Pavón) Kunth s.l. but differs by having larger ovaries (5–8 mm vs. 3–4 mm), longer styles (16–28 mm vs. (4–)6–12(–15) mm), filaments completely glabrous versus pubescent with patent to retrorse hispid trichomes, and larger corollas (2–3.5 cm) with divergent lobes versus smaller ones (1.2–1.5(–2) cm) with patent to more or less reflexed lobes. This new species is a subwoody colonizer in sunny, open places, having a high tolerance to low moisture levels; it may be used to recover the native vegetation and also to protect the loose soils in the very dry tropical forest life zone of coastal Ecuador and northwesternmost Peru.

Meliosma stellata Cornejo & Bonifaz, a new species of Sabiaceae from the Andean montane forests of southwestern Ecuador, is described and illustrated. The new species resembles the Colombian species M. violacea Cuatrecasas & Idrobo but differs by having smaller fruits, ca. 1.5 cm (vs. 2.6 cm) long, without its characteristic purple sap, and mainly by having highly distinctive sclerotic 4-branched stellate trichomes. This last feature is a significant character previously not recorded for species within this genus.

The new combination Paspalum robustum (Hitchcock & Chase) S. Denham replaces the illegitimate name Paspalum calliferum S. Denham, species from the Caribbean and northern South America.

A new species of Thoreauea J. K. Williams is proposed. This species differs from Thoreauea paneroi J. K. Williams in its corolline crown 10-lobulate at the apex and stamens as long as the crown. The species described in this paper was found in habitats of forests of Pinus L., Quercus L., and Abies Miller and in montane rain forest found in the highest region of the Sierra of Guerrero. The fruits and seeds are described for the first time for this genus.

Two new species and one subspecies of Mesoamerican Dichaea Lindley with caducous leaves are described and illustrated. Dichaea dressleri Folsom, a new species with narrow, glaucous leaves and resembling D. gracillima C. Schweinfurth, is described from wet forests in western Panama. Dichaea globosa Dressler & Pupulin, a new species described from Costa Rica and Panama, is a close ally of D. fragrantissima Folsom and of the widespread D. morrisii Fawcett & Rendle and may be distinguished by the fleshy, subtruncate lip with a broad claw and obovate petals. Dichaea fragrantissima, already described from Panama with a short diagnosis, is more fully described here. It is distinguished by the short, obtuse, lateral lobes of the lip, the subquadrate ligule and the narrow, subacuminate sepals and petals. Within D. fragrantissima, subsp. fragrantissima has prominent lilac lines on the sepals and petals and the lip is lilac, while subsp. eburnea Dressler & Pupulin, of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, is distinguished by ivory flowers with greenish ivory apices and smaller lateral lobes of the lip. Some members of subsp. eburnea are autogamous. Dichaea morrisii, although ranging widely in South America, is uncommon in Mesoamerica.

Five new Canadian subspecies of Braya are described and illustrated, three within B. humilis (C. A. Meyer) B. L. Robinson (subsp. ellesmerensis J. G. Harris, subsp. maccallae J. G. Harris, and subsp. porsildii J. G. Harris), one within B. glabella Richardson (subsp. prostrata J. G. Harris), and one within B. thorild-wulffii Ostenfeld (subsp. glabrata J. G. Harris). Keys to the North American subspecies of B. humilis, B. glabella, and B. thorild-wulffii are provided. Brief comments about the possible phylogenetic and phytogeographic significance of the subspecies of B. humilis are presented.

Taxonomic review is provided for Callitriche taxa occurring in central and eastern Asia east of the Urals and in southeastern Asia north of Irian Jaya Barat. Three new species: Callitriche fuscicarpa, C. glareosa, and C. raveniana are described from Nepal, Bhutan, and Taiwan, China, respectively. Two new varieties are also described: Callitriche palustris L. var. megalata from Siberia in Russia and Callitriche palustris L. var. strumosa from western Sumatra in Indonesia. Callitriche nana is newly referred as a synonym of C. japonica Engelmann ex Hegelmaier. Callitriche oryzetorum Petrov is transferred and reduced in rank to a variety of C. palustris L. Callitriche wightiana Wallich in Wight is lectotypified.

During the revision of Actinidiaceae for the Flora of China, two new combinations are proposed, Actinidia fulvicoma var. cinerascens (C. F. Liang) J. Q. Li & D. D. Soejarto and Saurauia polyneura var. paucinervis (C. F. Liang & Y. S. Wang) J. Q. Li & D. D. Soejarto.

Two new species, Carex bijiangensis S. Y. Liang & S. R. Zhang and C. obliquitruncata Y. C. Tang & S. Y. Liang, are described and illustrated. Both species are found in China and belong to Carex sect. Racemosae G. Don by having typically female lateral spikes, a gynecandrous terminal spike, dark female glumes, and three stigmas.

During work for the Flora of Somalia account of Apocynaceae subfamily Asclepiadoideae, a new species of uncertain affinity was discovered. DNA analysis revealed that the new species, Calciphila gillettii Liede & Meve, is most closely related to the recently described Cynanchum galgalense Liede, which was only provisionally included in Cynanchum L. after DNA analysis. As the best taxonomic solution for the two species not fitting into any of the known genera of milkweeds, the description of a new genus, Calciphila Liede & Meve, is proposed. Also, in the course of work for the Flora of Somalia, it was realized that Cynanchum clavidens N. E. Brown needs to be renamed Cynanchum hastifolium K. Schumann if the two taxa are considered to constitute subspecies of the same species, because C. clavidens has previously been put into synonymy with C. hastifolium. Finally, work on the Flore des Seychelles brought to light that Cynanchum robertsoniae Liede is identical with the Indian C. callialatum Buchanan-Hamilton ex Wight, and needs to be placed in synonymy with the latter. A lectotype is designated for C. callialatum.

Begonia hahiepiana H. Q. Nguyen & Tebbitt (Begoniaceae; section Sphenanthera (Hasskarl) Warburg), a new species from Phu Tho Province, Vietnam, is described and illustrated. This new species is most readily distinguished from the closely related B. balansana Gagnepain and B. ceratocarpa S. H. Huang & Y. M. Shui by its upper leaf surfaces, which are an iridescent dark blue (rather than glossy green) and have deeply sunken veins giving them a puckered appearance (rather than smooth), by its outer pair of tepals having a covering of red trichomes on their outer surfaces (rather than appearing glabrous throughout), and by its fruits, which are spherical with three thickened rib-like wings (rather than being either rhomboidal with three horned appendages or star shaped with six, or sometimes five or seven, fleshy wedge-shaped points). Fieldwork indicates that the new species has a restricted distribution and a total population of less than 1000 individuals; it is recommended to be placed in the IUCN category VU D 1, 2.

A new species, Isostigma sparsifolium G. Peter, from central Brazil (State of Goiás), resembles I. brasiliense (Gardner) Bentham & Hooker f. in habit; both species are perennial, with stems branched at the base, ascendant, with peduncles erect, involucres bell-shaped, capitula up to 9 mm high and 12 mm in diameter, and the pappus aristae completely hispid. Nevertheless, I. sparsifolium can be distinguished by its pinnatisect leaves distributed along the stems, the stems winged, the peduncles shorter, and the ray corollas white.

Crataegus spes-aestatum J. B. Phipps is described as a new species from Missouri and Illinois. It is critically compared to C. dawsoniana Sargent, to which it keys out in the article where that species was published, and which is here lectotypified. Also, lectotypes for the following new combinations or status from the Missouri Crataegus flora are designated: C. collina Chapman var. hirtiflora (Sargent) J. B. Phipps, C. crus-galli L. var. regalis (Beadle) J. B. Phipps, C. pruinosa (H. L. Wendland) K. Koch var. magnifolia (Sargent) J. B. Phipps, C. reverchonii Sargent var. palmeri (Sargent) J. B. Phipps, C. viridis L. var. glabriuscula (Sargent) J. B. Phipps, and C. viridis L. var. nitens (Sargent) J. B. Phipps. In addition, lectotypes are designated for the varietal basionyms C. hirtiflora Sargent, C. regalis Beadle, C. magnifolia Sargent, C. palmeri Sargent, and C. glabriuscula Sargent, as well as for several of the species names involved, C. collina Chapman, Mespilus pruinosa H. L. Wendland, and C. reverchonii Sargent. Also, a lectotype and epitype for C. berberifolia Torrey & A. Gray, a species with a Missouri variety, are indicated.

Ten new species of Scutellaria L. (Lamiaceae) from Mesoamerica, Scutellaria albituba A. Pool, S. aurantiaca A. Pool, S. lactea A. Pool, S. molinarum A. Pool, S. multiramosa A. Pool, S. oblongifolia A. Pool, S. saslayensis A. Pool, S. talamancana A. Pool, S. tucurriquensis A. Pool, and S. tutensis A. Pool, are described and their relationships with allied species are discussed. Scutellaria oblongifolia (Panama), and S. albituba, S. lactea, and S. talamancana (Costa Rica) belong to section Uliginosae (Epling) Epling and are herbs with small, pallid flowers, the corolla tubes with galeas not exceeding 20 mm in length. Scutellaria molinarum (Honduras and Guatemala), in section Speciosae (Epling) Epling, is a large herb to 1 m with large reddish purple flowers, the corolla tubes with galea to 26 mm in length. The five remaining new species are members of section Cardinales Epling. Scutellaria multiramosa (Panama) is a shrub with reddish violet medium-sized flowers, the corolla tubes with galeas 21–27 mm in length, S. tutensis (Panama) is a suffruticose herb with large pale lavender flowers, the corolla tubes with galeas to 28 mm in length, S. saslayensis (Nicaragua) and S. tucurriquensis (Costa Rica) are tall herbs, over 0.5 m tall, with medium to large red flowers, the corolla tubes with galeas 27–29 mm and 21–23 mm, respectively, and S. aurantiaca (Honduras) is a tall herb exceeding 0.4 m with orange flowers, the corolla tubes with galeas ca. 32 mm.

Schindleria (Phytolaccaceae) is a small genus of only three species from Peru and Bolivia. Routine identification of recent Peruvian collections has revealed a new species. Schindleria tomentosa Ricketson is described and illustrated, and its conservation status (CRB1D) and phylogenetic relationships are discussed. In addition, three synonyms are lectotypified (Rivina densiflora Kuntze var. flavida Kuntze, S. weberbaueri O. C. Schmidt, and S. glabra H. Walter), and a fourth synonym (Villamilla rosea) is deemed illegitimate.

Recent collecting efforts in Madagascar's eastern littoral forest have yielded a new species, Ludia craggiana Z. S. Rogers, Randrianasolo & J. S. Miller (Salicaceae), which is apparently endemic to two sandy forest fragments located near Vohémar in northeastern Madagascar. This species is most similar to L. ludiifolia (H. Perrier) Capuron & Sleumer, but can be distinguished by its more robust young stems and spines, glabrous or rarely puberulent twigs, petioles, midribs, and pedicels, coriaceous leaves with midveins and secondary venation of similar thickness, 50 to 60 stamens with emarginate anther connectives, and by the minutely granular-papillose fruit surface. Ludia craggiana is illustrated and assigned a provisional conservation status of endangered.

Recent studies have shown that the genus Acacia Miller s.l. is polyphyletic, consisting of at least five distinct groups of species. One of these groups, the proposed genus Mariosousa Seigler & Ebinger, consists of 13 species. We have made the following new combinations: Mariosousa acatlensis (Bentham) Seigler & Ebinger, M. centralis (Britton & Rose) Seigler & Ebinger, M. compacta (Rose) Seigler & Ebinger, M. coulteri (Bentham in A. Gray) Seigler & Ebinger, M. dolichostachya (S. F. Blake) Seigler & Ebinger, M. durangensis (Britton & Rose) Seigler & Ebinger, M. mammifera (Schlechtendal) Seigler & Ebinger, M. millefolia (S. Watson) Seigler & Ebinger, M. russelliana (Britton & Rose) Seigler & Ebinger, M. salazarii (Britton & Rose) Seigler & Ebinger, M. sericea (Martens & Galeotii) Seigler & Ebinger, M. usumacintensis (Lundell) Seigler & Ebinger, and M. willardiana (Rose in Vasey & Rose) Seigler & Ebinger. These species are restricted to tropical and subtropical regions of the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America. In addition to their close geographic affinities, a series of morphological characteristics, as well as recent molecular data, separate this new genus, which has been commonly referred to as the Acacia coulteri group. They are morphologically distinct from other species of Acacia subg. Aculeiferum Vassal in that they always lack prickles and are never lianas. Although this group of species is monophyletic, previous taxonomic treatments have not dealt with them as a separate unit within Acacia subg. Aculeiferum.

Phyllanthus gradyi M. J. Silva & M. F. Sales from Brazil is described and illustrated, and its affinities are discussed. The new species is included in Phyllanthus L. subg. Botryanthus G. L. Webster sect. Elutanthos Croizat.

For the forthcoming florula of the Río Cenepa area in the Department of Amazonas, Peru, the following seven new species of ferns (Pteridophyta) are described: Asplenium eutecnum (Aspleniaceae); Cyathea thelypteroides and C. windischiana (Cyatheaceae); Megalastrum mollis (Dryopteridaceae); Tectaria atropurpurea and T. microsora (Dryopteridaceae); and Thelypteris berlinii (Thelypteridaceae). A new combination is made for Cyathea reginae (Cyatheaceae), which also occurs in this same area; this was previously recognized as a variety of Cyathea macrosora and lacks a name at species rank.

The new name Johnstonalia Tortosa replaces the illegitimate name Johnstonia Tortosa (Rhamnaceae).

During preparation of the account of Bolbitidaceae for the Flora of China, volume 3, it was noticed that one species accepted in some earlier treatments is based on an illegitimate combination, Bolbitis bipinnatifida (J. Smith) K. Iwatsuki, not Bolbitis bipinnatifida (Kuhn) Ching. The following replacement name is proposed here: Bolbitis longiaurita F. G. Wang & F. W. Xing.

Based on the examination of the original material and protologue, the specimen Balansa 3884 (P) is designated as the lectotype of Talauma fistulosa Finet & Gagnepain, the basionym of Magnolia fistulosa (Finet & Gagnepain) Dandy, to supersede under Art. 9.17(b) of the ICBN the earlier designation by Chen and Nooteboom, Bon 3176. Two other names, M. talaumoides Dandy and M. phanerophlebia B. L. Chen, are referred to M. fistulosa as new synonyms.

A new species of Lauraceae from Guangdong, China, Cinnamomum purpureum H. G. Ye & F. G. Wang, is described and illustrated here. The new species belongs to Cinnamomum sect. Camphora Meissner and is similar to Cinnamomum parthenoxylon (Jack) Meissner in appearance, but differs by the short trunk; the thick leathery leaves with apex obtuse or acute; the branchlets, petioles, costas, young leaves, pedicels, and peduncles purplish red; anthers quadrangular with digitate staminodia; and a fusiform ovary. A key is provided to distinguish the species of Cinnamomum in Ehuangzhang Nature Reserve, Guangdong, China.

Impatiens ×pacifica Zika (Balsaminaceae), a natural spontaneous hybrid, is described from western North America, in coastal Oregon and Washington. A key is provided, and the hybrid is compared with its parents, the common introduction Impatiens capensis Meerburgh and the uncommon native I. ecalcarata Blankinship. Hybrid flowers are intermediate in markings and morphology between those of the parents. Impatiens ×pacifica differs from I. ecalcarata in its spotted corolla and from I. capensis in its spurless flowers.