Homalia Brid., a pleurocarpous moss genus, is composed of five species and one variety: H. glabella (Hedw.) Schimp., H. lusitanica Schimp., H. pennatula (Dix.) He & Enroth, H. trichomanoides (Hedw.) Brid., H. trichomanoides var.japonica (Besch.) He, and H. webbiana (Mont.) Schimp. Species of Homalia all have glossy plants in strongly flattened mats, irregularly to subpinnately branched stems, oblong-ovate to oblong-spatulate, not undulate leaves inserted in eight-ranks, rounded, obtuse to broadly acute leaf apices, short, rhombic to oblong- rhomboidal apical leaf cells, well developed annuli, elongate setae, and a Hypnum-type peristome. The subgeneric division recognized by Brotherus in the second edition of Engler and Prantl's Die natürlichen Pftanzenfamilien is not retained. Nine new synonyms are proposed: Homalia angustifrons C. Müll. is synonymous with Isodrepanium lentulum (Wils.) Britt.; H. defoliata (C. Müll.) Jaeg. with H. glabella; H.fauriei Broth., H. obtusata Mitt., and H. spathulata Dix. with H. trichomanoides; H. gracilis James in Peck and H. pusilla Bosch & Sande-Lac. with Neckera besseri Lob.; H. subarcuata Broth. with Taxiphyllum arcuatum (Bosch & Sande-Lac.) He; and H. woronowii Thér. with H. webbiana. Three new combinations, Pseudotaxiphyllum falcifolium (Hook. f. & Wils.), comb. nov., Taxiphyllum arcuatum (Bosch & Sande-Lac.), comb. nov., and Thamnobryum pendulirameum (C. Müll.), comb. nov., are made. Homalia goughiana (Mitt.) Jaeg. is returned to the genus Neckera. Homalia sakontala Lor., reported from India, is a species of uncertain identity. A key to the species and varieties is presented. All species are described and illustrated. Five of six Homalia taxa are exclusively distributed in the northern hemisphere. Only H. glabella crosses the equator, reaching to southern Brazil. The geographic distribution of each taxon is presented in lists of specimens examined and on distribution maps.

  The results of a species-level taxonomic revision of the genus Camptochaete Reichdt (Musci: Lembophyllaceae) are presented. All accepted species are illustrated and lectotypified where necessary.

  Prior to this study, a total of 27 species in three sections had been included in Camptochaete. Seven of these are rejected from Camptochaete and a further 11 treated as synonyms therein. The genus is here recognised as containing 10 species in two sections: Sect. 1. Camptochaete: C. arbuscula, C. arbuscula var. tumida var. nov., C. defiexa (C. ramulosa, syn. nov.), C. angustata, C. pulvinata, C. leichhardtii, and Sect. 2. Thamniella; C. excavata, (C. vaga, syn. nov.), C. curvata sp. nov., C. papuana sp. nov., C. porotrichoides, C. subporotrichoides. Important characters for this infrageneric classification are stipe leaf orientation and operculum form. The genus exhibits two areas of diversity, one centred on the Tasman Sea and the other centred on the Coral Sea, corresponding to sections Camptochaete and Thamniella respectively.

  Camptochaete is mostly Australasian in distribution. It is pleurocarpous and dioicous and characterised by a predominantly sympodial, dendroid-stipitate weft-forming growth form, rigid and wiry stems, rhombic upper laminal cells, short and double costae, differentiated basal and alar cells and hypnoid peristomes. Camptochaete exhibits considerable morphological variation. An understanding of the variation in growth form and leaf characters over a range of specimens is necessary for accurate identification of species.

  The results of a generic-level revision of the family Lembophyllaceae (Musci) are presented.

  During the history of the Lembophyllaceae, 15 genera have been included in the family. These genera have been reviewed and their relations to Lembophyllum determined. The following genera previously placed in the Lembophyllaceae are here rejected from the family: Isotheciopsis, Dolichomitra and Dolichomitriopsis (placed in the Meteoriaceae); Acrocladium (Amblystegiaceae); Rigodium (Rigodiaceae); Tripterocladium and Elmeriobryum (Hypnaceae); Isothecium and Plasteurhynchium (Brachytheciaceae); Porotrichodendron, Dixonia and Porotrichopsis (Thamnobryaceae).

  Isotheciopsis, Dolichomitra and Dolichomitriopsis are rejected from the Lembophyllaceae on the basis of their Isobryalean peristomes. The remaining genera share a Hypnobryalean peristome with the Lembophyllaceae, but are rejected from the family on gametophytic grounds.

  The Lembophyllaceae is here treated as containing five genera. Of the genera previously placed in the Lembophyllaceae, only Lembophyllum, Camptochaete, Weymouthia and Fifea are retained. Fallaciella, a segregate of Camptochaete is also included in the Lembophyllaceae. New sections are described in both Lembophyllum (sect. Looseria for L. orbiculata, transferred from Camptochaete) and Weymouthia (sect. Catenula for W. cochlearifolia).

  The Lembophyllaceae is characterised by: (i) pleurocarpous, plagiotropic, weft-forming or pendent growth form, (ii) commonly epiphytic habitat, (iii) generally ovate-oblong, concave leaves, (iv) rhombic upper laminal cells, (v) prorate and linear midlaminal cells, (vi) short, double costa (sometimes single), (viii) exserted capsules, and (ix) hypnoid peristome.

  The family is distributed: Indonesia (Flores), Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, eastern Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii.

  One hundred and thirty-three names in Fissidens are reduced to synonymy. A diagnosis is given for each species recognized. Fissidens pachyloma is made a variety of F. curvatus, F. helictocaulos a subspecies of F. megalotis, F. ulna a form of F. sciophyllus and Moenkemeyera macroglossa Broth. is transferred to Fissidens. Fissidens jeffreyi, F. nigerianus, F. pseudoplumosus and F. subplanifrons, invalidly published by Bizot, are validated. A neotype is designated for F. lacouturei Thér.

  During the past twelve years the authors investigated the oil bodies of near 200 specimens collected in tropical Africa, including the Indian Ocean islands. The specimens belong to 130 species of 61 genera. Oil body records are published for the first time for 3 genera (Andrewsianthus, Arachniopsis and Iwatsukia) and for 74 species, including many endemic taxa. Basic oil body types are discussed and a few new types and subtypes established.

  The ether and methanol extract of Preissia quadrata (Scop.) Nees contained not only various sesquiterpenes but also two cyclic bis(bibenzyls), riccardin B and neomarchantin A. The terpenoids and bis(bibenzyl) constituents found in the present species are not closely related to those of Conocephalum, but to some Marchantia species.

  The chemical constituents of 12 selected liverworts were analyzed mainly by GC-MS and the chemical markers of some species were characterized. From Pallavicinia subciliata 6,7-dihydroxy-4-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-naphthalene-2-carboxylic acid was isolated, along with bicyclogermacrene as the major component. This species is closely related chemically to Pellia epiphylla which belongs to the same family Dilaenaceae as P. subciliata. The detection of sesqui- and diterpenoids in Apometzgeria pubescens is the first example of the species belonging to the Metzgeriaceae. The chemical markers of each species will be discussed.

  From the methanol extract of Japanese Ricciocarpos natans (Ricciaceae), stigmast-4-en-3-one, sitost-4-en-3-one, lunularic acid and phytol have been isolated, together with the mixture of stigmasterol, sitosterol and fatty acids. This is the first example of the isolation of the steroid ketones from the bryophytes. The chemical constituents of Japanese R. natans are collected in the field are quite different from those of R. natans grown in axenic culture.

  Column and thin-layer chromatography revealed the presence of the following carotenoids in the thalli of 15 lichen species (21 specimens) from Hawaiian, Ogasawara (Bonin) and Mariana Islands: α-, γ-, ε-, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, rubixanthin, lutein, 3'-epilutein, zeaxanthin, idoxanthin, β-carotene monoepoxide, lutein epoxide, antheraxanthin, canthaxanthin, adonixanthin, astaxanthin, neoxanthin, violaxanthin, heteroxanthin, mutatoxanthin, rhodoxanthin, capsochrome, apo-12'-violaxanthal, fucoxanthinol, paracentrone, bixin, semi-β-carotenone and β-carotenone.

  The total content of carotenoids ranged from 11.75 in Ramalina boninensis to 55.03 μg g^-1 dry wt in Parmotrema cristiferum.

  In this study, the most favorable kind of culture solution for growth of Parmotrema tinctorum (Nyl.) Hale was 1/100 strength BBM solution (Deason and Bold 1960). Addition of vitamins (thiamine, biotin, and cyanocobalamin), plant growth regulators (IAA and kinetin), or amino acids (glycine, L-glutamine, and L-aspartic acid) did not promote the growth of this lichen, in fact vitamins and IAA inhibited its growth. However, addition of L-asparagine tended to promote its growth. The thallus area increased by 30-40% in 24 days when the lichen was soaked in 1/100 strength BBM solution containing 10 mg/l of L-asparagine for 90 min every 4 days and grown at 100% relative humidity at 20℃ in a growth cabinet illuminated with about 50 μE/m²/sec for 16 hr daily.

  This checklist of Hepaticae and Anthocerotae contains 222 species, 9 subspecies, 5 varieties in 75 genera and 35 families hitherto recorded from the Korean peninsula.

  The paper aims to summarize of all available past studies concerning Hong Kong bryology. It supplies an updated checklist of Hong Kong bryophytes up to early 1996. It contains 198 species and 3 infraspecific taxa and 3 doubtful species of mosses in 94 genera and 36 families, 129 species of liverworts and hornworts in 53 genera and 29 families. A brief history of Hong Kong bryology and a systematic synopsis of families and genera are also presented.