Recent studies have shown that Acacia is polyphyletic and must be split into five genera. Proposal 1584 would retypify Acacia : the type of the Australian taxon A. penninervis would be conserved over the current lectotype (A. scorpioides ) of an African taxon. We disagree with the recommendation of the Spermatophyte Committee to endorse this proposal. Contrary to Article 14.12 of the ICBN, no detailed case against conservation was presented in Proposal 1584. We maintain that there are strong arguments against conservation, such as the large number of countries that would be affected, the economic importance of the extra‐Australian species, and the economic burden placed on developing countries. Acceptance of this proposal would also violate the guidelines for conservation which clearly state that the principle of priority should prevail when conservation for one part of the world would create disadvantageous change in another part of the world.

Smith & al. (2010) have suggested that the apportionment of institutional votes for the Nomenclature Section of the International Botanical Congress based upon taxonomic activity represents a “colonial legacy” that disadvantages developing nations, and that institutional votes should instead be distributed based at least in part upon a country's human population and the size of its flora. While we agree that increasing participation by developing‐country taxonomists is an important goal, we believe that Smith & al. fail to support their claim that the current practice of plant nomenclature is harmful to developing nations. No evidence has been offered of regional biases regarding proposals to change the wording of the Code, which represent the vast majority of the votes taken at any Nomenclature Section, nor has the current process of apportionment of institutional votes been shown to be biased. The reform measures proposed by Smith & al. would, as we show, introduce explicit discrimination based on nationality into the International code of botanical nomenclature, undermining the international cooperation among taxonomists that is necessary for the smooth functioning of a universally accepted system of nomenclature. Rather than making hasty and perhaps harmful changes to the current means of voting, we suggest that the international taxonomic community should consider carefully what measures will best facilitate participation without creating new sources of injustice.

The cycad genus Encephalartos is restricted to Africa and is threatened with extinction in most of its range. Total DNA was extracted from 51, i.e., 78 %, of the described species of Encephalartos. The accessions were sampled from the furthest western occurrence of the genus in Nigeria, via Sudan and Uganda, to southern South Africa. The sequences of nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer regions 1 and 2 (ITS 1&2), the chloroplast encoded rbcL gene, and ISSR genomic fingerprinting were employed to resolve the molecular history and the relationships within the genus. Sequence alignment, as well as ISSR fingerprinting, data show low genetic variation among all analysed accessions, indicating diversification within the Pliocene/Pleistocene. ITS 1&2 data agree well with morphological and geographical characters and resolved three major genetic clusters with overlapping distribution ranges in eastern South Africa. This area, that contains the largest diversity of genotypes of Encephalartos, may have served as a Pliocene/Pleistocene refugium.

Phylogenetic relationships between Encephalartos altensteinii Lehmann, E. arenarius R.A. Dyer, E. horridus (Jacquin) Lehmann, E. latifrons Lehmann, E. lehmannii Lehmann, E. longifolius (Jacquin) Lehmann, E. princeps R.A. Dyer and E. trispinosus (Hooker) R.A. Dyer were studied, using E. ferox Bertoloni f. as outgroup. Three continuous and one discontinuous buffer systems were used and gene products of 14 enzyme coding loci were examined by horizontal starch gel-electrophoresis. Genetic variation was studied in a cultivated population of E. lehmannii and the average heterozygosity value for this population is 13.5%, which falls within the range reported for other cycad species. Fixed allele differences between the species studied was not found at any of the loci studied, which suggest that these species are closely related. DNA sequence analysis of rbcL and ITS 1 & 2 genes (1428 and 895 basepairs, respectively) confirmed the close genetic relationships between these taxa. According to ITS and rbcL sequences E. altensteinii and E. princeps are sibling taxa which form a sister group to E. arenarius, E. horridus, E. latifrons, E. lehmannii, E. longifolius, and E. trispinosus. The genetic distances between both groups were 0.12-0.47% for ITS and 0.08-0.16% for rbcL DNA. The results indicate recent (probably pleistocenic) speciation for this group of cycads, and the relationships are discussed with reference to affinities based on morphology and distribution. # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The vast majority of the approximately 2(H) species of Pelargonium oeeurs in Africa. About SO per cent of the species are endemic to the winter rainfall region of the Cape Province, and the centre of distribution lies in the south-western Cape. The distribution of the individual sections are discussed with the aid of distribution maps. The centre of distribution of most sections is in the south-western Cape, hut a few sections are centred in the eastern and western Cape. Several sections are represented by a few species in the summer rainfall region of southern Africa. As no fossils of Pelargonium are known, deductions about the origin of the genus can only be based on the present distribution of species, according to which arguments in favour of both a northern and a southern origin can he supported.