A new concept of the genus Psephellus is presented on the basis of morphological, anatomical, palynological and caryological evidence. The few molecular data seem to confirm the monophyly of the genus. The following former sections of Centaurea are included: C. sect. Psephelloideae, Psephellus, Hyalinella, Aetheopappus, Amblyopogon, Heterolophus, Czerniakovskya, Odontolophoideae, Odontolophus, Xanthopsis, Uralepis and Sosnovskya. New combinations under Psephellus are provided for these sections and for 35 species, especially from Turkey and Iran. Psephellus in this broadened sense has 75–80 species and a distribution with a centre in E Anatolia, Caucasia and NW Iran; only few species occur outside this area. Close relationships exist between different sections despite considerable differences especially in the characters of the pappus.

Secamone brevicoronata and S. pedicellaris, two species of Apocynaceae s.l., Secamoneae, from Madagascar, are described as new to science, illustrated and compared with related taxa.

Starting a series of miscellaneous contributions by various authors, this first instalment includes unpublished data on the vascular plants of Cyprus with an emphasis on distributional considerations. Two taxa, Paronychia echinulata and Hordeum murinum, were previously not known to occur in Cyprus. The hybrid Aegilops geniculata × A. peregrina, endemic to Cyprus, is described as the new nothospecies Aegilops ×insulae-cypri. Data on 57 additional species complete the knowledge about chorology and ecology especially in the western part of the island.

Based on a recent collection of Wettstein's dubious ‘Campanula juncea’ from the SW Anatolian Akdağları mountain massif, new morphological and ecological data of this largely ignored, ill-defined and under-recorded local endemic are presented, it is illustrated for the first time and its taxonomy is clarified. The species is placed in Asyneuma and the combination A. junceum is validated as a nomen novum. Remarkable populations of A. compactum found on the Geyik Dağları are described as var. eriocarpum, a variety new to science, and illustrated.

Pycnocycla saxatilis from SW Jordan and NW Saudi Arabia is described as a species new to science and illustrated. It is a stem-assimilant subshrub related to P. tomentosa and confined to crevices of smooth-faced sandstone and similar habitats. Attention is drawn to another undescribed and related Pycnocycla taxon from further south in Saudi Arabia.

Distephanus qazmi, recently discovered on the island of Socotra, c. 250 km off the Horn of Africa, is described as a species new to science. The palaeotropical genus Distephanus, which has its greatest diversity on Madagascar, differs from all other genera of the Vernonieae in having yellow flowers. D. qazmi combines yellow flowers with presence of a basal stylar node, unstructured, elongate, polarized thickening of the median endothecial cells, calcarate-caudate anther appendages and ‘type A’ pollen, whereas trinervate leaves with strongly ascending basal secondary veins as in some Distephanus species and, within the Vernonieae, restricted to this genus, are not present in the new species. Within Distephanus, the new species is unique in its scapose habit and uniseriate pappus. The pappus of D. qazmi is, moreover, plumose, a feature known from a single other Distephanus species, D. plumosus from Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, which is possibly its closest relative. The habit and diagnostic features of the new species are illustrated.

Five species of Allium sect. Acanthoprason occur in the area studied (Armenia and Nahičevan). Two of them, A. egorovae and A. vasilevskajae, are described as new to science. All are illustrated, their S Transcaucasian distribution is mapped, and their relationships are discussed.

New records of eleven angiosperm taxa are given for the Autonomous Region of Ningxia, China. Eight taxa, viz. Bromus carinatus, B. hordeaceus subsp. pseudothominei, Carduus acanthoides, Cynodon dactylon, Festuca arundinacea subsp. orientalis, Senecio vulgaris, Stellaria pallida and Tripleurospermum perforatum, are new to the flora of Ningxia. The spontaneous occurrence of Melilotus officinalis is reported for the first time from Ningxia. Poa annua, which is given in the ‘Flora Sinensis in Area Tan-Yang’ for Ningxa but not included in the ‘Flora Ningxiaensis’, is confirmed for Ningxia. Polygonum aviculare subsp. rectum is the first report of an infraspecific taxon of this polymorphic species for Ningxia. Of these eleven taxa Festuca arundinacea subsp. orientalis, Bromus carinatus, B. hordeaceus subsp. pseudothominei, Polygonum aviculare subsp. rectum and Tripleurospermum perforatum were found exclusively in Lolium perenne lawns, indicating their introduction with lawn seeds. Cynodon dactylon was found at down-trodden parts of Lolium perenne lawns but also as a garden weed. Melilotus officinalis was found in ruderal sites, Poa annua, Senecio vulgaris and Stellaria pallida were found only in watered ornamental gardens.

The genus Plethadenia is revised. It consists of two species, which are distributed in the Greater Antilles and are likely endangered, viz. P. cubensis from E Cuba and P. granulata from N Haiti and the SW Dominican Republic. The species differ in the indument, the morphology of the sepals and disc, and in the size of the flowers and follicles. The genus and its species are described, and distributional data, a distribution map, illustrations and a key to the species are provided. The systematic position of Plethadenia within the Rutoideae sensu Engler is briefly discussed.

A first record of Zanthoxylum rolandii for Hispaniola is given and discussed. Z. rolandii is closely related to Z. arnoldii and both belong to a group of six species, previously known from Cuba only, with small phyllodes and 0-2(very rarely 3) small leaflets. Flowers, fruits and seeds of Z. haitiense are analysed for the first time and illustrated. The flowers have a five-merous perianth and the fruits are aggregated of (l-)2(-3) modified follicles. The dehiscence of the follicles is pericarpic-semivalvate to pericarpic-bivalvate; seeds are dangling on the vascular bundle of the placenta. A distribution map of Z. arnoldii, Z. haitense and Z. rolandii is provided.

Aristolochia linearifolia, a local endemic of E Cuba, and A. stenophylla, restricted to SW Hispaniola (mainly Haiti, but here first reported from the Dominican Republic), are closely related but distinct species even though they have sometimes been lumped together. They are described, contrasted, and compared with their closest relatives, A. oblongata and A. chasmema. Typification is discussed. For A. linearifolia a lectotype is designated, after consideration of the notorious problems that are linked with the Cuban collections of Charles Wright, the discoverer of the species. The holotype of A. stenophylla was destroyed in 1943, and although duplicate material exists that was designated as lectotype, it is of a fragmentary nature, so that an epitype is designated in support.

A species new to science, belonging to Wallenia subg. Homowallenia, has been discovered in the Sierra Maestra, Granma Province, in E Cuba. It is described and illustrated as W. maestrensis, then compared with its closest relative, W. bumelioides, known from several Cuban provinces and also illustrated.

The date of valid publication of Cereus martinii, a name listed from three different sources in Index Kewensis, is ascertained to be 1854. Labouret's protologue, which appeared in an exceedingly rare journal, is here reproduced. The combination Harrisia martinii, often attributed to Britton & Rose was validated three years earlier, in 1917, by Britton.

Lecania sipmanii (Lecanorales, Bacidiaceae), an epiphytic lichen from Syria is described as a species new to science and illustrated. The new species belongs to the L. polycycla group and is mainly characterized by a small, areolate thallus, spores strongly constricted at the septum, paraplectenchymatic excipulum cells and hairs in the thalline margin of the apothecia. It was collected on dust-impregned bark of Salix and Populas species.

Hans Schack (1878–1946) distributed his rich Hieracium collection to the Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem (B) and the Bavarian Botanical Society in Munich. The latter part is now incorporated in the Botanische Staatssammlung München (M). A complete list of all taxa of the genus Hieracium described by Schack is presented including information concerning the type localities given in the protologues. The type material available is listed with full label data and other particulars to be found on the specimens. The status of the type specimens is discussed, 57 names are lectotypified.