The first Australia-wide monograph of Amphiroa (Corallinaceae, Rhodophyta) based on the morphological–anatomical species concept has confirmed the occurrence of nine species (A. anceps, A. beauvoisii, A. crassa, A. exilis, A. foliacea, A. fragilissima, A. gracilis, A. klochkovana, A. tribulus) and provides a basis for future molecular-systematics studies. A comparative analysis of 285 specimens from 121 localities, along with type material examinations, yielded clear evidence that nine characters associated with the vegetative system and tetrasporangial conceptacles were diagnostically significant at species level. Detailed accounts of each species are presented, along with an identification key, data on type specimens, species comparisons and biogeographic notes. A. foliacea is epitypified. Brief accounts of 34 additional taxa reported from Australia and at some stage ascribed to Amphiroa are included. Galaxaura versicolor and Amphiroa galaxauroides are heterotypic synonyms of A. anceps; recognition of A. anastomosans, A. ephedraea and A. nobilis as distinct species requires further evaluation; and A. dilatata and A. gaillonii are species of uncertain status. Amphiroa ephedraea is lectotypified. The remaining 27 names involve nomina nuda, illegitimate names, orthographic variants or taxa now excluded from Amphiroa.

Fossil conifers from an early Miocene flora at Balcombe Bay near Melbourne, Australia, are described and illustrated. The most prominent elements are Araucaria balcombensis Selling emend. R.S.Hill and Dacrycarpus mucronatus P.M.Wells & R.S.Hill, and several other unidentified podocarp leaves are represented. Ovuliferous cones of D. mucronatus are described, along with isolated araucarian microsporophylls and podocarp pollen cones – both with pollen in situ. The floristic elements are similar to Eocene–Oligocene flora described from Tasmania, and indicate that these floras extended to now mainland Australia and persisted into the Miocene. They are indicative of a wetter and warmer climate than the present time.

Prolonged drought and salinity on the Chowilla floodplain of the Murray River have caused deterioration of E. largiflorens F.Muell. A putative hybrid with E. gracilis F.Muell, green box, withstands the saline conditions. We aimed to substantiate that green box is a hybrid and to test for agreement between morphological and physiological characters with amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP). Mature stands were measured for leaf, trunk, floral, cotyledon, carbon and nitrogen isotope discrimination, specific leaf area (SLA) and AFLP. Green box was placed between E. largiflorens and E. gracilis according to categorical principal components analysis (CATPCA) of 21 morphological and physiological characters and character states. The hybrid index of 11 AFLP markers that were 78% species specific separated E. gracilis and E. largiflorens, and the majority of green box plants displayed indices ranging from 0.42 to 0.53, reflecting mostly additive inheritance. Calculation of the hybrid index with all 232 AFLP markers, using maximum likelihood, similarly placed green box between E. gracilis and E. largiflorens. Our morphological, physiological and AFLP-marker observations substantiated that green box is a hybrid between E. largiflorens and E. gracilis.