Annual Review of Plant Biology, Volume 76. There are 24 articles.

Ongoing research on the systematics of Columnea (Gesneriaceae) has resulted in the discovery of a new species, Columnea flammeostoma J.L. Clark of the Gesneriaceae (tribe: Gesnerieae, subtribe: Columneinae). The new species is distinguished by the combination of isophyllous leaf pairs, fimbriate calyx lobe margins, and a deeply bilabiate corolla that is dark purple with yellow corolla lobe margins. The new species is endemic to the Cordillera del Cóndor in southern Ecuador where it was collected from the wild in 2005 and brought into cultivation by Ecuagenera and has since been distributed by horticulturists throughout several countries.

In the Southern Rocky Mountains, Packera crocata and P. dimorphophylla form a complex of intergrading forms leading to difficulty in distinguishing taxa. Here we review the morphological variation in the context of regional phylogenetic data from two independent datasets to recircumscribe the taxa. We show the complex to consist of three taxa, P. crocata, P. dimorphophylla var. dimorphophylla, and P. intermedia, a new combination for a little-recognized taxon previously treated as a variety of P. dimorphophylla.

The first naturalized occurrence of Pleioblastus fortunei (Poaceae) in the Arkansas flora is reported here from Columbia County. In 2024, a large, naturalized population of P. fortunei was discovered in highly disturbed riparian habitat adjacent to a large residential area, within the city of Magnolia. Plants were sterile but aggressively establishing via rhizomatous offsets. The precise origin of the naturalized plants is unknown, although establishment from once cultivated plants of the species is suspected, as a residence adjacent to the location of the naturalized plants had a large colony of P. fortunei that had spread throughout much of the property.

During February 3–7, 2025, the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) organized its sixth botanical nomenclature course at Gangtok (BSI-SHRC), Sikkim Himalayan Regional Centre, India. This academic activity was the result of a collaboration between the BSI-SHRC and Forest & Environment Dept., Government of Sikkim. The course was attended by seventy-one people from across India.

Drosera rotundifolia reaches its southern-most North American extent in Alabama, where it is considered quite rare. Adding to that rarity, previously reported Alabama coastal plain populations are dismissed due to confusion with D. capillaris, while northwestern Alabama populations have either been much reduced or completely destroyed. The recent discovery of a large, robust colony of Drosera rotundifolia in a remote area of Winston County represents a significant event in the study of Alabama’s carnivorous plants.

Do Plants Know Math? takes you down through the centuries to explore how great minds have been captivated and mystified by Fibonacci patterns in nature. It presents a powerful new geometrical solution, little known outside of scientific circles, that sheds light on why regular and irregular spiral patterns occur. Along the way, the book discusses related plant geometries such as fractals and the fascinating way that leaves are folded inside of buds. Your neurons will crackle as you begin to see the connections. The book will inspire you to look at botanical patterns—and the natural world itself—with new eyes.

Field Guide to Grasses of Oregon and Washington (1st ed., 1999) was reviewed in J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 14(1), 2020. The reviewer noted that the Field Guide “is a comprehensive source of information on all 101 genera and 376 species, subspecies, and varieties of grasses known to occur in the natural environment of Oregon and Washington.” The second edition treats 394 species, 18 additional species more than the first edition. The new edition also includes “updated names, new keys, and improved photographs and maps.”The labeled macrophotographs illustrated beautifully the hard-to-see diagnostic features, critical for identification.

Dominique Chabrée’s book, Stirpium icones et sciagraphia, published in 1666, and with slightly different titles in 1677, and 1678, includes the first botanical illustration of an entire coffee plant (Coffea arabica), including the roots. Despite inaccurate botanical characters, the illustration is a milestone in the evolution of coffee botanical art.

Asarum arifolium (Aristolochiaceae) is reported as new to the Texas flora.