( 1 ) Some taxonomical problems of the genus Clematis mainly about misidentifications are discussed, and some treatments including the reinstatement of Clematis montana var. brevifoliola Kuntze, C. apiifolia var. biternata Makino, C. subumbellata Kurz, C. goudotiana Planch. & Triana, C. insidiosa Baill., C. kockiana Schneid. and C. longicauda A. Rich., and the reduction of subsect. Africanae M. Johnson, C. umbellifera Gagnep., C. pubescens Benth., C. rhodocarpa Rose, C. edentata Baker, C. stoltzi Engler, C. tibetana ssp. vernayi var. dentata Grey-Wilson, C. clarkeana var. stenophylla Hand.-Mazz., C. subfalcata Pei ex M.Y. Fang, C. angustifoliola W. T. Wang, C. dasyandra var. polyantha Finet & Gagnep. etc are given. (2) The new diagnoses for the two subsections of the sect. Meclatis are provided; C. sericea H.B. K. ex DC. and C. grossa Benth. are treated as two varieties of one species; and a new classification of the infraspecific taxa of C. hirsuta Perr & Guill. is made. (3) one subsection, one series, eight species and one variety are described as new. (4) The new occurrences of C. montana var. brevifoliola Kuntze in southern Xizang, China, Nepal, Bhutan and northern Myanmar, C. burmanica Lace in southwestern Yunnan, C. armandii Franch. in Assam, India and northern Myanmar,and C. yui W. T. Wang in northern Myanmar are reported.

This is one of a series of studies on the reproductive features in Cimicifuga nanchuanensis Hsiao, an endangered plant endemic to China, and C. simplex Wormsk, a closely related and widely spread species as a control. The present paper deals with the results of cyto-morphological observations on the megasporogenesis, the development of female gametophytes, and the embryogeny in C. simplex. Its anatropous ovules are bitegminous and crassinucellate. A megaspore mother cell undergoes meiosis to form a linear or T-shaped megaspore tetrad. The embryo sac is of Polygonum type. The three antipodal cells persist up to the globular stage of embryo development.Two polar nuclei fuse to form a secondary nucleus close to the chalazal end of the embryo sac and connect with antipodal cells before fertilization. The development of endosperm is of Nuclear type. Cellularization of nuclear endosperm initiates since early globular stage of the embryo development. Development of the embryo in C. simplex is of Onagrad type. C. simplex is dichogamous. Stigmatic papillae emerge on the 1st∽2nd day and they elongate into stigmatic hairs on the 3rd∽5th day after stamens withering. The great impact of the differences of the receptible period of stigmas and pollen viabilitybetween the two species on effective pollination and seed-setting rate is discussed.

A comparative isoflavonoid analysis of 22 species of Iris, representing almost all the subgenera, and one species of its allied genus Balamcanda, B. chinensis (L.) DC. was carried out by TLC, with iridin, tectoridin, irigenin, tectorigenin, irisfloretin, dichotomin, wogonin, rhamnazin, apocynin, androsin being used as authentic compounds. The results show that the isoflavones are the characteristic constituents of Iris and Belamcanda. According to the distribution pattern of isoflavones, the Iris species here studied can be divided into 2 groups; one contains isoflavonoid aglycons, while the other contains both glycosides and isoflavonoid aglycons. From the point view of chemosystematics, subgen. Limniris contains isoflavonoid aglycons only and might be a natural group; subgen. Crossiris might be also a natural group when Iris speculatrix Hance is excluded; subgen. Pardanthopsis is similar to B. chinensis in the chemical constituent might be a primitive group in Iris and has close relationship with subgen. Crossiris, subgen. Xyridion and subgen. Iris. Based on the evidence from phytochemistry, palynology and cytology, Iris cathayensis Migo and I. mandshurica Pall. are considered intermediate groups between subgen. Limniris and subgen. Iris and I. speculatrix Hance an intermediate group between subgen. Limniris and subgen.Crossiris, while I. confusa Sealy and I. wattii Baker might be conspecific.

Three species of the genus Oxygraphis Bunge (Ranunculaceae) were karyomorphologically studied. The interphase nuclei of complex chromocenter type, prophase chromosomes of interstitial type and basic chromosome number of x = 8 were common to all the three species examined, but the chromosomes of O. delavayi were markedly larger than those of O. glacialis and of O. tenuifolia. The results support the viewpoints that Oxygraphis is a natural member of the subtribe Ranunculinae Spach, tribe Ranunculeae DC. in the subfamily Ranunculoideae and that O. dela-vayi might be the primitive species of this genus.

Taxonomically revised in this paper are Chloranthus henryi Hemsl. and its allies on the basis of character analysis and type examination. Four species, i.e.C. serratus (Thunb.) Roem. et Schult., C. henryi, C. sessilifolius K. F. Wu and C. oldhami Solms-Laub., are recognized. C. monostachys R. Br., C. hupehensis Pamp. and C. serratus var. taiwanensis K. F. Wu are reduced as new synonyms of C. serratus, C. henryi and C. oldhami, respectively. As C. philippinensis Merr. and C. verticillatus Merr. are found to be more similar to C. oldhami than to C. henryi, they are both treated as conspecific with C. oldhami rather than with C. henryi. After a careful examination of the syntypes and their photos of C. henryi, C. multistachys P' ei and C.hupehensis, lectotypes of these names are designated.

Using the methods of PCA and TWINSPAN, floristic data of seventy-six mountain floras in the Chinese subtropical region were quantitatively analyzed to reveal the compositional characteristics of its floristic elements, the relationships of its different floristics elements, and the correlation as well as the spatial differentiation of its floristic element composition. Moreover, a north-south transect between 108.5°∽111.5° E and an east-west transect between 29°∽31° N were set up to analyze the spatial gradients of several floristic elements. The results are summarized as follows: ① In the subtropical region, the 15 areal-types of genera of seed plants of China fall into 4 groups: tropical, temperate, arid and eastern Asian, with the pantropic elements and the northern temperate elements being of the highest percentage, the eastern Asian elements being of a very high percentage, and the endemism being of a very high degree, while the arid elements being of a very low percentage. ② As shown by the result of PCA, the northern, middle and southern parts of the Chinese subtropical region are well differentiated in terms of their floristic composition, but the eastern and the western parts are not clearly differentiated. ③ The transect analysis has clearly shown the gradient pattern of the ratio of tropical vs. temperate elements, the status of the region from eastern Sichuan to Western Hubei as a distribution center of the Chinese endemic genera, and the contrary distribution pattern of the cosmopolitan elements and the Chinese endemic elements in the Chinesesubtropical region.

The plant from eastern Aegean islands, S. Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria and N. Iraq is recognized as a subspecies of Paeonia mascula based on a large quantity of herbarium specimens from the major herbaria in Europe. The subspecies, Paeonia mascula subsp. orientalis (Thiebaut) D. Y. Hong, is characterized by nearly always having some leaflets segmented and the total number of leaflets and segments ranging from (9) 12 to 18 (23); leaflets and segments broadly elliptical to ovate-rounded and usually glabrous or sparsely villous on the lower surface.

In this paper, the Asian subspecies of Phryma leptostachya L., i.e. ssp. asiatica (Hara) Kitamura, is taxonomically revised. A key showing the more essential differences betweenthe two subspecies is presented, and the distribution data of ssp. asiatica are updated.

Three species of the Punctariaceae, Pogotrichum yezoense (Yamada et Nakamura) Sakai et Saga, Punctaria hesperia Setchell et Gardner and P. occidentalis Setchell et Gardner are reported from the coast of Dalian; all the three species are new to China.