Tupistra laotica N. Tanaka, a new species from Laos, is diagnosed, described and illustrated. It is unique in having a remarkably long slender peduncle and small broadly campanulate flowers with deltoid tepals and a patelliform or cupulate stigma. Diagnostic differences from two other congeners, T. stoliczkana Kurz and T. muricata (Gagnep.) N. Tanaka, are noted.

A new natural hybrid, Carex ×bosoensis, is described. Carex meridiana (Akiyama) Akiyama and C. fibrillosa Franch. & Sav. are presumed to be the putative parents. Carex ×bosoensis was found on the sandy coast in Ichinomiya-machi, Chiba Pref., central Honshu, Japan. The hybrid is intermediate in significant characters between the putative parents and shows much lower pollen stainability.

The fine structure of two marine benthic diatoms in the genus Tabularia, T. parva and T. investiens, has been examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. The following morphological features of these species are revealed in detail through the present study. Tabularia parva has the striae consisted of biseriate areolae covered by cribra, the single rimoportula situated at a pole close to the ocellulimbus, and the open bands consisted of four types. Tabularia investiens has the striae consisted of a single areola covered by cribra and some cross-bars, the single rimoportula situated at both poles close to the ocellulimbus, and the open bands consisted of two types.

Habitat and essential oils of Callicarpa longissima (Hemsl.) Merr. (Verbenaceae) in the Tanegashima (Kagoshima Pref.) and the Nichinan (Miyazaki Pref.) populations, southern Japan, were comparatively studied. Leaves from the Tanegashima population were covered with glandular hairs more densely than those of the Nichinan population and included several characteristic odorants, i.e., 2-pentanone, 1, 8-cineole, cis-3-hexenal, linalool and methyl salicylate. Materials from the Tanegashima population are consequently evaluated to be effective to aromatherapy. The Nichinan population was considered to be important for the conservation of the species because many seedlings were found in this population. It was also clarified that the species preferred the habitats with relatively high temperature, high humidity and much sunlight.

E. H. Wilson visited the Korean peninsula for his plant explorations in 1917 and 1918, and additionally in 1919. The main localities visited were Oo-rong-do (Degelet) Island, Querpaert Island, Mt. Chiri-san, Pingyang, Keijyo, Koryo, Northeastern Korea, Mt. Konggo-san (three times in 1917 and 1918), and Unsan (twice in 1917 and 1918). During his explorations, Wilson collected numerous specimens of woody plants which were later studied by A. Rehder. All collection sites were described by Wilson using romanized characters with Japanese pronunciation. For this study, all locality names were reviewed using Wilson’s specimens that are deposited at A and his personal records, and those were listed as the order of his collection dates. Collection numbers 8,416 to 9,337 (922 collections) were recorded in Wilson’s 1917 exploration, while numbers 10,382 to 10,756 (375 collections) in 1918 and 1919. Based on his collection books and these numbers, 1,297 out of 3,268 (39.7 %) were collected exclusively in Korea at the same periods.

Polemonium kiushianum Kitam. (Polemoniaceae) is a critically endangered species and only a few populations are locally distributed in semi-natural grasslands in the Mt. Aso-san area, Kyushu, Japan. Chromosome number and symmetric karyotype of P. kiushianum (2n = 18 = 16m + 2sm) is reported here for the first time. The chromosome measurements and the karyotype formulae showed little difference between P. kiushianum and its allied vulnerable species P. caeruleum subsp. yezoense var. yezoense.

We examined the karyotype of Coleus formosanus Hayata (Labiatae) collected from Yonaguni Island, Okinawa Prefecture. This plant had 2n = 50 chromosomes, confirming the count reported previously from Taiwan (Hsieh and Huang 1998). The metaphase chromosomes ranged from 1.1 μm to 2.5 μm in length and 1.0 to 2.3 in arm ratio. The longest four pairs were all submetacentric and the other 21 pairs were all metacentric. The karyotype is formulated as 2n = 50 = 42m + 4sm + 2scsm + 2tsm, and shows that this species has a new basic chromosome number of x = 25.

Many species of subfamily Papilionoideae of the family Leguminosae have a spot on the abaxial surfaces of mature seed cotyledons (Endo and Ohashi 1997). The spot makes an impression on the surface of the endosperm layer inside of the seed coats, formed by pushing the cotyledon areole on the surface. The spot and impression were named ‘cotyledon areole’ and ‘seed-coat inside areole’, respectively (Endo and Ohashi 1997). In the present report, we propose Japanese names ‘Shiyômon’ 子葉紋 and ‘Nainyûhan’ 内乳斑 for the spot and the impression, respectively.

Aconitum jaluense Kom. subsp. jaluense, one of endangered species in Japan, is first reported from the northern mountains of Miyazaki Pref., Kyushu, southern Japan. The Aconitum population was estimated to be composed of approximately more than 1000 individuals and is the largest at least in Japan. Although another aconite, A. japonicum Thunb. subsp. napiforme (H. Lév. & Vaniot) Kadota, was also found in the lower part of the mountain, no intermediates between the two aconites were recognized in the population.