Four Uromyces species are described as new, viz. U. astragali-alopecuri sp. nov. on Astragalus alopecurus from Turkey, U. astragali-atropilosuli sp. nov. on A. atropilosulus subsp. bequaertii var. bequaertii from Kenya, occurring also in Ethiopia and Tanzania, U. astragali-pseudoutrigeris sp. nov. on A. pseudoutriger from Turkey, and U. semnanensis sp. nov. on A. fridae from Iran. Several new hosts (marked *) are reported for U. punctatus. This rust is reported as new to S America (in Chile).

Three new tragacanthic representatives of the genus Astragalus L. are described. They are compared with their closest relatives. The line drawing illustrations of the floral parts and a distribution map are given for each species.

Comparative morphological and carpological investigation shows that Ladyginia and Spongiosyndesmus are congeneric. An emended generic description of Ladyginia is given and two new nomenclatural combinations Ladyginia afghanica and L. gigantea are made.

The genus Endospermum (Euphorbiaceae) in the Malay Archipelago (Malesia) comprises eight rather than the 10 species recognised in the latest revision by Schaeffer in 1971. Endospermum banghamii and E. ronaldii are synonymised with E. quadriloculare. The diagnostic characters for the genus are briefly discussed with special emphasis given to the myrmecophytic characters. The phylogenetic analysis, based on morphological characters (11 vegetative and 12 reproductive), resulted in a single, most parsimonious cladogram with bootstrap support only for the genus. The historical biogeographic analysis, used to evaluate the cladogram, showed that two species are placed in an unexpected position in the phylogeny, which means that the morphology-based cladogram may be reliable to a large extent.

The Erich Werdermann collection ‘Plantae Chilenses’ held at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh constitutes an important set of herbarium specimens from the Chilean flora, and represents over 10% of preserved specimens from Chile in the herbarium. Duplicate sets of specimens were distributed from the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem to a further 15 major international herbaria. Here we provide a description of this collection, highlighting aspects of Werdermann’s journey in Chile. Included are his itinerary and maps showing where the specimens were collected. An important aspect of the paper is to clarify ambiguities concerning label data in order to provide more accurate detail for researchers using Werdermann’s specimens.

The generic name Microsisymbrium O.E. Schulz was illegitimate when described because it included the type of Guillenia Greene. The monotypic Ianhedgea is proposed to include one of the 12 species previously assigned to Microsisymbrium, i.e. M. minutiflorum (Hook.f. & Thomson) O.E. Schulz. The proper generic placement of the remaining 11 species of Microsisymbrium is presented. The following new combinations are made: Ianhedgea minutiflora (Hook.f. & Thomson) Al-Shehbaz & O'Kane, I. minutiflora subsp. brevipedicellata (Hedge) Al-Shehbaz & O'Kane, and Neotorularia quingshuiheense (Ma & Z.Y. Zhu) Al-Shehbaz, O'Kane & G. Yang.

Material from Afghanistan previously referred to Ferula lehmannii Boiss.

(Umbelliferae) is shown to belong to a closely related endemic species, F. hedgeana Pimenov & Kljuykov. sp. nov.