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Twenty-one Grevillea species currently comprise the Triloba Group sensu Flora of Australia, or Group 1 sensu The Grevillea Book. All species except the transcontinental species G. anethifolia R.Br. are distributed in south-west Western Australia. Grevillea pieroniae Olde, herein described, is currently treated as Grevillea sp. Stirling Range (D.J. McGillivray 3488 & A.S. George) by the Western Australian Herbarium. It has some affinity with Grevillea anethifolia through shared possession of similar truncate-conical to cylindrical pollen-presenters. Grevillea pieroniae is a rare species that is potentially threatened by Phytophthora cinnamomi, fire frequency, a drying climate, as well as feral and native herbivore-grazing, so requires careful assessment and ongoing monitoring. A short history of the Triloba Group is provided to give context to Grevillea pieroniae and as precursor to other related species soon to be recognised.

Dodonaea crucifolia I.Telford & J.J.Bruhl (Sapindaceae, Dodonaeoideae), endemic to north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, and previously confused with D. hirsuta (Maiden & Betche) Maiden & Betche, is described as new. Dodonaea hirsuta is recircumscribed with the D. crucifolia components removed and with male flowers described for the first time. The distribution, habitat and conservation status of both species are discussed and a table is provided comparing selected morphological attributes. Images of the new species and D. hirsuta are provided. The identification keys in Flora of Australia and NSW FloraOnline are modified to include the new species.

Grevillea hortiorum Olde, a species in the Triloba Group sensu Flora of Australia (2000), is here described for the first time. Its nearest relative is certainly also a member of the Triloba Group, based on shared morphological characters, and it may be related to Grevillea acrobotrya Meisn. Numerous morphological differences distinguish it, but it has not been tested phylogenetically. Subsequent to its initial discovery when it was thought to be rare, both its distribution and population have been greatly expanded, almost exclusively due to the efforts of its eponymous collectors. It was initially thought to be uncommonly associated with open wandoo woodland but later collections have been gathered in open heath as well. An interim key to the species is provided.

The genus Mesochaete Lindb. is known from tropical to temperate regions of the east coast of mainland Australia and Lord Howe Island. It includes two species, M. undulata Lindb. and M. taxiforme (Hampe) Watts & Whitel. Leaf size, leaf cell dimensions and aspects of leaf cross-sectional anatomy appear to be the most reliable morphological features to distinguish the species and new information is given in support of their retention as separate species. Incorrect statements in the Flora of Australia and other Australian treatments are rectified. As there are no previous illustrations of the sporophyte of M. taxiforme, or descriptions of the peristome and spores of either taxon, complete illustrations of the two Mesochaete species are presented with a supplementary description of the sporophyte and, where available, SEMs of peristomes and spores. One of the taxa, M. taxiforme, was represented by very little fruiting material. Consequently, only one sporophyte was sacrificed for the SEM work. Morphologically, peristomes and spores of both taxa appear almost identical.

The prime objective of the research was to list the important ethnomedicinal plants of Nawagai village, District Buner. During the survey, 44 plant species from 27 families were observed and collected from the targeted area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Lamiaceae members were the most dominant (54%) followed by members of Asteraceae (30%), Poaceae (18%) and Solanaceae (12%). Relevant information such as field data, GPS coordinates family names, local names, therapeutic uses and plant habits were recorded for each species. For preservation purposes, specimens were mounted on herbarium sheets, and identified with the help of flora of Pakistan, flora of Australia and other relevant floristic records. During this research work all the collected specimens were preserved in the (BG&H, UOM) Botanical Garden and Herbarium, the data were also provided to the Department of Botany, University of Malakand Dir (Lower), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Revised keys to the Bryaceae flora of Australia and its offshore islands are presented, including new keys to genera and to species within each genus. Sixty named species and two undetermined taxa are included in the treatments. Leptostomopsis pulchra (Hook.) Ochyra & Bedn.-Ochyra is reported from near Melbourne, Victoria as a new genus and species to Australia. Notes on each species are included, and comparisons made with the closely similar Bryaceae of New Zealand.

In the flora of Australia, the driest vegetated continent, crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), the most water-use efficient form of photosynthesis, is documented in only 0.6% of native species. Most are epiphytes and only seven terrestrial. However, much of Australia is unsurveyed, and carbon isotope signature, commonly used to assess photosynthetic pathway diversity, does not distinguish between plants with low-levels of CAM and C3 plants. We provide the first census of CAM for the Australian flora and suggest that the real frequency of CAM in the flora is double that currently known, with the number of terrestrial CAM species probably 10-fold greater. Still unresolved is the question why the large stem-succulent life - form is absent from the native Australian flora even though exotic large cacti have successfully invaded and established in Australia.

Aim To map and analyse range size variation in the terrestrial seed-plant flora of Australia in relation to latitude, habitat availability, climate and soils, and to compare mean range size between biomes and growth forms. Location Australia. Methods Range sizes were estimated from herbarium records using alpha-hulls for 19,227 species and mapped into a set of 0.5° × 0.5° grid cells across Australia. Ordinary-least squares regressions were used to test for relationships between mean range size, latitude and habitat availability. Simultaneous autoregressive models (SAR) with spatial error terms were used in a multi-model framework to assess the role of aridity, mean annual temperature (MAT), soil pH, depth and total P concentration in shaping range size variation. Species-level differences between growth forms (graminoids, herbs, trees, shrubs, climbers) and biomes were assessed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results 68% of Australian seed-plant species have ranges which cover

Species of Mitrasacme occurring in Australia were revised for the Flora of Australia project in 1996, but the genus has never been revised as a whole. A checklist of the names of Mitrasacme species that occur outside Australia is presented here, together with their taxonomic status, known distribution and notes on their morphological affinities.

The classification and typification of all Australian ferns and lycophytes is updated to reflect the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group I classification and the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, presenting 8 new nomenclatural combinations as well as 85 lectotypifications. The Australian fern and lycophyte flora comprises 2 classes, 14 orders, 32 families, 134 genera and 528 species and subspecies with the addition of 8 newly recorded and 6 newly recognised species since the publication of the Flora of Australia fern volume in 1998. Overall, 208 species are endemic to Australia, with Queensland having the highest species diversity and endemism by state or territory, and Lord Howe Island having the highest concentration of species and endemics per unit area. The Australian fern and lycophyte flora shows diverse links with Africa, Asia and Oceania, with the largest overlaps being shared with Asia and Oceania. More species are endemic to Australia+Oceania than to Australia+Asia. Contrasting with the classification presented in the Flora of Australia, no genera of ferns and lycophytes are now considered to be wholly endemic to Australia.

Thysanotus racemoides Sirisena, T.D.Macfarl. & Conran, a new species from South Australia and western Victoria is described and distinguished from the previously conspecific T. juncifolius (Salisb.) J.H.Willis & Court, the revised distribution of which is New South Wales and eastern Victoria. Descriptions, photographic plates and a map are provided for the new species and T. juncifolius. The key in the Flora of Australia is amended to accommodate the new species.

The new genus,CameroniaKantvilas, is described and illustrated. It is characterized by a crustose thallus, a chlorococcalean photobiont, deeply immersed perithecioid ascomata, four-spored asci with an intensely hemiamyloid outer wall and non-amyloid, well-developed tholus, and hyaline, muriform ascospores. The taxonomic position of the new genus is uncertain although a relationship with theOstropomycetidaeis likely. Two species, both endemic to the highlands of Tasmania, are described:C. pertusarioidesKantvilas, which is one of the most common lichens on dolerite in alpine Tasmania, andC. tectaKantvilas, which is confined to metamorphosed sediments.

Preparation of an account of Melaleuca L. (Myrtaceae) for Flora of Australia resulted in the recognition of nine new species and three subspecies of Melaleuca. The following are newly described from Australia: from Queensland: M. hemisticta S. T. Blake ex Craven, M. lazaridis Craven, M. montis-zamiae Craven, M. phratra Craven, M. pyramidalis Craven, M. quercina Craven, M. viminalis (Solander ex Gaertner) Byrne subsp. rhododendron Craven, M. williamsii Craven subsp. fletcheri Craven; from New South Wales: M. megalongensis Craven & S. M. Douglas, M. serpentina Craven, M. williamsii subsp. synoriensis Craven; and from Queensland and New South Wales: M. sabrina Craven. The recently described Callistemon wimmerensis Marriott & G. W. Carr is transferred to Melaleuca as M. wimmerensis (Marriott & G. W. Carr) Craven.

Meridianelia maccarthyana Kantvilas & Lumbsch, gen. et sp. nov., is described, based on collections from Tasmania. This taxon represents only the second member of the family Elixiaceae. It is compared to Elixia flexella (Ach.) Lumbsch and to the superficially similar genus Trapelia. The family Elixiaceae is redefined briefly to account for the inclusion of a second genus.

The Cucurbitaceae genus Austrobryonia, with four species endemic to Australia, is described, illustrated, and placed in a phylogenetic context based on molecular and morphological data. In the Flora of Australia (Telford 1982), all four species were provisionally included in Mukia, but not formally described. Austrobryonia argillicola , A. centralis , A. micrantha , and A. pilbarensis are adapted to arid central regions of Australia. All species are known from several (7–27) localities, and their distributional ranges are allopatric. A phylogenetic analysis of plastid and nuclear DNA sequences that includes all four species in a family-wide context revealed that Austrobryonia is the closest living relative to a Eurasian and Mediterranean clade consisting of Bryonia L. and Ecballium L. An rbcL molecular clock, calibrated with Cucurbitaceae fossils, dates this rare biogeographic disjunction to minimally 42 my ago (with an error of ca. ± 25%), while the crown group of Austrobryonia may be about 8 my...

Loxospora lecanoriformis Lumbsch, A. W. Archer & Elix is described from deeply shaded trunks of Doryphora sassafras Endl. in temperate rainforest in north-eastern New South Wales. This species is characterized by large, lecanorine apothecia, mostly unbranched paraphyses, non-amyloid asci and large, thin-walled, simple, ellipsoid ascospores. Molecular data has established that this taxon is related to Loxospora ochrophaea (Tuck.) R. C. Harris.

The Australian species of the bottlebrush genus Callistemon R. Brown are not sufficiently distinct from Melaleuca L. for Callistemon to be maintained as a separate genus. The primary character states used to justify maintenance of Callistemon are that its staminal filaments are free and not grouped. This breaks down as fused filaments in five groups, the defining features of Melaleuca, occur in some Callistemon species. Therefore, it is concluded that the two genera should be combined. The following new names are proposed for species being treated in a forthcoming account of Melaleuca for Flora of Australia: M. faucicola Craven, M. flammea Craven, M. orophila Craven, M. paludicola Craven, M. salicina Craven, M. virens Craven, and M. williamsii Craven. The following new combinations are established as transferred from Callistemon: M. brachyandra (Lindley) Craven, M. chisholmii (Cheel) Craven, M. comboynensis (Cheel) Craven, M. flavovirens (Cheel) Craven, M. formosa (S. T. Blake) Craven, M. montana...

Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Myrtaceae. Members of this genus dominate the tree flora of Australia. Species of eucalyptus are cultivated widely in the tropical and temperate world, including the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East, China, and the Indian subcontinent. Some eucalyptus species have attracted attention from horticulturists, global development researchers, and environmentalists because of their desirable traits such as being fast-growing sources of wood, producing oil that can be used for cleaning, and functioning as a natural insecticide or having an ability to be used to drain swamps. Nowadays, regular plantations of eucalyptus are very common due to increasing demand for pole in construction work and also in paper industry. The biomass production on fresh wt. basis was 195 q/ha. in 10-year-old plant.

Fossil plants Hedeia sinica Hao et Gensel 1998, Huia gracilis Wang et Hao 2001 and Guangnania cuneata Wang et Hao are described from the Lower Devonian Xujiachong Formation, the Qujing district, eastern Yunnan, China. They contribute to our knowledge of the flora in this district. Based on the occurrence of common plants (Hedeia, Huia, Guangnania and Zosterophyllum australianum) and their horizons, it is proved for the first time that the mid-lower assemblage of the Xujiachong flora is comparable with the Early Devonian ((late) Pragian) Posongchong flora of southeastern Yunnan and the upper Baragwanathia flora of Australia. In view of this fact and the stratigraphic sequence, the mid-lower part of the Xujiachong Formation is considered to be of (late) Pragian age. Through comprehensive analyses of plant, bivalve and fish assemblages and the lithology, the upper part of the Xujiachong Formation is dated to be of early Emsian age. The Xujiachong flora belonged to the northeastern Gondwana palaeophytogeographic unit during the Early Devonian. The early Emsian assemblage of this flora inherited the characters of the Posongchong flora and also exhibited the endemic elements. Belonging to different phytogeographic units, the Xujiachong and Posongchong floras differ from the coeval flora of the Laurussian palaeocontinent. The Xujiachong flora is comparatively simple in composition, while the Posongchong flora has abundant and highly diversified endemics. The disparity between them has resulted from the different environments.

Changes in the Cretaceous fern flora of Australia were analysed by compiling data from the palynological literature. A decline in the relative diversity and abundance of free-sporing plants during the Late Cretaceous was concurrent with a rise in angiosperms, while the relative contribution of gymnosperms was unchanged. Ferns and lycophytes were the major contributors to the free-sporing plant pattern and declined markedly from higher Early Cretaceous levels; bryophyte relative diversity peaks in the mid-Cretaceous. The fern families Schizaeaceae, Osmundaceae and Cyatheaceae/Dicksoniaceae decline only marginally, with most of the decline seen in ‘miscellaneous ferns’ (mostly comprising fern spores of unknown affinity). In contrast to the overall fern trend, the relative diversity of Gleicheniaceae increased significantly in the mid-Cretaceous. The decline in fern relative abundance, which is gradual throughout the entire Cretaceous, is equally complex. By far the largest contributor to this decline is Osmundaceae. Cyathaceae/Dicksoniaceae and Gleicheniaceae increase in relative abundance in the mid-Cretaceous, but decline in the Late Cretaceous. Matoniaceae/Dipteridaceae maintain very low and stable levels of relative diversity and abundance throughout the Cretaceous. There is no evidence that polypodiaceous ferns sensu lato underwent any significant radiation concomitant with the angiosperm radiation in the Late Cretaceous. Trends observed in the relative diversity and abundance show that patterns occurring at high taxonomic levels (e.g. all ferns) are not consistent at lower levels (e.g. families). The Australian and North American diversity data for free-sporing plants, gymnosperms and angiosperms are broadly similar. However, Schizaeaceae and Gleicheniaceae display different trends during the mid-Cretaceous, increasing in diversity in the Australian palynofloras, but decreasing in North America.

The upper Gondwana rocks of the Rajmahal Basin include a volcano-sedimentary sequence and are represented by the infratrappean Dubrajpur Formation and the trap-intertrappean Rajmahal Formation. In this paper, the megafloral content of the sequence is documented. Four distinct megafloral assemblages are described. The oldest (first) assemblage is found in the upper part of the Dubrajpur Formation, sampled at Khatangi Hill. It is dominated by cycadophytes. The significant occurrence of Culcitites madagascariensis indicates an Upper Jurassic age and an affinity with Madagascar's flora of this age. The overlying Rajmahal Formation includes three distinct megafloral assemblages. The oldest (first) of these is represented in the first to third intertrappean beds and is dominated by cycadophytes and pteridophytes, followed by conifers. Pteridosperms, Ginkgoales and Pentoxylales are relatively uncommon. This assemblage is Neocomian in age because of the presence of the Australian Neocomian index species Phyllopteroides laevis . The second assemblage of the Rajmahal Formation is found in the classical Nipania locality of the fourth intertrappean bed. This assemblage, which appears to be of Late Neocomian age, is dominated by Pentoxylales and Coniferales; pteridophytes and cycadophytes are relatively rare. The youngest megafloral assemblage of the Rajmahal Formation has been recovered recently at the Sonajori locality. The Sonajori Assemblage is characterised by the dominance of Pentoxylales and Coniferales as well as a few pteridophytes. The significant appearance of angiospermous remains and the disappearance of Bennettitales in the Sonajori Assemblage are indicative of a late Early Cretaceous age (Aptian). This age is corroborated by radiometric dating of Rajmahal Traps. The megafloral assemblages of the Rajmahal Formation show a close affinity with the Early Cretaceous flora of Victoria (Koonwarra), Australia. Thus, the upper Gondwana megafloral diversity of the Rajmahal Basin resembles the Upper Jurassic flora of Madagascar and the Early Cretaceous flora of Australia and Antarctica.

Weston, Peter H. (National Herbarium of New South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia) 1999. Persoonia pauciflora P.H. Weston (Proteaceae), a new species from the Hunter Va l l e y, New South Wa l e s . Telopea 8(2): 159–164. Persoonia pauciflo r a P.H. Weston, a new species from the Hunter Va l l e y, New South Wales, is described and distinguished from its closest relatives. The keys t o P e r s o o n i a that have been published recently in the Flora of New South Wa l e s and Flora of Australia a re amended to include this species.

Weston, Peter H. and Johnson, L.A.S. (National Herbarium of New South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, N.S.W. 2000, Australia) 1996. Persoonia hindii (Proteaceae), a new species from the Newnes Plateau, New South Wales. Telopea 7(3): 199–203. Persoonia hindii P.H. Weston & L.A.S. Johnson, a new species from the Newnes Plateau in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales is described and distinguished from its closest relatives. The keys to Persoonia that have been published recently in the Flora of New South Wales and Flora of Australia are amended to include this species.

Acrolejeunea arcuata subsp. gradsteinii is described for plants from the Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia. This subspecies differs in its autoicy, oblong-elliptic underleaves, the female bract lobe not reflexed and with a rounded apex, and the second lobule tooth longer than the first. Ceratolejeunea belangeriana is confirmed for Australia on the basis of an early collection from Norfolk Island, and recent collections from Queensland. Lejeunea tumida is excluded from the flora of Australia, all Australian specimens identified as L. tumida are referable to other species. Lejeunea sordida is confirmed for Norfolk Island on the basis of material previously identified as L. tumida . Hygrolejeunea rostrata is lectotypified and moved from synonymy under L. discreta to synonymy under L. lumbricoides , which is newly reported for Australia from Norfolk Island. Hygrolejeunea norfolkensis is moved from synonymy under L. discreta to synonymy under L. gracilipes , which is newly recorded for Australia on this basis. A lectotype is proposed for Lejeunea helmsiana .

The focus of this chapter is the indigenous flora of Australia and New Zealand that has been noted to produce significant livestock losses. The arid climate of Australia and the long biogeographic isolation of New Zealand have resulted in a series of unique plant toxidromes. Important indigenous plant toxidromes in Australia, such as walkabout disease, McKenzie River disease, swainsona poisoning, Birdsville disease, bitter bark poisoning, floodplain staggers (Stewart Range syndrome), wamps, zamia staggers and related toxidromes, finger cherry poisoning, blind grass poisoning, Gympie stinger poisoning, plant-related fluoroacetate poisoning, billy button poisoning, pimelea poisoning, and a number of others are discussed in this chapter. Economically important introduced plant toxidromes, such as Paterson’s curse poisoning and heliotrope poisoning, are also discussed. In relation to New Zealand, important indigenous plant poisonings, such as Strathmore poisoning, tutu poisoning, ngaio toxicity, karaka poisoning, tree nettle toxicity (ongaonga poisoning), poroporo toxicity, and rangiora toxicity are discussed.

Four percent of the Australian flora is rare and endangered with over 100 taxa presumed extinct. Western Australia contains a large proportion of the endangered flora of Australia with 238 taxa in a critical state of conservation and 70 species presumed extinct. Kings Park and Botanic Garden in south-west Australia is responsible for developing specialized collections of rare and endangered indigenous flora. Macro-and micropropagation procedures are used including conventional cutting and seed propagation, grafting and in thein vitro programme whole seeds (asymbiotic and symbiotic germination), excised seed embryos, shoot apices and inflorescence sections. Wherever possible explants are collected from major provenances of the species and a wide cross section of a species population. Although many of the rare flora of Western Australia are now in theex situ collection maintained by Kings Park and Botanic Garden attempts are being made to develop slow growth storage forin vitro cultures and cryostorage. Trial recovery programmes have commenced with a number of species including the rare and endangered Purdie's donkey orchid (Diuris purdiei). Results of these recovery programmes will guide future efforts in conserving and recovering rare Australian species.

For tenBlandfordia grandiflora populations spanning about 90% of the species' range, univariate and multivariate analyses on 14 vegetative and reproductive characters separated plants into distinct coastal and tableland groups. Distinguishing characters were number of flowers and leaves, leaf length and width, and inflorescence stalk height and diameter; coastal plants were larger than tableland plants. In a transplant experiment, coastal and tableland plants retained their phenotypic distinctness, indicating that vegetative morphology was genetically determined. Coastal plants exhibited clinal variation with latitude. Compared to tableland plants, coastal plants had higher pollen: ovule ratios, and produced fewer but heavier seeds per flower. Tableland and coastal plants are phenotypically distinct, indicating that separate subspecific status is warranted.

Variation in subunit polypeptide composition of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) from native AustralianLepidium taxa was analyzed by isoelectric focusing (IEF). Species of grexMonoplocoidea on the one hand, and species of gregesPseudoruderalia andPapillosa on the other, were well separated by Rubisco IEF patterns. The protein data suggest grexMonoplocoidea to be placed in sect.Monoploca whereas gregesPseudoruderalia andPapillosa should be integrated into sect.Dileptium. We suggest that the Rubisco type of American and/or AsianLepidium species was contained in those plants migrating to Australia and evolving into the recent native Australian species. Fossil pollen records and vegetation history indicate that the origin ofLepidium in Australia was restricted to the late Tertiary of Quaternary. Data presented in this study fit best with an immigration by long-distance dispersal of seeds by birds from Asia and/or from South America.

This paper outlines current gaps in the Flora of Australia in terms of family-level treatments, and next steps towards completing the Flora, including moving from hard-copy volumes to a more dynamic and collaborative online platform.

Flora URSS is thus completed. We remember all our colleagues, many of them long dead, who contributed to its achievement. We have done what we could. We welcome the young botanists and wish them success. Fecimus quod potuimus. Vivant sequentes . E. G. Bobrov, Nature 205 : 1049 (1965). It is the hope of the editors [of Flora Europaea ] that by wrestling with these problems they have, at least to some extent, made it unnecessary for the next generation to do so again, and have thus enabled them to devote more time to plants. D. A. Webb, Taxon 27 : 14 (1978). The geographical limits of Europe adopted here are essentially the same as those adopted for Flora Europaea , with the omission of the Azores, the Arctic islands and the tundra zone (respectively included in Regions 02, 05 and 06). The Caucasus, sometimes considered to be part of Europe, is treated as Region 74 within Division 7 (northern, central and southwestern Asia). Outside of the eight groups of polities here delimited, separate units have been allocated for a number of major physiographic entities such as the Mediterranean, the Alps and Carpathians, and the Ural. Organized floristic study and the writing of floras as they are today internationally known began in Renaissance Europe, but had antecedents in ancient Greece and in China and Japan. Significant advances in methodology came through the work of such scholars as Charles de l'Ecluse (Clusius), Johann and Caspar Bauhin, John Ray, Albrecht von Haller, Carl Linnaeus, Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck, Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle, William J. and Joseph D. Hooker, Karl Philip von Martius, George Bentham, Nathaniel L. Britton and Gustav Hegi and, in the modern era, the Flora SSSR work-group, the Flora Europaea Organisation, the Flora of Australia project, and the original, abortive Flora North America Program.

The recent Flora of Australia [14] lists 513 species of eucalypts and some authorities consider they should be split into several separate genera. Consequently a review of micropropagation techniques for eucalypts must necessarily be more general than an account directed towards a single species. More than 50 species and many hybrids have been grown in vitro. Several reviews [24, 40, 50, 70] tabulate the media and the levels of success achieved with these species. Despite the diversity of the species it is possible to suggest media and techniques which should result in sufficient in vitro material with which to do meaningful experiments on optimising media and conditions.

Seventeen Australian, phyllodinous species of Acacia s.s. (from sections Juliflorae and Phyllodineae) were analysed to test the monophyly and relationships of ‘the Acacia longifolia group’, an informal group recognised in the Flora of Australia. Analyses were based on both morphological and molecular data, with A. triptera as an outgroup. A total of 92 herbarium specimens was investigated, with 15 phyllode, inflorescence, flower, pod and seed characters scored. The ITS and ETS regions of nuclear rDNA were sequenced and combined with a larger dataset sampled from species of all major clades of Acacia, totalling 65 accessions. Cladistic analyses provided evidence of a clade that defines the A. longifolia group as follows: A. alpina, A. axillaris, A. courtii, A. dallachiana, A. derwentiana, A. floribunda, A. longifolia subsp. longifolia and A. longifolia subsp. sophorae, A. longissima, A. maidenii, A. mucronata, A. obtusifolia, A. orites, A. oxycedrus, A. phlebophylla, A. rhigiophylla and A. riceana (all sect. Juliflorae), but excluding A. verticillata (section Juliflorae) and A. genistifolia (section Phyllodineae). The A. longifolia group is recognised as including south-eastern Australian species with cylindrically spiked inflorescences and phyllodes with prominent anastomosing venation.

Documentation of the algal flora of Australia had its beginnings in the seventeenth century and has progressed sporadically but with increasing vigour ever since. Earlier studies dealing with Australian algae were undertaken by overseas phycologists working with specimens collected during scientific voyages or short visits. Recent floristic studies have concentrated on specific regions, isolated localities, or particular taxonomic or ecological groupings. The algal flora of Australia is unevenly documented: northern Australia remains largely uncollected for seaweeds and marine phytoplankton, freshwater algal sampling sites are eclectically scattered across Australia, and collecting of terrestrial algae has been almost completely neglected. At present, numbers and names of species reported from Australia can only be provisional, and an immense amount of floristic and revisionary work is needed before we can match our current knowledge of the vascular plant flora. Until recently, documentation of records was poor and voucher material seldom adequate. We recommend extensive collecting, thorough taxonomic revisions, and regular contribution to Floras and guidebooks. A critical corollary is the training and employment of systematic phycologists in Australian herbaria and universities. Only then can we follow the path that leads ‘beyond the Floras’.

With the Proteaceae completed for the ‘Flora of Australia’, we now have a reasonably accurate picture of its alpha systematics. Currently the family world-wide contains some 1769 species in 80 genera. In Australia there are 1093 species (c. 61.7 % of the world total) in 46 genera (57.5 %); about 99% of the species are endemic. Where do we go now? For many small genera (e.g. Franklandia, Austromuellera) the alpha taxonomy is settled, but in some small and all larger genera further research at specific and infrageneric level is needed, especially into highly variable ‘species’ (e.g. Banksia marginata) and species-complexes (e.g. the Grevillea biternata group). Much field work is required for some groups, not only to explore under-collected areas (where new taxa will undoubtedly be found) but also to study variation and such aspects as root systems, response to fire, seedlings, flower and fruit development, predation, seed dispersal and dormancy. There will be some further refinement of generic delimitation. Phylogenetic relationships and infrageneric classifications require further elucidation; even well studied genera (e.g. Banksia) contain problematic taxa. This will involve new data from such fields as anatomy (including developmental anatomy), molecular studies, DNA analysis and gene sequencing. As data improve, so will understanding world-wide relationships. Despite the use of computer technology, intuition and interpretation will continue to generate different classifications and evolutionary models.

In advance of treatment in the Flora of Australia and other publications, four new taxa of Melaleuca are described and illustrated: M. ca- juputi subsp. platyphylla Barlow, M. clarksonii Bar- low, M. fluviatilis Barlow, and M. stipitata Craven; and two new combinations are made: M. cajuputi subsp. cumingiana (Turczaninow) Barlow and M. squamophloia (Byrnes) Craven.