An acidophilic asexual fungus was isolated as an interfering element in isolation of diatoms from acidic environment. It was identified as Acidomyces acidophilus, and here reported as a new record in Japan.

Forty-seven species of rust fungi (Pucciniales) were collected in the survey at Tsukuba Botanical Garden from 2021 to 2023. Among them, 31 species are newly recorded after the previous survey from 1984 to 1985 recording 31 species. Therefore, 15 species are confirmed to colonize and survive in the garden, and 16 species are suspected to disappear from the garden. This floristic change of rust fungi is suspected as effects by continuous changes of environmental and plant growth conditions in the garden after the first survey, and also changes of rust flora around the garden. Additionally, 3 new combination names for 3 species are proposed in accordance with the Shenzhen Code, ICNafp.

We recorded new localities of Oreorchis coreana Finet in Japan, which had been recognized as a rare endemic species in Korea. The new records show a continuous distribution from Jeju Island, Korea to Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu, Japan. All of these habitats are situated in upper warm-temperate to lower cool-temperate climates at elevations of approximately 400 to 1200 m and are either deciduous broad-leaved forest or temperate coniferous forests. We found several discriminating characters of this species from the closely related O. patens (Lindl.) Lindl. Among these, differentiation in the pollination system between the two species is remarkable. Oreorchis patens is zoophilous with a conventional orchid pollination system in which the pollinia with adhesive structure is transferred by a pollinator, whereas O. coreana relies on automatic self-pollination conducted by rotation of the stipe connecting pollinia and column. This movement associates with the deposition of pollinia on the stigma. This represents characteristic evolution of reproductive organs found in several members of subtribe Calypsoinae to which O. coreana belongs. Furthermore, macromolecular characters demonstrated that intraspecific differentiation occurs between western (Jeju Island and Kyushu) and eastern (Shikoku and Honshu) populations in this species.