Acanthophyllum ejtehadii (SECT. OLIGOSPERMA) is described as a new species to the science from Khorassan, NE Iran, which is closely related to A. diezianum. Acanthophyllum maimanense, hitherto known only from NW Afghanistan, is a new record for the flora of Iran. These species are compared with the closely related species of SECT. OLIGOSPERMAand their distribution data and pictures are provided.

The genus Silene, with more than 100 species in Iran is an important genus of Iranian flora. According to available data on the northwestern parts of Iran, including three provinces of Ardabil, East and West Azarbaijan are considered as a major diversity center of perennial species of the genus Silene in Iran. In the course of a revision of Silenein this area, some interesting specimens were collected which are new records from Iran. In this paper, occurrence of Silene dianthoides (SECT. Caespitosae), and S. chustupica (SECT. Auriculatae) are reported. The name S. dianthoidesis used for previous records of S. marcowiczii which is more likely conspecific. Both species are growing in alpine zone. The previously evaluated threatened status of S. chustupica as critically endangered according to IUCN red list categories is discussed here. The taxonomical descriptions, geographical distribution and the ecology of the new records are provided and their photographs are also presented.

Introduction: Trifolium is one of the important genus in Fabaceae family comprises 250 annual and perenial species in the world. Between annual species in Vesicaria SECT.on specially T. tomentosum, T.bullatum and T. clusii have similarity specially in flower and fruit morphology, so their distinction is difficult.Aim: Morphological study of pollen grain in these species were used for evaluating the Zohary classification in this SECT.on.Material and method: Specimen from Vesicaria SECT.on was gathered from different parts of Iran. By using SEM, P, E, PIE and furrow length, ornamentation of exine surface in equitorial and polar view, were specified for each species in 3 samples.Result: Pollen shape is oblong, and ornamentation of pollen surface is reticulate to rugose. The largest pollen grain belongs to T.fragiferum and the smallest one belongs to T.clusii. The characters such as ornamentation surface, P, E and furrow length were considered as the most important resource of variation by factor analysis. The species identification key were prepared accordingly.Conclusion: These results showed that pollen sculpture can separate T. tomentosun from T. bullatum that have similarity in morphology. Also, the most varieties characters such as P, E and exine sculpture, can identify other species.

There many unknowns about Amir Alishir Navai's thoughts. He was the one of the great politicians and cultural characters of the last decades of the Timurids era. Historians have different opinions about his ethnicity and his religious beliefs. Some say he was a twelve imamer Shia, some say he was Sunni, some say he was sufi and some say he was not belong to a religious community. This led the writer to have a critical look at the existing documents and to review the historical evidences to find out more about his actual thoughts. Reviewing the historical evidences implies that he was neither Shia nor Sunni nor a perfect Sufi. He was only a religious man and his thoughts were influenced by aspects of different religions.

In this research, plant morphology and pollen micromorphology of 14 populations of 3 species belonging to two SECT.ons Plethiosphace and Hemisphace of Salvia genus in Iran were studied. In the morphological study 25 quantitative and qualitative characters were investigated and the results clearly separated the species into two groups. The pollen grains from the herbarium specimens were prepared by acetolysis method and then 4 quantitative characters were examined by light microscopy. Data was processed by principal component analysis method. Results indicated that although the pollen grains in the SECT.on were comparatively homogenous and all of them were 6-colpate with reticulate ornamentation, a considerable variation in the quantitative characters studied turned out to exist. However among the characters studied, equatorial and polar diameters of pollen grains were the most significant and based on these characters the members of these SECT.ons can be divided into two groups.

Astragalus hotkanensis is described as a new species from south east Iran. This species belongs to the SECT. Microphysa Bunge. The related species are A. meimandicus, and A. reuterianus.

Among the rich materials collected from different parts of Iran, three new species from Astragalus SECT.on Incani DC. including; A. culminates Maassoumi, Kazempour Osaloo & Joharchi, A. elezgensis, Maassoumi & Kazempour Osaloo and A. kalatehensis Maassoumi & Kazempour Osaloo as new species are described and illustrated.  

Palynological and anatomical features of 11 species from NE Iran belonging to Acanthophyllum SECT. OLIGOSPERMA were carried out and evaluated by numerical methods to determine the taxonomic value of endomorphic characters.The cross SECT.on of stems, peduncles and leaves were prepared and stained with Safranin and Fast-green and pollen morphology has been examined by light and scanning electron microscope. The principal component analysis and Cluster Analysis results showed that the type of stomata, shape and size of epidermal cells, trichomes, the number of epidermal cells and stomata, the shape of stem cross SECT.on, arrangment of xylem elements in peduncle, arrangment of mesophyll in leaf and the number of sclerenchymatous layers are significant to separating species. The pollen grains were spheroid, pantoporate, ornamentation was scabrate-punctate and exine structure was spinulose-punctate.

Astragalus borujenensis Ranjbar & Maassoumi (Fabaceae) is described from Iran and illustrated in line drawings. It belongs in Astragalus SECT. Ammodendron and resembles A. podolobus, from which it differs mainly in its stipe, color and type of pod indumentum and pod arrangement. Seed coat surfaces of A. borujenensis and A. podolobus are displayed in SEM photographs. Also A. filifoliolatus is transferred from A. SECT. Onobrychoidei to A. SECT. Ammodendron.

The series Cousinia SECT. Leptocephalae ser. Chaetocephalae is raised to SECT.onal rank as a comb. nov. It is characterized from the closely related SECT.on Leptocephlae by having solitary heads at the top of stems and branches, sessile stem leaves and yellow corolla. Three species namely Cousinia crassipes, C. attariae and C.chaetocephala are included in the new SECT.on. C. attariae is described as a new species from the mountains near Esfarayen in Khorasan province.