A taxonomic revision, including a key to the species, synonymy and taxonomic notes, of the three genera and six species Podostemaceae of China is presented. Terniopsis (subfamily Tristichoideae) is monotypic, containing only T. sessilis. Cladopus and Hydrobryum (Podostemoideae) are represented by C. japonicus, C. fukienensis and C. austrosinensis (sp. nov.), and H. griffithii and H. japonicum. Cladopus chinensis and C. austrosatsumensis are treated as conspecific with C.japonicus. Hydrobryum japonicum is reported from China for the first time. The family occurs in Fujian, Guangdong (including Hong Kong), Hainan, and Yunnan.

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Bryoria hengduanensis L. S. Wang & H. Harada sp. nov., from Yunnan and Sichuan in southern China, is characterized by a pendant thallus, pseudocyphellae spiraling around the branches, medullary hyphae, and usnic and fumarprotocetraric acids. The closely related B. pseudocapillaris Brodo & D. Hawksw. and B. spiralifera Brodo & D. Hawksw. have white pseudocyphellae, and B. tortuosa Brodo & D. L. Hawksw. is sorediate. The new species also differs from all three of these North American species by chemistry.

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A new species, Phreatia vanuatensis Yukawa is described from Vanuatu. It is easily distinguished from the closely related P. paleata (Rchb. f.) Rchb. f. by the following combination of characters: 1) larger pseudobulbs and leaves; 2) a shorter, green fertile bract adherent to the ovary; 3) a clawless labellum; and 4) a densely hairy labellum.

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Diandranthus (Poaceae) was segregated from Miscanthus by Liou in 1997. Members of the genus have been reported from China, Nepal and India, with a disjunct occurrence in Malaysia. This paper presents a revision of the genus with a clarification and circumscription of the species and synonymy. The genus contains two species, D. nepalensis and D. nudipes. Diandranthus nudipes contains two subspecies: subsp. nudipes and subsp. yunnanensis, comb. nov. An identification key, descriptions of the taxa, and distribution maps for all taxa of Diandranthus are provided.

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Carex (sect. Rhomboidales) jubozanensis J. Oda & A. Tanaka is described as a new species from the western and central Honshu, Japan. This new species is characterized and clearly distinguished from its allies in the sect. Rhomboidales by the actively stoloniferous habit and the emarginate scales of both staminate and pistillate flowers. The micromorphology of achene surface is also different from that of its allies.

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Deparia petersenii has a large morphological variation in plant size and leaf shape in Japan. To reveal possible distinct biological units of this species, we determined the chromosome numbers and nucleotide sequences of the rbcL and ndhF genes of 58 plant samples from 16 different localities in Japan. We found three cytotypes (tetraploid, hexaploid, and pentaploid) and ten cpDNA haplotypes in Japanese D. petersenii. The cpDNA haplotypes of the tetraploid were different from those of the hexaploid, thus genetically differentiating these two cytotypes. Morphological differentiation was also observed between the two cytotypes. As a result, we recognized two distinct biological units in Japanese D. petersenii.

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Morphological and cytological variation among populations of Asarum fauriei (Aristolochiaceae) in central and northern Honshu of Japan was examined. Triploid (2m=36) and diploid (2n=24) plants were found widely throughout the geographical range of the species. The chromosome numbers are mostly consistent within a study site, but rarely diploid and triploid plants grew side by side in the same locality, and two different triploid plants distinguishable from each other in leaf and floral aspects occurred in the same locality. The two different triploid plants appear to be of different origin and may have no direct relationships on the basis of morphological differences. Morphologically, all of the floral and leaf characters varied continuously, and no discrete gaps were found among populations. The populations, however, were clustered into three major groups when the data obtained from morphological characters were subjected to principal component analysis. Taxonomically, two of the three groups correspond to two infraspecific taxa, var. fauriei and var. nakaianum, and the other, which is mostly triploid and morphologically characterized by larger ovate leaves and longer calyx lobes relative to calyx tube, may be regarded as a new infraspecific taxon.

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Chloroplast DNA variation in Pedicularis resupinata L. (Scrophulariaceae) was studied in 48 populations from the Japanese archipelago and adjacent regions. Nine distinct cpDNA haplotypes, based on the intergenic spacer between the trnL (UAA) 5'exon and trnF (GAA), were recognized. One cpDNA haplotype was distributed widely (type A), and most of the other haplotypes were found to be geographically structured. Two major clades (I and II) were revealed in phylogenetic analyses among the haplotypes by adding the sequence data from the intergenic spacers of trnT (UGU) and trnL (UAA) 5'exon, and atpB and rbcL. The haplotypes of Clade I were widely distributed not only within the Japanese archipelago, but also on the Korean Peninsula and Sakhalin. Clade II, however, was found only in plants from central Honshu and Shikoku, Japan. These results suggest that the cpDNA haplotypes of Clade II originated within the Japan and remain as relics in central Honshu and Shikoku. The Japanese origins of two endemic taxa, P. resupinata var. caespitosa Koidz. and var. microphylla Honda are also discussed.

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Chromosome numbers of Cayratia corniculata from Amami Island, Japan, and C. maritima from Bali, Indonesia, are newly reported as 2n=40, diploid.

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