Tetrasporophytes and female and male gametophytes of Dictyopteris prolifera (Okamura) Okamura (Dictyotales, Phaeophyceae) were collected in Pacific coast of Japan. This is the first report of the male gametophyte from field collections. Tetrasporangial sori and gametangial sori are produced on both sides of blades. Tetrasporangial sori develop in belts along both sides of the midrib. Male and female gametangial sori are scattered on both sides of the midrib. Ｗith the further maturation, tetrasporangial sori and male and female gametangial sori sometimes extend toward the midrib. Tetrasporangia are spherical or elliptical, project above the cortex, and have 14 stalk cells at the base. In a tetrasporangial sorus, sporangia in various stages of development are randomly arranged. Oogonia are spherical, obovoid or ellipsoidal, and have a stalk cell at the base. In an oogonial sorus, oogonia at almost the same developmental stage are clustered close together with no space between them. This is the first description within Dictyopteris of the tightly aggregated oogonial arrangement. Antheridial sori project above the cortex, and are surrounded by 25 rows of immature antheridial cells. An antheridium has 12 stalk cells at the base.

A transparent filament is observed for the first time inside the vesicles in several members of the order Fucales, and it is called “vesicle's medullary strand”. Among 26 taxa of the Fucales examined in the present study, six species, Hizikia fusifomis, Myagropsis myagroides, Sargassum horneri, S. kushimotense, S. patens, S. pinnatifidum possess the vesicle's medullary strands, which consist of 100-150 filaments which are morphologically similar to the filaments running through the medulla of leaf and branch. It is concluded that the presence or absence of the vesicle's medullary strand can be used as a diagnostic character at the rank of species in the fucalean algae.

Changes of medicinal plants in number described in ‘The Pharmacopoeia of Japan’ and ‘The Japanese Standards of Crude Drugs’ were depicted using herbarium specimens. Eighty-eight species were examined at 32 herbaria, and 25,784 data-sets were obtained. Decrease or increase of individuals in each species was estimated using the ratios of the number of collection of the species to that of all species examined in every twenty years. As a result, the threatened species listed in the ‘Red Data Book’ such as Lithospermum erythrorhizon Siebold & Zucc. and Bupleurum falcatum L. showed drastic decrease. Furthermore, common species such as Cyperus rotundus L., Pinellia ternata Breitenb. also showed decrease in number in the recent years.

A new combination, Ophiopogon caulescens (Blume) Backer var. prolifer (Lindl.) N.Tanaka, is proposed. This variety differs from var. caulescens by the staminal filaments united laterally along their entire length and in the range of distribution. Ophiopogon siamensis M.N.Tamura described recently from Thailand is treated as conspecific with O. cordylinoides Prain from Myanmar. It became evident that O. cordylinoides is also distributed in India and China. This species appears to be close to both O. caulescens and O. dracaenoides (Baker) Hook.f.