The little-known Tetragonia pentandra, long regarded as a member of Aizoaceae in the Horn of Africa region, is included in a phylogenetic analysis using ITS sequence data of members of Betoideae (Chenopodiaceae). Patellifolia, including Tetragonia pentandra, is strongly supported as monophyletic and weakly supported as sister to a clade with Aphanisma, Oreobliton and Beta. Within Patellifolia relationships are largely unresolved and, as the characters that have been used to distinguish taxa in the group are found to be unreliable, we propose that all members of the Patellifolia clade are treated as a single variable species, P. procumbens. Synonymies of Patellifolia and of P. procumbens are provided and two names are lectotypified. The distribution of P. procumbens is mapped and shown to be widely disjunct between the W Mediterranean region/Macaronesia and the Horn of Africa region, with isolated occurrences also in the Saharan mountains.

Several alien species of the Eurasian genus Cotoneaster are naturalising in Central Europe, apparently increasingly so, and some on a massive scale. They presumably originate from large-scale cultivation for ground cover, hedges or as ornamental shrubs. The present paper keys and synopses the Cotoneaster species indigenous to, naturalising or commonly cultivated in Central Europe, on the basis of, relatively limited, both living (wild, adventive and cultivated) and herbarium material. An attempt is made to understand the nature of variation from the genus' centre of diversification, the mountains of China and the Himalayas, which are likewise the origin of most cultivated and naturalising Cotoneaster species. Taxonomic and nomenclatural problems, putatively relating to the presence of apomixis and hybridization in the genus, are discussed. Many of the more than 500 published binomials, including a substantial proportion of those based on cultivated material, seem to be poorly defined, both morphologically and chorologically. Of an estimated total of only 50–70 Cotoneaster species worldwide, about 20, mainly Chinese species have been found escaping from cultivation in Central Europe. Presently, about ten species must be considered fully naturalised and, locally at least, invasive.

Capsule dehiscence has been used as a diagnostic character for W Mediterranean species of Androcymbium. Depending on the state of capsule maturity, the character, however, can be ambiguous in herbarium material. Based on morphological, phenological and cpDNA characters it is shown that misinterpretation of the capsule as indehiscent in the type material of A. gramineum has led to serious taxonomic confusion. The combined analyses produced evidence that A. gramineum of the population from the type locality at Essaouira, Morocco, is conspecific with A. wyssianum. A. gramineum is therefore the correct name for the species with dehiscent capsules, whereas the populations with indehiscent capsules at the Atlantic coast north of Essaouira and in SE Spain represent a second species, which is correctly named A. europaeum.

The Cuban representatives of Bunchosia are revised, based on the study of herbarium specimens and observations in the field. Instead of the eight species reported for Cuba in the literature, only four native species of Bunchosia grow on Cuba. Two are endemic, one consists of an endemic subspecies and a second one, newly described, replacing it on Hispaniola. For the Cuban taxa, descriptions, synonymies with type citations and a key for identification are provided.

Thirty-five Anthurium species and eight Philodendron species are described as new to science from Colombia: Anthurium algentryi, A. alstonii, A. altobueyense, A. angelopolisense, A. arbelaezii, A. birdseyanum, A. cardenasii, A. cirinoi, A. cocornaense, A. cotejense, A. delannayi, A. dorbayae, A. dylanii, A. espinae, A. gaskinii, A. jesusii, A. libanoense, A. maasii, A. munchiquense, A. novitaense, A. palmarense, A. paraguasense, A. pichindense, A. pulidoae, A. ramosense, A. ramosii, A. recavum, A. renteriae, A. sierpense, A. suramaense, A. torraense, A. triciafrankiae, A. venadoense, A. vientense, A. yatacuense, Philodendron cardonii, P. devianum, P. mcphersonii, P. merenbergense, P. patriciae, P. pipolyi, P. silverstonei and P. urraoense.

Seven new species of Anthurium, A. achupallense, A. bogneri, A. clarkei, A. collettianum, A. miaziense, A. nangaritense and A. patens, and one new variety, A. versicolor var. azuayense, are described as new to science from the Cordillera del Cóndor, an isolated mountain range in SE Ecuador along the border of Peru.

Six species are described as new to science from NE South America: Anthurium cremersii, Philodendron grenandii and P. jonkerorum from the Guianas, A. huberi and A. uasadiense from the Guiana Highlands in Venezuela and A. merlei from the coastal range of NE Venezuela.