As a subset study to discover indigenous prokaryotic species in Korea in 2014, a total of 34 bacterial strains assigned to the phylum Actinobacteria were isolated from various environmental samples collected from activate sludge, biotite, freshwater, gut of marine organisms, mud flat, sediment, soil, spent mushroom compost and sea water. On the basis of high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and a tight phylogenetic association with the closest species, it was revealed that each strain was assigned to independent and previously described bacterial species, with the exception of one isolate. There is no official report that these 34 species included in the phylum Actinobacteria have been described in Korea: 6 species of 5 genera in the order Corynebacteriales, 1 species of 1 genus in the order Frankiales, 2 species of 2 genera in the Micromonosporales, 14 species of 10 genera in Micrococcales, 2 species of 2 genera in the Propionibacteriales, 1 species of 1 genus in the Pseudonocardiales, 4 species of 2 genera in the Streptomycetales, 2 species of 2 genera in the Streptosporangiales and 1 species of 1 genus in the Solirubrobacterales. Gram reaction, cell and colony morphology, pigmentation, physiological characteristics, isolation sources and strain IDs are described in the section of species description.

During the extensive survey of the prokaryotic species diversity in Korea, bacterial strains belonging to Betaproteobacteria and Epsilonproteobacteria were isolated from various sources including freshwater, sediment, soil and fish. A total of 23 isolates were obtained, among which 22 strains were assigned to the class Betaproteobacteria and one strain to the class Epsilonproteobacteria. The 22 betaproteobacterial strains were further assigned to Comamonadaceae (11 strains), Burkholderiaceae (6 strains), Oxalobacteraceae (2 strains), Neisseriaceae (1 strain) and unclassified family groups (2 strains). For the strains of Burkholderiaceae, 3 strains were identified as 3 species of Burkholderia, and 2 strains were as 2 species of Cupriavidus. For the strains of Comamonadaceae, 4 strains were identified as 2 species of the genus Hydrogenophaga, 2 strains as 2 species of Acidovorax, 2 strains as 2 species of Limnohabitans, and each of the remaining strains as single species of Comamonas, Curvibacter and Rhodoferax, respectively. For the strains of Oxalobacteraceae, 1 strain was identified as a species of Undibacterium, and the other strain as a species of Herbaspirillum. The strain belonging to Neisseriaceae was identified as a species of Iodobacter. The remaining strains of Betaproteobacteria were identified as species of Sphaerotilus and Methylibium respectively (family unassigned). The epsilonproteobacterial strain was identified as a species of Arcobacter of the family Camplyobacteraceae. The detailed description of each unrecorded species is provided.

As a subset study for the collection of Korean indigenous prokaryotic species, 62 bacterial strains belonging to the phylum Actinobacteria were isolated from various sources. Each strain showed higher 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>98.75%) and formed a robust phylogenetic clade with closest species of the phylum Actinobacteria which were defined with valid names, already. There is no official description on these 62 actinobacterial species in Korea. Consequently, unrecorded 62 species of 25 genera in the 14 families belonging to the order Actinomycetales of the phylum Actinobacteria were found in Korea. Morphological properties, basic biochemical characteristics, isolation source and strain IDs are described in the species descriptions.

Coccoid green algae collected from March to November 2015 from 79 freshwater ecosystem sites throughout South Korea, including lakes, ponds, swamps, streams, and rivers, were identified using light microscopy. A total of 218 taxa were identified, among which 11 were new species records in Korea; these 11 species were found at four sites (Hanagang River, Chukdong reservoir, Chukdong fishery, and Deokjin reservoir). The new species recorded were Fotterella tetrachlorelloides, Trochiscia naumannii, Keriochlamys styriaca, Placosphaera opaca, Siderocystopsis fusca, Siderocelis oblonga, Siderocelis estheriana, Pachycladella umbrina, Pachycladella zatoriensis, Crucigenia mucronata and Scenedesmus sempervirens.

Wangsania, a new genus of Apiaceae from limestone areas and typified by W. insolens (Kitagawa) B.Y. Lee & J.O. Hyun, is described from Gangwon-do, Korea. Wangsania insolens was initially treated as Peucedanum insolens Kitagawa due to similarity with Peucedaunm cervaria, but it differs markedly in its unique morphological characters, such as rarely branched roots and a single basal leaf with 3 or -4 ternately dissected leaflets. These characters apparently represent apomorphies for Wangsania. The parsimony analysis of nuclaer ribosomal DNA ITS sequences revealed Wangsania to be not closely related to either Peucedanum or to any of 14 different tribes or clades within subfamily Apioideae.

Southwest Primorye is located in the southern most part of the Russian Far East. The flora of this area is one of the most thoroughly studied and contains 1,530 species of vascular plants, belonging to 622 genera and 154 families, representing 55.6% of the flora of the Primorsky Territory. The flora native to Southwest Primorye encompasses 1,356 species from 547 genera and 148 families. Adventitious plants are represented by 174 species from 127 genera and 37 families. Among other areas of the Russian Far East, only Southwest Primorye has flora in common with the Korean Peninsula, which contains plant species in the subtropical and tropical latitudes: Mitrasacme indica Wight, Halosciastrum melanotilingia [Boissieu] M. Pimen. et V. Tichomirov, Streptolirion volubile Edgew., Lipocarpha microcephala [R. Br.] Kunth, Pueraria lobata [Willd.] Ohwi, Belamcanda chinensis [L.] DC., Zoysia japonica Steud., Deinostema violacea [Maxim.] Yamazaki and Parthenocissus tricuspidata [Siebold et Zucc.] Planch. Most of the flora is represented by the species restricted to Southwest Primorye (seven endemic species) or the Korean Peninsula (seven hemiendemic species). A total of 50.2% of the 10 largest families are nemoral (preboreal) floras, located in the transitional zone of the boreal and nemoral floras. In terms of the structure of the ranked taxonomic spectrum of the largest families, the flora of Southwest Primorye is more similar to that of Northeast China with influence of the Korean flora.

We investigated the effects of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and culture medium on embryo swelling and germination of Calanthe discolor Lindl., and established a method for determining the swelling and protocorm formation of C. discolor seeds via in vitro examination of immature seeds. Treatment of immature seeds with NaOCl greatly enhanced the extent of embryo swelling and protocorm formation of immature zygote embryos compared to seeds without NaOCl treatment. The effects of the culture media were also evaluated with regard to embryo swelling and protocorm formation of in vitro cultured seeds with and without NaOCl treatment. Additionally, the effects of white fluorescent light and red and blue LEDs lights on seedling growth in in vitro culture were examined. The most suitable condition for seedling growth after 12 weeks of culture was the red LEDs light with POM medium. These results show effective asymbiotic germination and growth of C. discolor.

Aster altaicus var. uchiyamae Kitam. is an endemic taxon of Korea and is protected by law as an endanger taxon. The genetic information of A. altaicus var. uchiyamae is unavailable in Genbank. Here we sequenced chloroplast genome of A. altaicus var. uchiyamae. The cp-genome of Aster altaicus var. uchiyamae was 152,446 bps in size: LSC was 84,240 bps, IR 25,005 bps, SSC 18,196 bps. The cp-genome contains 112 genes and 21 introns consisted of 79 protein coding genes(PCGs), 4 RNA genes, and 29 tRNA genes, with 20 group II introns and one group I intron. There were three pseudo-genes including ${\psi}$-ycf1, ${\psi}$-rps19, and ${\psi}$-trnT_GGU. Eighteen genes, five introns, and parts of two genes and an intron are found within the IR, which has two copies. The cp-DNA of Aster altaicus var. uchiyamae is distinguished from A. spathulifolius, only known cp-genome of the genus Aster, by 172 SNP in genic regions of 43 PCGs and 21 indels in 11 PCGs and SSU. The chloroplast genome sequence was deposited at GenBank (KX35265).