Progress

Two small genera have been completed in the mean time, Chaetocarpus and Neoscortechinia. Especially the genus Neoscortechinia was difficult, the differences between the species are very small. Six species have been recognized, most of them are wide-spread in W Malesia. One variety will be raised to specific rank, this species occurs locally in NE Borneo. Another very wide-spread species will be split up into two, a W Malesian species and an E Malesian species (New Guinea and the Solomon Islands). The revision, which includes a phylogenetic analysis with Cheilosa montana as outgroup, will probably be published in the next issue of Blumea. Therefore, no names are presented here, otherwise the new combinations will have been made in this obscure 'journal'.

The genus Chaetocarpus, a pantropical genus, is only represented with one species in Malesia, Ch. castanocarpus (Roxb.) Thwaites (India to W Malesia). Two more species can be found in Sri Lanka (Ceylon). One of them, Ch. pubescens (Thwaites) Hook.f., resembles a specimen collected in Irian Jaya (W New Guinea). The latter specimen was sterile except for some fruit remnants in an attached paper bag. No taxonomic status has been given to this specimen. (Unfortunately, Irian Jaya is still a major undercollected area, but presently, two projects have started in the Bird's head of New Guinea, which might reveal more and better specimens.) The revision will probably be published in the Indian journal Rheedea. Ch. castanocarpus, although vegetatively not very attractive, has very special, beautiful fruits (stinging hairs) and flowers (stamens united in an androphore; stigma papillae dendritic).

Two weeks ago I received a letter from Prof. Nguyen Nghia Thin, that he has finished the revision of the genera Lasiococca and Strophioblachia. As soon as I have received his manuscripts extra attention will be given to his results. Hopefully, this might already be in the next issue of the newsletter.

New Collaborators

In the former newsletter the grants of the European Community were already mentioned. Two postdoctoral fellowships within the 'Botanical Diversity of the Indo-Pacific region Human Capital and Mobility Programme' have been assigned to the revision of Euphorbiaceae. Mrs. Petra Hoffmann will start with the genus Antidesma in Kew, England, for the next two years and Stefan Dressler will work on the genera Bridelia and Cleistanthus in Leiden, The Netherlands. They are both from the Humboldt University in Berlin and they will start their new jobs on September, 1st. Petra Hoffmann will, after having finished Antidesma, finish the revision of Actephila.

Two more M.Sc. students in Bogor, Indonesia, have started a revision of Euphorbiaceae genera. Mrs. Musayyinah and Mrs. Endah Woro Wiryani will work on the genera Koilodepas and Codiaeum respectively. Their supervision, just like with the other three M.Sc. students, will be in the experienced hands of Dedy Darnaedi, Johanis Mogea, Mien Rifai, Rugayah, and Elisabeth Widjaja.

In Leiden we have also started the application procedure for a Ph.D. fellowship within the 'Pathways from Asia to New Guinea' programme of the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO). This Ph.D. fellowship will include the revision of Baccaurea. After the revision a phylogenetic analysis will follow and the resulting data will be combined with those of the two other Ph.D. students in the programme working on insects. Finally, a historical biogeographic analysis will have to show, which geographical patterns are involved in distributions from SE Asia to New Guinea.

Flora Malesiana Symposium

The third Flora Malesiana Symposium will held from 10-14 July in Kew, England. Last week the second and final circular has been published, which includes the registration forms and the abstract forms. Copies can be obtained from the secretary of organising committee, Mr. B.J. Blewett (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE, United Kingdom).

The circular also contains information for those seeking funds for their participation. The circular urges everybody to apply for grants in their own country, but three British organisations might also be helpful in providing special grants. The Kew herbarium can assist in writing invitation letters.

Programme:

Registration will be on Sunday, 9 July (followed by a dinner at St. Mary's University College), which will be continued on Monday morning.

On Monday the opening will be followed by a lecture of a/the keynote speaker and the current state of Flora Malesiana. In the afternoon there will be workshops and contributed papers.

Tuesday will start with phytogeography and cladistic studies, followed again in the afternoon by workshops and contributed papers.

On Wednesday local flora projects will present themselves and a poster session will be held. At the end of the afternoon there will be short excursions and the Flora Malesiana Board Meeting.

Monographs and biological papers will be presented on Thursday morning, while in the afternoon there will be a Computer applications workshop and contributed papers. The special Symposium Dinner, with an after dinner speech by Dr. Whitmore, will be in the evening.

Finally, on Friday, papers on ethnobotany, conservation, and ecology will be followed by summaries of the workshops and the closure of the symposium.

For those interested, the week after the Flora Malesiana Symposium, the Holttum Memorial Pteridophyte Symposium will be organised in Kew and for those staying over from the FM III a special excursion is organised on Sunday.

Papers and Posters

Everybody who likes to contribute a paper or a poster (display boards of 2 by 1 m are available) should send an outline for consideration to the Scientific Programme coordinator, Mr. M.J.E. Coode (address see above). A special committee 'will select and advise authors whether their presentations have been designated papers or posters'.

Herbarium visit

Those people who like to visit the Kew herbarium should, at least one month in advance, contact Mr. B.J. Blewett (address see above), and those who like to visit the Natural History Museum (BM) should contact the Keeper, Dep. of Botany, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, U.K. Many visitors are expected and special arrangements have to be made to facilitate all wishes as much as possible.

I like to draw your special attention to the workshops on large and complex families. I like to organise a Euphorbiaceae workshop on Monday or Tuesday afternoon. The workshops will take 2 hours, from 14.00--16.00 h. If possible, while further suggestions are welcome, I like to cover 5 topics during the workshop:

- Delimitation of infrafamily taxa, genera and species

- Characters

- Geographical patterns

- Local flora projects

- Computer aid

The last two topics will also be covered in special sessions or workshops, but it will be worthwhile to discuss our participation in local flora projects (Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak, Flora of Brunei, Flora of the Philippines, Flora of Thailand, etc.) and our use of special software (DELTA, ETI, etc.). I am planning to organise a demonstration of the ETI (Expert Center for Taxonomic Identification; see also the next newsletter) during the symposium and of our own database project LBASE, while there might be a special DELTA workshop. Especially, the DELTA and ETI software (free obtainable) will be very handy in subtracting data for local floras, if all of these floras more or less contain the same format.

The first two topics might be a bit outdated after the publication of the Missouri proceedings. However, (hopefully) many researchers will join the symposium who were absent in St. Louis and we might discuss the region specific problems, e.g. the delimitation between Cheilosa and Neoscortechinia, between Baccaurea and Aporosa, etc. Also, a discussion of the use of special character sets (e.g., stigma structures, DNA sequences) might be an important topic.

A discussion of biogeographical patterns might help to interpret variation, which will be useful especially for those not familiar with the Malesian region.

I would like to see different chairpersons for the various topics. And I like to invite you to join the symposium and especially the workshop and to volunteer yourself as a possible chairperson. Perhaps I can already stimulate potential candidates:

Delimitation: Grady Webster?

Special characters: Max van Balgooy, Kochummen, Anne Schot, Wurdack?

Geographical patterns: Max van Balgooy, Tim Whitmore, myself?

Local flora projects: Lolita Bulalaco, Kochummen, Enki Soepadmo?

Computer aid: Jeremy Bruhl, myself?

Registration

Join the symposium and register before 28th February 1995, otherwise you are charged extra. The symposium costs are £ 90.00 for full members (£ 40 for students, and £ 50 for accompanying persons), a stay in the St. Mary's University College ranges between £ 33.70 and £ 38.50 per night (including dinner and breakfast), the symposium dinner is £ 30 per person and the Wednesday excursion is £ 15 or £ 20 per person.

Changes in Malesian Euphorbiaceae Genus list

Due to Grady Webster's overview of the genera of Euphorbiaceae several changes have to be made in the list with the Malesian genera. These changes are made in the list below and typed in bold.

The genus Chorisandrachne has been added to Leptopus.

The genus Coccoceras has been added (split of from Mallotus, delimitation uncertain).

The genus Deutzianthus (including the genus Loerzingia) has been added.

Homalanthus has become Omalanthus (already indicated by Esser).

Octospermum has been added.

Plukenetia is added with the genus Pterococcus in its synonymy. Armbruster and Gillespie have likewise been moved as collaberators for Pterococcus.

The Malagasian genus Securinega has been excluded from the list; it has often been confused with Flueggea..

The genus Symphyllea has been included in the list, but it might be a synonym of Epiprinus..

The genus Synostemon has been removed as synonym of Sauropus.

Genera and Species to be revised

The following list shows the Malesian Euphorbiaceae genera in alphabetical order, the number of species estimated world-wide, estimated within Malesia, presence world-wide, and the contributor. This list is the updated version from the second newsletter

Additions and Changes in the mailing list