The genetic diversity and genetic structure of the locally endemic Arisaema minus was examined using allozyme polymorphisms. Arisaema minus is restricted to Hyogo Prefecture in western Honshu, Japan. The Red List of Japan treats it as "vulnerable". To determine the genetic diversity of the species, 274 individuals from six populations were sampled. Genetic diversity at 10 allozyme loci was relatively high at both the population and species level, and comparable to previously reported species of Japanese Arisaema species having wider distribution ranges. Although the western and eastern Hyogo populations are disjunct, very low genetic differentiation was observed among the six populations (Gst=0.06). The genetic data suggest that the risk of rapid extinction of A. minus is quite low. The eastern Hyogo populations, however, have lower genetic diversity than those in western Hyogo and are threatened by habitat destruction caused by human activities, therefore placing them at greater risk of extinction. Periodic monitoring of both the demography and genetic variation in the eastern populations is needed.

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Alocasia baginda Kurniawan & P.C. Boyce is described and illustrated from an unspecified locality in eastern Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, and is inserted into a modified key to Bornean Alocasia. Recognition of A. baginda takes to 23 the Alocasia described from Borneo, of which 22 are endemic.

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Bakoa brevipedunculata is newly combined as a second species of the Bornean endemic genus Bakoa (Araceae: Schismatoglottideae), based on Hottarum brevipedunculatum. A new generic delimitation to Bakoa and a key to the species of Bakoa are presented.

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Schismatoglottis hayi S.Y. Wong & P.C. Boyce is described as a new species endemic to forested limestone outcrops at Niah National Park, NE Sarawak. It is morphologically most similar to S. multinervia M. Hotta, a species here redefined as being endemic to Mulu N.P., where it is obligated to limestone. Together these two species are proposed as constituting a new informal taxon, the Multinervia Complex, defined by the combination of vegetative tissues aromatic (terpenoids) when crushed, a fully adnate petiolar sheath, petioles and major veins abaxially pubescent, spathe limb darkening internally rapidly at onset of anthesis and thence splitting longitudinally into wide recurving strips, an hourglass-shaped spadix, and large staminodes in 1-2 rows at the junction of the pistillate zone with the spathe. Schismatoglottis hayi is, by modification to the existing key, included into a key to Bornean Schismatoglottis. Both species are illustrated. Previous confusion between S. hayi and S. puberulipes Alderw. is highlighted and clarified.

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Hanguana bakoensis is described as a new species from Bako National Park, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. The confused taxonomic history of Hanguana is highlighted and species-level taxonomically important characters are enumerated. A key to the currently recognized Hanguana species of Borneo is provided, and the new species is illustrated.

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Carex noguchii J. Oda & Nagam. is described as new to science. It is similar to C. biwensis Franch. in having irregularly trigonous to pentagonous culms, many-flowered (ca. 30) spikes, and short (1.8-2.0mm long) perigynia. Carex noguchii is distinguished from the latter, however, by the dark brown basal leaf sheaths, wider and longer leaves, orbicular-ovoid perigynia, and achenes loosely enclosed by the perigynia, and micromorphologically by the absence of satellite bodies.

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Begonia kachinensis Nb. Tanaka (Begoniaceae, section Sphenanthera), from the Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve, Kachin State, northern Myanmar, is illustrated and described as a new to science. Begonia kachinensis is easily distinguished from other species of Begonia section Sphenanthera by a combination of the following characters; dioecious habit, bicolored leaves, flowers with two tepals, and 4-locular baccate fruits.

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The intraspecific genetic diversity of the circumpolar Vaccinium uliginosum (Ericaceae) was examined to determine the origin of circumpolar plants that migrated to the Japanese archipelago during the cold periods of the Pleistocene. The high mountains of the Japanese archipelago are among the southernmost limits of distribution of circumpolar plant species. Two noncoding regions of the chloroplast DNA (trnL-trnF and trnS-trnG intergenic spacers) were sequenced to determine the phylogeographic histories of the plants inhabiting five sites in the Japanese mountains and one site on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The sequences were used to extend a previously constructed dataset on global phylogeography, which identified three main lineages: an arctic-alpine lineage, an amphi-Atlantic lineage, and a Beringian lineage. All three cpDNA haplotypes in the mountains of Japan and on the Kamchatka Peninsula belonged to the Beringian lineage. A key finding in this study is that Beringia appears to be the phylogeographic origin of V. uliginosum in the Japanese archipelago. The Beringian refugium hypothesis proposed by Eric Hulten may therefore be applicable to a significant portion of the Japanese alpine flora.

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As part of an ongoing inventory toward the production of a flora of Mt. Popa, central Myanmar, the Makino Botanical Garden and Botanical Gardens, the University of Tokyo, conducted botanical expeditions in collaboration with the Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division of the Forest Department, Union of Myanmar Ministry of Forestry. As a result of the study of the Orchidaceae on Mt. Popa, fourteen species belonging to twelve genera; Acampe joiceyana (J.J.Sm.) Seidenf., Armodorum siamense Schltr., Bulbophyllum reclusum Seidenf., Chiloschista usneoides (D. Don) Lindl., Cleisomeria pilosulum (Gagnep.) Seidenf. & Garay, Cymbidium ensifolium (L.) Sw., Epipogium roseum (D. Don) Lindl., Eria globulifera Seidenf., Dendrobium dantaniense Guillaumin, Geodorum eulophioides Schltr., Habenaria erichmichelii Christenson, Habenaria limprichtii Schltr., Habenaria viridiflora (Rottl. ex Sw.) Lindl., and Luisia macrotis Rchb.f., are newly recorded from Myanmar.

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