Malesian Euphorbiaceae Newsletter 9

December 1998

Goto on this page:

Progress

Key

Internet

Flora of Thailand Meeting

Flora of Thailand

Airy Shaw's reprints at Kew

Genera and Species to be revised for Flora Malesiana

Revised Genera

Progress

Petra Hoffmann has found a permanent job in Kew as curator of the Euphorbiaceae (and other families) section. She will mainly concentrate on the Euphorbiaceae of Madagascar, but other topics will be a new genus delimitation in the Phyllanthoideae and the revision of Actephila for Flora Malesiana. Presently, she is making the final adjustments to the big Antidesma manuscript.

Wolfgang Stuppy, presently working in Leiden, has also found a permanent position in Kew (seemingly the German invasion of Leiden is moving to Kew), starting in February 1999. He has finished, in collaboration with Peter van Welzen, a phylogenetic analysis of tribe Aleuritideae, which has been accepted by the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. He will try to finish the phylogeny of tribe Acalypheae and to update the revision of Breynia.

Prof. Nguyen Nghia Thin and Vu Hoai Duc’s revision of the genus Strophioblachia (1 species) was published in Blumea.

Christine Barker’s (Kew) manuscript on Margaritaria (2 species, 2 subspecies) will be submitted for publication in Blumea.

Paul Forster (Australia) provided three manuscripts (Choriceras, Fontainea, and Petalostigma). They have been accepted for publication in Blumea.

Dr. T.C. Whitmore (Cambridge) has finished the revision of the Philippine species of Macaranga. He is now concentrating on the Central Malesian species of Sulawesi, the Moluccas, and the Lesser Sunda Islands. Stuart Davies (Kuching) concentrates mainly on the Bornean species, not only their systematic position, but also their ecology.

Sarah Bollendorff (L), a student from Luxembourg, has submitted her revision and phylogeny of section Polyadenii in the genus Mallotus. She recognises eight species, one of which is new. The manuscript will be submitted for publication in Blumea.

Sofia Sevilla (L), an exchange student in the Erasmus programme of the European Union, revising the genera Agrostistachys and Chondrostylis for Flora Malesiana, has interrupted her work for 6 months to do fieldwork on the indicator role of Macaranga and Mallotus species in secondary vegetations in Borneo (supervised by Ferry Slik, see below). She will finish her revision at the beginning of 1999.

Peter van Welzen (L) has started with the revision of Glochidion. He finished the revision of the Thai species (same species recognised as Airy Shaw did, but key improved and descriptions added). The revision of the Malesian species, estimated to be c. 150 will progress per section. Just before he died Airy Shaw more or less finished to make an informal infrageneric classification of Glochidion. This classification will be the basis for the treatment of the Malesian species. A first inventory of two groups showed that several species will have to synonymised or that their delimitations have to be improved. This will probably also effect the Thai treatment.

Ferry Slik (L), revising two sections of Mallotus, is presently doing fieldwork in Kalimantan (Indonesia, Borneo). He is investigating which species of Macaranga and Mallotus may be useful as indicator species for certain types of (disturbed) habitat, especially the different stages in secondary forest are important in his research.

Raoul Haegens has finished the revision of Baccaurea. He is now preparing the phylogenetic analysis of this genus.

Anne Schot (L) is slowly finishing the treatment of Aporosa. She has accepted another job, helping lots of companies cope with the millennium problem, but this has severely delayed the finishing touch to her PhD thesis.

Balu Perumal (WWF Malaysia) has submitted his revision of Blumeodendron. Six species have been recognized, of which B. tokbrai and B. kurzii comprise a few infraspecific taxa.

Key

Maarten Chriztenhusz (U) has been so kind to provide a key to the species of Euphorbia in the Philippines. Please, use his key critically and return remarks which can be used to improve the text.

Maarten J.M. Chriztenhusz.

Herbarium, Systematische Plantkunde, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2,

3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands

Note: Two species have not been included in the key because no herbarium material was present to study the characters:

- Euphorbia luzonensis Merr. is found on Luzon (Ilocos Norte Prov.) on open, dry places at low altitudes.

- Euphorbia makinoi (synonyms E. microphylla, E. neocaledonica) is found in the same habitat and cannot easily be distinguished from the former one. It is also a rare species, present in Formosa and Luzon.

Recently the database with the type specimens of the herbaria in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Leiden, Utrecht, Wageningen: AMD, L, U, WAG) was published on the internet. The project was funded by the Netherlands Science Foundation (NWO). All specimens have been databased, and most specimens have been photographed.

One can visit the site via: http://rulrhb.leidenuniv.nl (or http://132.229.92.132/), then choose ‘Catalogue of type specimens of Dutch Herbaria’ under New. A menu with several choices is presented, the top choice, ‘Search the data base’ is the first option.

Clicking this option will show a form in which one can type the data to be searched for. Fields available are: Family, genus, species, infraspecific name, author, collector, add_coll, prefix+number+suffix, year, country, locality, and vernacular. All fields have help buttons with pick lists. The field add_coll means additional collectors, here one can for instance find the names of the institutional collectors, like for the Sandakan and Sarawak herbaria, the names of the series (e.g., SAN, S, SF, BS, NGF, LAE, etc.) are then placed in the field collector. The field prefix+number+suffix is for the field number of the collector, alpha numerical parts of the numbers have to be placed in prefix and/or suffix, and the numerical part in number. Once the data have been entered press the search button at the base of the screen and, if data are present, a spread sheet with hits is shown. Clicking on one of the hits will reveal the complete data of this record and (if available) a thumb-nail picture of the type. Double clicking the picture will down-load a full screen picture of medium resolution.

The first menu also shows, at the bottom, an option to ask for CD-ROM’s of the data. A full set of data (with thumb-nail pictures) is available on CD-ROM, and on request one can ask for specific data of a taxon. In the latter case a CD-ROM will be manufactured with high resolution photos. N.B. costs for these CD-ROMs have to be paid.

One must be aware that the database shows raw, usually unchecked information, which might and does still contain errors. Please send improvements via email to Thijsse@rulrhb.leidenuniv.nl

Probably in January a new and improved version will be placed on the server. This version will also include the option to see data of normal specimens and not only the type specimens. No photos are available for the normal specimens.

Recently 20,000 records of Euphorbiaceae data have been added, all are Euphorbs present in L. Mind you, this also includes genera which have not been revised yet. The list at the end of this newsletter shows which genera have been revised. Most of these have been added to the database and their identifications are reliable. The 20,000 records are estimated to represent a third of all Euphorbiaceae in Leiden. Databasing the remaining specimens will continue till all have been entered (thus not only the Malesian specimens, but from all over the world), this will also include separate collections like the spirit and carpological collections.

Thus after January 1999 these Euphorbiaceae data can be searched via Internet. Have fun with it.

Flora of Thailand meeting

Every three years a Flora of Thailand meeting is organised. This time the Rijksherbarium in Leiden, the Netherlands, will be the host from 10 - 14 May 1999. The programme is roughly:

Monday 10 May: 14.00-16.00 Registration

16.00- Social drink

Tuesday 11 May: Morning Opening and general lectures

Afternoon Progress in Flora of Thailand studies

Wednesday 12 May Morning Progress in Flora of Thailand studies

Afternoon Computer demonstrations and poster session

Evening Symposium dinner

Thursday 13 May Morning Board meeting

Afternoon Regional flora projects outside Thailand

Friday 14 May Morning Excursion to Keukenhof (Tulip show)

Afternoon Trip to dunes

There is no registration fee. Hotel accommodation is nearby. The herbarium will be open till the early evening hours for those who like to study specimens. Information and registration forms can be obtained from Dr. M.C. Roos (Rijksherbarium, P.O. Box 9514, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands, tel. -31 71 5273524/3500, fax -31 71 5273511, email: roos@rulrhb.leidenuniv.nl).

Flora of Thailand

September 1997 was the start of a three year scheme to revise the Euphorbiaceae for Thailand. It is a Thai funded project and this in spite of the present bad economy! Many collaborators will try to finish this project in time, most of them are Thai. Co-ordinator is Mrs. Dr. Kongkanda Chayamarit (BKF, Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Dep., Bangkok 10900, Thailand, email: kchayama@mozart.inet.co.th).

The main foreign collaborators are Peter van Welzen (L) and Hajo Esser. Hajo will revise Croton, Euphorbia, and Hura. Peter will revise, together with other staff in L, the genera presented below in italics.

Researchers interested to join the project can find the core collections in the following herbaria: AAU (Aarhus, Denmark), BK (Bangkok, Thailand), BKF (Bangkok, Thailand), C (Copenhagen, Denmark), K (Kew, England), KYO (Kyoto, Japan), and L (Leiden, Netherlands).

The following genera have to be revised (in bold: finished; in italics: to be revised by L staff):

Airy Shaw's reprints at Kew

The following reprints of Airy Shaw (and a few others) are still available in Kew. Please contact Christine Barker (Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, TW9 3AE Surrey, England; email: c.barker@lion.rbgkew.org.uk) to send the items of interest to you:

1 x Kew Bulletin Vol 23 (1) 1969 Notes on Malesian and other Asiatic Euphorbiaceae

15 x Kew Bulletin Vol 25 (2) 1971 Studies in Macaranga: IV (with T.C. Whitmore)

3 x Kew Bulletin Vol 26 (1) 1971 New or noteworthy Euphorbiaceae - Ricinocarpoideae from Western Australia

18 x Kew Bulletin Vol 26 (3) 1972 New or noteworthy species of Antidesma: II

50 x Kew Bulletin Vol 27(2) 1972 The identity of the genus Guya

51 x Kew Bulletin Vol 27(2) 1972 Nomenclatural note on Bischofia racemosa

29 x Kew Bulletin Vol 28 (1) 1973 Pottingeria, its Taxonomic Position, Anatomy and Palynology (with D.F. Cutler & S. Nilsson)

40 x Kew Bulletin Vol 28 (2) 1973 New or noteworthy species of Antidesma: III

14 x Kew Bulletin Vol 29 (2) 1974 Notes on Malesian and other Asiatic Euphorbiaceae

39 x Kew Bulletin Vol 32 (1) 1977 Additions and Corrections to the Euphorbiaceae of Siam

9 x Kew Bulletin Vol 32 (2) 1978 Notes on Malesian and other Asiatic Euphorbiaceae

65 x Kew Bulletin Vol 33(1) 1978 New or noteworthy species of Antidesma: IV

10 x Kew Bulletin Vol 33 (1) 1978 Notes on Malesian and other Asiatic Euphorbiaceae

65 x Kew Bulletin Vol 33 (3) 1979 New or noteworthy species of Antidesma: V

46 x Kew Bulletin Vol 33 (3) 1979 Notes on Malesian and other Asiatic Euphorbiaceae

3 x Kew Bulletin Vol 35 (2) 1980 Notes on Euphorbiaceae from Indomalesia, Australia and the Pacific

7 x Kew Bulletin Vol 36 (3) 1981 New species of Antidesma from Malesia and Australia

15 x Kew Bulletin Vol 37 (1) 1982 An undescribed Trigonostemon from Assam

10 x Kew Bulletin Vol 37 (3) 1982 New Euphorbiaceae from Sumatra, New Guinea, Australia and New Caledonia

8 x Kew Bulletin Vol 38 (1) 1983 New combinations in Philippine Euphorbiaceae

1 x Kew Bulletin Vol 39 (4) 1984 A note on the (presumed) female plant of Sphyranthera lutescens in the Nicobar Islands

10 x FM Jarrett, Studies in Artocarpus and Allied genera III

J. Arnold Arb. Vol XL (1) (2) and (3) (1959)

16 x FM Jarrett, Studies in Artocarpus and Allied genera IV

J. Arnold Arb. Vol XLI (1) and (2) (1960)