The synopsis of Phyllanthus section Phyllanthus in Brazil treats 4 subsections (2 of them newly described) including 30 species. A new subsection Almadenses is described based on Phyllanthus almadensis Müll. Arg., a species from Bahia, Brazil with a unique growth pattern. Another new subsection Clausseniani is proposed; it includes 17 species, all endemic to Brazil. Seven new species in this subsection are described: Phyllanthus allemii, P. atalaiensis, P. caparaoensis, P. carvalhoi, P. mocotensis, P. piranii, and P. sincorensis. A key to the Brazilian sections of subgenus Phyllanthus is provided, as well as synoptic keys and descriptions for the two new subsections and subsections Niruri and Swartziani.

Polygala madrensis is described as a new species from the Sierra Madre Oriental of southwestern Tamaulipas, Mexico. The new species is most closely related to P. nudata. All five species of the P. nudata complex, including P. madrensis, are shown to be diploid with n = 9. A key to the five species is presented and their geographical ranges summarized.

Starr provided a classically oriented systematic treatment of the genus Hesperaloe in which five species were recognized; only one of these, H. parviflora (including H. engelmannii) was said to be native to Texas (and closely adjacent Mexico). Unfortunately, he did not examine populations of this species complex in the field so as to assess morphoecogeographical patterns in the taxon. We have undertaken a field study of living populations of this complex in Texas and conclude that there are two, and possibly three, taxa of Hesperaloe native to Texas. Two of these, H. parviflora and H. engelmannii, have long been known to occur in Texas. The former is largely confined to the northern Chihuahuan Desert (mostly occurring with Larrea tridentata, Agave lechugilla and associated thorny shrubs) while the latter occurs mostly beneath oaks and associated shrubs and trees of the Edwards Plateau. A third, exceedingly rare, mostly Mexican species, H. funifera, has recently been suggested as being native to the state by Butterwick and Poole. According to Starr, Hesperaloe funifera is composed of two infraspecific taxa (H. f subsp. funifera and H. f subsp. chiangii), but these are treated as species in the present paper necessitating the following new name: Hesperaloe chiangii (Starr) B. L. Turner, comb. & stat. nov. Texas material belongs to H. funifera. A discussion of these several taxa is provided along with a map showing their distribution in Texas.

A new species of Passiflora was collected while doing fieldwork in Zamora-Chinchipe Province in Ecuador in 1999. It is placed in subgenus Passiflora, series Lobatae.

Recent studies of Mexican Apocynaceae have uncovered a new species. The taxon is here viewed as generically distinct and accordingly the name Thoreauea paneroi J. K. Williams, gen. et sp. nov. is proposed. The species is from montane pine-oak cloud forests of the Santiago Juxtlahuaca area of northwestern Oaxaca, Mexico. Its relationship to Thenardia H.B.K. and other genera is discussed.

Five taxa in Euphorbia section Tithymalus subsection Inundatae are recognized, two representing undescribed taxa here named Euphorbia inundata var. garrettii and Euphorbia rosescens. All are endemic to portions of the outer coastal plain, ranging from southern Georgia to southern Florida and extending west to southern Mississippi, in pyrogenic-evolved pinelands or Florida scrub. Taxonomy of Euphorbia floridana and Euphorbia telephioides is unchanged, with lectotype designation for all Chapman-named species. Euphorbia floridana, an outer East Gulf Coastal Plain endemic, is found on yellowish sands of longleaf pine-turkey oakwiregrass xeric sandhills. Euphorbia telephioides, an Apalachicola Lowlands narrow endemic, is confined to coastal Bay, Franklin, and Gulf counties of the east-central Florida panhandle in xeric, scrubby pinelands. Euphorbia inundata var. garrettii is allopatric with var. inundata, occurring in wet pinelands of southwestern and southcentral Florida. Euphorbia rosescens, a southern Lake Wales Ridge narrow endemic, is known only from Highlands County in peninsular Florida. It is a gap specialist found in Florida scrub types exclusively on xeric, white sand entisols. Morphological, geographical, and ecological factors are shown to distinguish members of the subsection Inundatae, of which all are recognizable by vegetative characters.

The large malvaceous genus Abutilon is in need of critical revisionary study. The present nomenclator is presented as a first step toward such an eventual study, and it will also be useful to herbarium curators. It brings together, on a global basis, more than 500 names in specific rank, a number of names in infraspecific rank, and 25 names in infrageneric rank, giving bibliographic detail and typification information for each name as far as it is available. More than 70 lectotypes and two neotypes are designated herein. Five new combinations are included, viz., Bakeridesia scabrida, Bastardiopsis grewiifolia, Bastardiopsis turumiquirensis, Corynabutilon ×suntense, and Tetrasida tulla. Indexes are provided for the newly designated lectotypes and neotypes.