Emmotum Desv. ex Ham. is a Neotropical, primarily Amazonian and Guayanan genus (Icacinaceae) of 13 tree or shrub species, including a new species here described from Amazonas, Brazil, E. amazonicum Duno & Carnevali. A cladistic analysis of the 18 taxa of Icacinaceae including 13 of Emmotum was carried out using 41 morphological characters. The single most parsimonious tree shows Emmotum as a monophyletic group, strongly supported by nine synapomorphies, with Poraqueiba Aubl. as the sister group. In addition, two main groups are identified within Emmotum. These two groups laxly correspond with the 1872 classification of Engler: Emmotum sect. Brevistyla Engl. and Emmotum sect. Longistyla Engl. (= section Emmotum). The genus Pogopetalum Benth., synonymous within Emmotum, is lectotypified by P. orbiculatum Benth. (≡ E. orbiculatum (Benth.) Miers). We present a revision of Emmotum with information about nomenclature, distribution, ecology, local names, and uses.

Molecular data support the recognition of three monophyletic families, Capparaceae s. str., Cleomaceae, and Brassicaceae, instead of an all-encompassing Brassicaceae or a paraphyletic Capparaceae s.l. This view is reinforced with many figures showing two basic and ubiquitous differences in cleomoid seed structure. First, the more or less strongly incurved seed, varying from reniform to horseshoe-shaped, coiled or conduplicate, uniformly and in all species, results in a deep invagination of the testa (the cleft) projecting into the interval between the two ends, or claws, of the embryo (this invagination is absent or rarely reduced and atavistic in Brassicaceae, and infrequent in Capparaceae s. str., i.e., in some Capparis L. species and Crateva L., sister genus to all remaining Capparaceae s. str.). Second, the uniformly semicylindric, strictly incumbent cotyledons are small and narrow, but are never foliaceous and interfolded, circinate or convoluted, or massive and thick, as in the often accumbent, rarely incumbent Capparaceae, or as variable as in Brassicaceae. An illustrated glossary of Cleomaceae seed morphology, as well as depictions of Capparaceae, Cleomaceae, and Brassicaceae seeds and their sectional views, and a key to all three families, are included.

The infrageneric classification of the cosmopolitan genus Lobelia L. (Campanulaceae) is revised via synthesis of diverse phenotypic data. The 415 species are divided among 18 sections (numbers of included species are given in parentheses): Lobelia sect. Delostemon (E. Wimm.) J. Murata (44); Lobelia sect. Holopogon Benth. (14); Lobelia sect. Colensoa (Hook. f.) J. Murata (1); Lobelia sect. Cryptostemon (E. Wimm.) J. Murata (10); Lobelia sect. Stenotium (C. Presl) Lammers (144); Lobelia sect. Lobelia (22); Lobelia sect. Hypsela (C. Presl) Lammers (43); Lobelia sect. Mezleriopsis Lammers, sect. nov. (7); Lobelia sect. Jasionopsis Lammers, sect. nov. (1); Lobelia sect. Tylomium (C. Presl) Benth. (38); Lobelia sect. Homochilus A. DC. (5); Lobelia sect. Tupa (G. Don) Benth. (4); Lobelia sect. Trimeris (C. Presl) A. DC. (1); Lobelia sect. Speirema (Hook. f. & Thomson) Lammers (5); Lobelia sect. Plagiobotrys Lammers (1); Lobelia sect. Rhynchopetalum (Fresen.) Benth. (61); Lobelia sect. Revolutella E. Wimm. (9); and Lobelia sect. Galeatella E. Wimm. (5). In addition, Monopsis Salisb. sect. Xanthomeria (C. Presl) Lammers, comb. nov., is validated to provide the correct name for Monopsis sect. Parastranthus (G. Don) E. Wimm.

The nuclear gene xanthine dehydrogenase (Xdh) was sequenced for 247 genera representing all major lineages of angiosperms and “gymnosperms,” and the results were analyzed using likelihood and parsimony methods. The overall topology is mostly congruent with previously published trees based on chloroplast rbcL, atpB, and matK sequences. A total of 190 of the 253 nodes (71%) of the Xdh tree received bootstrap support greater than 50%. The likelihood tree was comparable in robustness to the matK topology, which exhibited 79% of the nodes with bootstrap support greater than 50%, and to the reported 7%–24% support observed for individual analyses of rbcL, atpB, and 18S ribosomal DNA clades. The number of parsimony-informative sites (1068, 69%) was similar to that of the matK (1083, 62%) study. The likelihood tree depicts angiosperms as monophyletic, with Ceratophyllum L. (Ceratophyllaceae) as sister to the rest of the flowering plants, followed successively by Amborellaceae, Nymphaeaceae, and Austrobaileyales clades as sisters to the remaining angiosperms. Acorus L. plus the remaining monocots, magnoliids, and Chloranthaceae diverge after the Austrobaileyales. Eudicots are supported and include a basal grade of Ranunculales–Proteaceae, Sabiaceae, Trochodendraceae, Buxaceae, Gunneraceae, and Dilleniaceae–Santalaceae, which are subsequent sister to the remaining eudicots. The remaining eudicots are split into two clades. The first clade consists of the Ericales, Cornales, and euasterids I and II (lamids–campanulids). The second clade consists of the following orders: Saxifragales, Myrtales–Caryophyllales–Cucurbitales, Crossosomatales, Geraniales, Rosales–Fabales–Fagales, Celastrales, Malpighiales, Brassicales–Malvales, Oxalidales, and Sapindales. Xdh data provided good support in the Caryophyllales, Ericales and Cornales, euasterids I (lamids), Magnoliales and Laurales, Malvales, Rutaceae, Oxalidales, Brassicales, and Sapindales. A future combined analysis of Xdh and other DNA data sets will have a strong potential to enhance resolution and internal support for angiosperm phylogenetics and provide insights into angiosperm evolution using biparental information.

We recognize three species of Megalastrum Holttum (Dryopteridaceae) in Africa, the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and La Réunion. A key to distinguish the three species is provided as well as description, complete synonymy, discussion, specimens examined, and illustration of each species. Two names are excluded from the genus.

The genus Salvia L. (Lamiaceae) encompasses about 1000 species, approximately two thirds of which are in the New World. Bees and birds are known as pollinators, but a more detailed analysis of the pollinator groups is lacking. This paper presents a complete list of all currently accepted New World Salvia species and their classification according to their pollination syndromes, focusing particularly on bird-pollinated species. The concept of pollination syndromes is used and complemented by field investigations, morphometric measurements, and experiments to reconstruct the process of pollen transfer and to confirm the fitting or exclusion of a given pollinator group. Within the 602 New World Salvia species, 58% are identified to be melittophilous (bee pollinated) and 31% to be ornithophilous (bird pollinated). Salvia whitehousei Alziar is assumed to be psychophilous (butterfly pollinated/long-tongued fly pollinated). About 11% of the species show characters of two or more syndromes and eight species are not assignable to any group. Bird-pollinated Salvia species occur from North America southward to Chile and Argentina. They usually grow as shrubs or perennial herbs (97%) and have red flowers (at least 49%) of an average size of 34 mm (7–130 mm). With respect to their floral diversity and phylogeny, parallel evolution is evident.