Chromosome numbers of 11 taxa from nine families of Calabrian angiosperms are reported: Anthyllis hermanniae 2n = 14, Carlina acaulis subsp. caulescens 2n = 20, Gentianella crispata 2n = 56, Lupinus graecus 2n = 50, Plantago albicans 2n = 30, P. amplexicaulis subsp. amplexicaulis 2n = 10, Ranunculus flammula subsp. flammula 2n = 32, Saxifraga aizoides 2n = 26, Staphylea pinnata 2n = 26, Tricholaena teneriffae 2n = 36, Veronica scutellata 2n = 18. Most of the reports are the first from Italian populations. Mitotic metaphase microphotographs and haploid idiograms or drawings are presented for all taxa studied. Brief comments are given on karyotype morphology, cytogeography and relationships of selected taxa.

Cerastium deschatresii and C. scaposum subsp. peninsularum are described as two closely related taxa new to science. C. scaposum (subsp. scaposum) was described from the White Mountains (Lefka Ori) and was long believed to be restricted to the western segment of Crete, but it has been gathered once, in 1942, at the island's opposite end. It is a large-flowered, obviously outbreeding, locally abundant plant. C. scaposum subsp. peninsularum has smaller flowers, reduced petal size, and is a (perhaps facultative) selfer; it is known from several gatherings in the northwestern coastlands of Crete. C. deschatresii is more widespread, growing in scattered populations from west to east central Crete; it has minute, apetalous flowers, a distinctive capsule shape, and is a cleistogamous selfer.

A list of 26 species collected by the authors during field work in Bale, Harerge, Shewa and Sidamo (SE Ethiopia) in 1998 is presented. Two species are recorded as new to the Ethiopian flora and 24 species are new records for single provinces.

The new genus Nesocrambe, with the sole species N. socotrana, endemic to the island of Soqotra, is described and illustrated. Its affinities and taxonomic position within the family are discussed. It is concluded that Nesocrambe is apparently closest to Hemicrambe, which has a disjunct distribution in NW Africa and Soqotra, and, like that genus, is a relict of the old Miocene flora which once extended around the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Nesocrambe is restricted to moist, shady places on limestone pinnacles and cliffs along an exposed and isolated ridge at the extreme western end of Soqotra. Its conservation status is considered.

Helianthemum citrinum is described as a species new to science and illustrated. The species occurs in Dhofar, the southern province of Oman, and is found in the relatively dry Acacia-Commiphora scrubland.

Potentilla ulrichii is described as a species new to science and illustrated. Its taxonomic position close to P. nerimaniae and P. davisii of SW Turkey is discussed and SEM micrographs of the nutlets and the indumentum of these three species are presented. Their ranges, plus those of the more distantly allied P. isaurica, P. libanotica and P. arcadiensis, are mapped. The description of the nutlets of P. nerimaniae is corrected from smooth to reticulate-scrobiculate. P. ulrichii is a Mediterranean cushion-forming perennial of overhanging limestone rocks known from a single locality in foothills of the S Anatolian Taurus above Manavgat. The chasmophytic habit, its relationship and its stenochory suggest it to be a Tertiary relic endemic.

New findings and a key to the 24 species of Astragalus sect. Alopecuroidei in Iran are provided. Two species, A. neo-maassoumianus and A. foliosus are described as new to science. A. alopecurus is a new record for the flora of Iran. A. phlomoides is transferred from A. sect. Laxiflori to sect. Alopecuroidei. A. ajubensis is reduced to a synonym of A. macrocephalus subsp. finitimus and A. ovalifoliolatus to a synonym of A. kirrindicus.

Lalldhwojia pastinacifolia from Nepal is described as a species new to science of this small, little-known genus endemic to the Himalaya from Nepal to Bhutan. Another species, L. cooperi, is newly recorded from Nepal. Carpo-anatomical studies in L. pastinacifolia and L. cooperi indicate affinities of Lalldhwojia with Peucedanum s. ampl.

Two new species of orchids, Platystele hyalina and Pleurothallis oricola, of the subtribe Pleurothallidinae, both discovered recently in Cuba, are described as new to science. The first was found in the eastern part, in the serpentine mountains of Holguín, the latter on the dog-tooth limestone coast of Guanahacabibes, the western tip of the island.

220 taxa of lichens are reported from four localities in Inglefield Land in NW Greenland. Rhizocarpon anseris is new to Greenland; seven taxa are new to W Greenland, viz. Aspicilia mashiginensis, Candelariella dispersa, Collema substellatum, Gypsoplaca macrophylla, Lepraria lobificans, Rhizocarpon intermediellum and Xanthoria elegans var. splendens. 42 taxa are new to NW Greenland, viz. Acarospora schleicheri, Adelolecia pilati, Arctoparmelia separata, Aspicilia cinerea, A. mastrucata, Baeomyces placophyllus, B. rufus, Buellia punctata, Candelariella terrigena, Cladonia borealis, C. phyllophora, Collema glebulentum, C. undulatum var. granulosum, Diploschistes muscorum, Endocarpon pulvinatum, Fulgensia desertorum, Ionaspis suaveolens, Lecanora fuscescens, Lecidea silacea, Lecidella bullata, L. euphorea, Lepraria frigida, Leptogium lichenoides, Lobothallia alphoplaca, Melanelia stygia, Miriquidica garovaglii, Ochrolechia androgyna, O. lapuënsis, Pannaria hookeri, Pertusaria geminipara, Porpidia flavicunda, P. speirea, Protoblastenia calva, Rhizocarpon disporum, R. praebadium, Rinodina archaea, R. cacuminum, Staurothele fissa, Toninia tristis subsp. scholanderi, Umbilicaria nylanderiana, Verrucaria ceuthocarpa and Vestergrenopsis isidiata. In addition, northern extensions of 169 taxa in NW Greenland are presented. Geology and climate of the area are briefly treated and selected plant communities more or less rich in lichens are discussed.

18 lichen species are newly reported for mainland Yemen, including Teloschistes austroarabicus, which is described as a species new to science. T. stenophyllus, from the Cape Verde Islands, is raised to species rank. A checklist of the 71 species currently known from mainland Yemen, with additional records for already known species, is provided.

Cactaceae specimens collected by Humboldt & Bonpland in tropical America and kept in the herbaria at Paris and in the Willdenow herbarium at Berlin are listed and discussed. Of the 15 taxa treated by Kunth, in 1823, in “Nova genera et species plantarum”, ten specimens from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are extant in the Humboldt & Bonpland collection at Paris (P-Bonpl). The general herbarium at Paris contains duplicates of three of these and an additional specimen under a name not treated by Kunth. Of the eight specimens in the Willdenow herbarium at Berlin (B-W) attributed to Humboldt & Bonpland, six belong to taxa described as new by Kunth. Three of these were filed under unpublished names. The specimens and protologues are compared with Humboldt & Bonpland's unpublished field notes (“Journal botanique”). The nature of the material, its identification, and taxonomic and nomenclatural problems are briefly treated and the results summarized in tabular form.

This paper, listing all of Otto Müller's 200 diatom names, the full protologue citations as well as the sample number of the original material at B, is a background study for the taxonomy and biogeography of the past and present East African diatom flora. Short accounts of Müller's life, work, taxonomy and the possible whereabouts of other original material are given; and an extensive bibliography of his papers is included.