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An illustrated description of Nastus reholttumianus S. Soenarko is presented and this new species is compared with N. rudimentifer Holtt. and N. obtosus Holtt.

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Plants with leaves of iridescent blue and green colour are common in the deep shade of Malaysian rain-forests. Simple anatomical observations have revealed that the green iridescence is due to the refraction of diffuse light onto specially-oriented chloroplasts by lense-shaped cells. Blue iridescence colour is due to the operation of thin film interference filters in or on the epidermis. The advantage of such a filter in forest shade plants is the effective absorption of red wavelengths of light at the expense of the reflection of less important blue wavelengths. This report documents iridescence in the leaves of many unstudied taxa (mainly pteridophytes), common in Malaysian rain-forests.

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The various habitats on the peak of Ulu Kali and in the surrounding area, the Genting Highlands, are described. Some one hundred species and varieties of ferns found between 5,000 feet and the summit are listed.

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The genus Humata Cav., of Davalliaceous affinity, is a typically tropical East Asian group of ferns, extending with a few outlying species to Madagascar in the West, Japan in the North and far into the Pacific to the East, but having its centre of distribution in Malesia. Thus, several species of Humata occur in Malaya-proper and the reader may be referred to the account of the genus in Holttum's well-known book on the ferns of Malaya (1954). Holttum remarks on the difficulty of specific delimitation in the genus generally, caused by plasticity and variability, also to be observed, by the way, in other genera of the same relationship, like Davallia, Scyphularia, etc. In fact, Holttum suggests in the elaborate observations he makes under the specific descriptions that several species described from adjacent regions are doubtfully distinct from the Malayan Humatae recognized by him. But in the case of Humata pectinata (J. E. Smith) Desv., additional comment is limited to a short note on its ecology. Still, a long history is attached to the name Humata pectinata, also as to how it should be interpreted and it may therefore be interesting to follow the vicissitudes of the specific concept that have been attached to this name.

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The evaluated taxonomic features of Meringium and the 'genera' allied to this are revised from the standpoint of comparative morphology. The features observed in detail are denticulation, hairs, internal cell walls, and sorus. Based on the observation of these features, the systems given by Copeland and Morton are critically discussed by the author who proposes several amendments for their systems, such as: Hymenophyllum s.str. is distinguished from Meringium only by the soral construction and Mecodium by the hairs and sorus; Hemicyatheon is identical with Meringium and H. levingei is better segregated from Hymenophyllum s.str.

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Two closely related rattan palms, Calamus caesius and C. trachycoleus are shown to have remarkably different habits; the silvicultural significance of the difference in habit is discussed.

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Part of the spore output of some ferns is shed in groups of spores, sometimes still contained within the sporangium. It is theorized that spore sculpture, particularly a distinct, strongly sculptured perispore, plays a part in keeping, or bringing, spores together. This is important for increasing the chance for intergametophytic fertilization. The want of a pronounced spore sculpture in most epiphytic ferns and the strongly sculptured spores of heterosporous pteridophytes are brought in connexion with the phenomenon, tentatively called synaptospory.

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Spore morphology of 28 species belonging to 28 genera included by Holttum (1954) in the Dennstaedtiaceae are described. Amongst the Malaysian taxa there are at least seven distinct spore-types. The disposition of the Malaysian genera in these spore-types does not conform with any of the existing systems of classification. Only spores of those genera assigned by Holttum in the subfamilies Davallioideae, Dryopteridoideae and Tectarioideae show some degree of uniformity.

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The species of Aralia in South-east Asia and the adjacent islands have been subject to considerable misunderstanding. The present account takes a broad view of specific limits, following along lines originally proposed by van Steenis (Bull. Bot. Gard. Buitenz. ser. 3, 17 (1948) 391).

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The monolete bilateral spores of three genera of ferns belonging to the Oleandraceae (Oleandra, Nephrolepis and Arthropteris) were examined by scanning electron microscope. It is found that the spores of Oleandra are characterized by a large folded perine, and densely echinate exine bearing pointed spines or blunt supporting rods. Arthropteris possesses spores with those of Oleandra, this genus may well be included in the family Oleandraceae. Spores of Nephrolepis, on the other hand, being characterized by insulate or verrucose perines, thus resemble more closely those of the Davalliaceae, the closest relative of Nephrolepis. However, many of its morphological and anatomical characteristics are so distinctive and unique that it clearly constitutes a natural group by itself, and should, as proposed by Ponce de Leon (1953), be treated as the only member of an independent family, the Nephrolepidaceae.

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Saurauia tristyla has been erroneously recorded from Malaya; the correct placement of these records is discussed. S. roxburghii Wall, and S. napaulensis DC. are new records for the area. S. pentapetala (Jack) Hoogl., is proposed as a new combination, with basionym Ternstroemia pentapetala Jack. Three new species are described: S. fragrans Hoogl., S. mahmudii Hoogl., and S. malayana Hoogl. S. cauliflora var. calycina King is placed in synonymy under S. leprosa Korth., and S. grandis Ridl. in synonymy under S. vulcani Korth. The altitudinal distribution of the 10 species found in Malaya is discussed.

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This taxonomic treatment, revising all the Ceylonese taxa of the Cyperaceae tribe Cypereae, enumerates 59 species of four genera, Cyperus, Pycreus, Mariscus and Kyllinga. The following new names are proposed: Cyperus compressus ssp. micranthus, C. diffusus ssp. macrostachyus, C. nutans ssp. eleusinoides, Pycreus flavidus, P. pumilus ssp. membranaceus, Mariscus cyperinus ssp. laxatus, M. pedunculatus, M. sumatrensis, and Kyllinga odorata ssp. cylindrica.

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Limestone habitats, chiefly karst towers, in the Malayan Peninsula, support a rich flora of about 1216 species of vascular plants, in 582 genera and 124 families. Phanerogam families total 119, representing 61.6% of the total number of phanerogam families recorded for the whole Malayan flora; only 72 families are not represented on limestone, and these are mostly aquatics or small rare groups. Specific endemism among the limestone plants is 21.4% (261 species), and of these 10.7% (130 species) are found only on limestone. There are 335 species "characteristic" of the limestone flora, and 254 of these (20.8%) are restricted to limestone. The limestone vegetation is described and classified into "types" and secondary vegetation and succession is discussed. Pioneer species on limestone include those found on other disturbed terrestrial habitats in Malaya. Some plants found on limestone are found elsewhere in Malaya only at significantly higher elevations. A discussion of the geological origin and distribution of the Malayan limestone areas is also included.

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A key to the thirteen recognized Philippine species of Dryopteris is presented, with descriptions of two new species, D. uropinna and D. permagna, and four species not hitherto reported as Philippine: D. chrysocoma, D. pulvinulifera, D. polita, and D. formosana. Ctenitis mearnsii is reduced to Nothoperanema hendersonii.

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Two genera are reduced to synonymy, Wardenia King to Brassaiopsis Decne. & Planch., and Acanthophora Merr. to Aralia L. Critical notes on some other genera, some new combinations, and two new species, Brassaiopsis minor and Schefflera singularis, are published. A brief growth analysis of Arthrophyllum diversifolium sensu King is presented.

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Over the past twenty-five years intensive plant collecting has shown two species of Botrychium (B. lanuginosum Wall, ex Hook. & Grev. and B. australe R. Br.) to be present in eastern New Guinea, the former hitherto confined to Central—S.E. Asia and reaching to the Central Himalaya and the latter Australasian with a possible representive in S. America.  A further species, B. daucifotium Wall. ex Hook. & Grev., is distributed from Sri Lanka (Ceylon) to the Philippines and Sulawesi (Celebes) with questionable outlying records in Fiji and Samoa, reaching S. China in the North, and replaced by a taxon of doubtful specific identity in Japan (B. japonicum (Prantl) Underw.). B. lanuginosum was found in large quantities in the kunai grasslands at 1600 m in the Finisterre Mountains of E. New Guinea and material fixed in the field has proved to be octoploid n = 180) and also hexaploid, suggesting the tetraploid cytotype recorded by other workers in India and Sri Lanka may also be present in New Guinea.

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Corner's septuagenary fell on 12 January, 1976.  It was the intention of a number of his research students and friends to develop an idea mooted by David Frodin into a little book to mark the occasion.  However, ' The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley, And lea'e us nought but grief an' pain For promised joy.' (Robert Burns : To a mouse, 1785.)  Very considerable difficulties have arisen over the preparation and publication, so that only now, by the courtesy of the Editor of the Gardens' Bulletin, Singapore does it appear - in retrospect, but, nevertheless, in a token of our esteem.

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The Durian Theory (Corner 1949-1964) is on a base of comparative morphology, yet provides insight on the ecology and evolution of tropical forest.  The hypothetical angiosperm archetype that is reduced from it no longer exists; from ecological theory though we may speculate why this is so, and may deduce the conditions in which these plants evolved.  What ecological bonuses and limitations does each of the primitive characteristics impose?

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Durio zibethinus Murr. or the common durian is a fruit-tree species widely cultivated in villages or orchards or a semi-wild plant found growing around aborigines' settlements in Peninsular Malaysia. The species is generally considered by botanists as a native tree in Borneo and Sumatra, though currently it is commonly planted throughout South East Asia, extending from the south-eastern parts of India to New Guinea. In Peninsular Malaysia the flowering is seasonal and normally falls during the months of March-April and September-October, though accessory flowering may take place in between.  Development of flowers takes about five to seven weeks and the flowering lasts for about three weeks. Floral parts develop arcopetally and the epicalyx, calyx, corolla and stamens fall off soon after anthesis. Floral anthesis is initiated at about 16.00 hrs. and completed by about 20.00 hrs.  Pollination is carried out by nectarivorous bats (Eonycteris spelaea) and by an unidentified noctuid moth, and takes place between 20.00 and 01.00 hrs. Pollen grains are more or less spherical, 80-150 u in diameter, 3 - 4 or rarely 6-porate, with a smooth but sticky exine ; kept under room temperature they remain viable for about 48 hrs. The flower is self-compatible, though the percentage of successful fertilisation and production of fruit reaching maturity increase if the flowers are crossed. The anthers though initially tetrasporangiate become bisporangiate at maturity. Wall development conforms with the basic type. Before anthesis the epidermis is made up of more or less rectangular and isodiametric cells, but towards anthesis these cells become papillate and filled with tannin, and eventually shed off from the anther wall.  The endothecial cells become fibrous and both the middle layers and the tapetal layer are crushed and disappear, leaving the endothecium the only wall enclosing the pollen grains.  Cytokinensis of microspore mother cells is simultaneous and gives rise to tetrahedral tetrads.  Anther dehiscense is through a longitudinal slit caused by the breakdown of the wall at the meeting point of the anther lobes.  Pollen grains are binucleate at the time of shedding.  The ovule is anatropous, bitegmic and crassinucellate.  The micropyle is formed by both integuments.  Embryo-sac development conforms with the Polygonum-type.  Antipodal cells are ephemeral.  The seed is arillate and its mode of germination is epigeal and takes place within three days after sowing in garden soil.  Seed viability can be prolonged up to 32 days ( 90% germination ) if the seeds are surface-sterilised, kept in an air-tight container and placed under 20°C.

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The unique compound fruit or syncarp of Artocarpus is a fascinating object of study, both for its basic morphology and for its structural and functional diversity. The opportunity that was given to me as a student of Professor Corner to continue his studies on Artocarpus and carry out a revision of the genus (Jarrett 1959a, 1959b, 1960) is one that I shall always appreciate. In honouring him in this volume it may be of value to provide a general consideration of the syncarp, drawing together facts that became somewhat scattered in my monograph. The insights into both its internal structure and its biological significance originated with Professor Corner.  The revisionary work extended knowledge of the syncarp structure to nearly all species of the genus and made it posible to place the variations observed in a more detailed taxonomic framework.

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The morphological, anatomical and biogeographical implications of the apparently primitive nature of the forest pachycaul form in Senecio and Lobelia are discussed. The preadaptation of high altitude swamp pachycaul forms for temperate rhizomatous vegetation and the adaptations of hyperpachycaul forms to the conditions of the tropical alpine belt are stressed.

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The growth-form of the geoxylic suffrutex, which has massive, woody, underground axes but only annual or short-lived shoots above ground is described. The species considered are all related to large forest or woodland trees or lianes and occur in genera with no herbaceous members.  They are confined to tropical and subtropical savanna regions.  Their distribution and ecology are considered.  Geoxylic suffrutices are most diversified in Africa, where they have independently evolved in 31 families. Very few occur in the Sudanian Region and they are rare there. Most are endemic to the climatically similar Zambezian Region, where they are centred on the Kalahari Sands which cover much of the upper Zambezi basin and its periphery. Arguments are developed which suggest that the growth form of the geoxylic suffrutex has evolved, not primarily in response to fire, not to frost, as has been previously supposed, but as a response to the unfavourable edaphic conditions provided by extremely oligotrophic, seasonally waterlogged sandy soils in a region of extremely low relief.

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Concise summaries of views on the herbaceous plants of rain-forest have been given by Richards (1952, pp. 96-102) and by Walter (1971, pp. 118-122). The present notes are an attempt to expand the subject a little further, by recording some observations on the growth patterns of dicotyledons herbs and emphasising the contrasts both with monocotyledons and with temperate forest dicotyledons. At present the relation between structural features of the leaves and physiological function is, in general, rather uncertain, and is not the field for a taxonomist to enter. Nevertheless I have ventured a few remarks, if only as a reminder of the questions a field-botanist wants to ask. These notes are inevitably limited by my personal experience, which wholly excludes the New World and is derived largely from collecting trips in Sarawak.

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The ombrophilous predominantly evergreen lowland forests parts of Sarawak and Amazonia grow on very similar geologic formations, on similar soils and in a similar climate. The one author enumerate very intensively the phytomass structure on a 0.2 ha rectangular plot, 64 km from Manaus on the Itacoatiara road (Klinge and Rodrigues, 1971, 1973; Fittkau and Klinge, 1973; Klinge, 1972, 1973a; Klinge et al., 1973). The other author enumerated similarly, except without weighing phytomass, 55 rectangular 0.2 ha plots on a wide range of sites in Sarawak and Brunei, two 20 ha full enumerations on podzol soils on Tertiary and Quarternary parent materials respectively and a 0.04 ha plots random sampling of 60 plots on a Holocene terrace (Brunig, 1968, 1970, 1974). The purpose of the Amazonian project was the analysis of phytomass structure, of the Bornean study the analysis of diversity within and between stands and of the diversity / site interrelationship (Ashton and Brunig, 1975; Brunig, 1973a, b).  General information on forest types, flora, and ecological conditions in the Amazonian area is given by Duke and Black (1953), and by Hueck (1966), in the Bornean area by Ashton (1964), Richards (1974) and Brunig (1975).  In this paper the term 'Central Amazonia' and 'Central Amazonian rain forest'  are used according to Fittkau (1969) who defines 'Central Amazonia' as a geochemical-ecological unit which is clearly distinguished from other parts of Amazonia.

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It is argued that after 'decisions' were made in the early stages about the basic matrix of plant life later evolution followed in an autonomous way, not as a consequence of the competition / selection principle.  Evolution of plants is characterized by their passive tolerance and lack of active aggression.  Their main struggle is to evolve against the environment ; mutual competition is no agency for their evolution.  Animal evolution has, besides this same struggle, a second impetus by competition.  Under this dual pressure animal evolution is proceeding more rapidly and form-making is more abundant, and has led to more complicated specialized structural and behavioural development than in plants because of sexual selection, which is absent in plants.  Competition and survival of plants is more passive and mainly directed against the inanimate environment.  This tolerance led to a slower and conservative evolution. The survival level, which tops all requiements necessary for survival for a certain place and time, lies much lower in plants than in animals and allows for plants a greater free space ('patio ludens') for structural development of non-adaptive characters, which fall beyond competition, selection, and adaptation.  This free space in animal development is generally considered to be very narrow.  So-called 'pre-adaptations' in plants have not come into existence because of competition pressure, and is a misleading term in evolutionary sense.  In early differentiation structural decisions for later phyla may well have been made by chance, or these characters may have had in those early stages a lower 'genetical weight' that they got during later establishment.  In plants, the usual way of evolving evolutionary development is through sudden (saltatory) change which is amongst others proved by preponderance of allopolyploid and aneuploid chromosome numbers.  The saltatory evolution proceeded through a small number of specimens.  Saltatory development may also have occured through sudden change of a few genes which physiologically upset pathways to morphogenesis, partly through neoteny and gave rise to systematical teratologies, and thus to creation of isolated taxa.  Racial segregation may have led to new species but in plants only in exceptional cases (in long isolation) : the term micro-evolution used for this development should be abandoned for plants.  It seems not possible as yet to translate structural changes in genetical terms and define the constancy in genetical weight of genome structure, though there must be a considerable genetical difference between characters common to phyla and those common to families, genera and species.  It is peculiar that by a sudden saltation of a 'physiological gene' a very constant structure may be upset, for example by a peloric form in an orchid.  In animals on the other hand 'gliding evolution' by gradual accumulation seems to be the usual way of development.  This is attributed to competition and sexual selection, and it goes by populations, through convivia, commiscua and comparia.  Mutations irrelevant to divergent survival may be possible but they will play a minor role, as patio ludens is for animals a very narrow measure.  Saltations, if they occur, must be quite exceptional.  Co-evolution of plants and animals is usually a one-sided affair, in which changes in plant structure occur first, and adaptation by animals follows.  Except for negligible exceptions plant evolution goes independent of animal evolution in an autonomous way ; novelties arising in plants are exploited by animals for their evolution and specialization.  This does not include that in a restricted number of cases plants got into a situation where animal action became a vital factor for their survival, as in orchids and figs.  In these cases animal population have forced their way of gliding evolution on that of plants, but even in these cases changes of plant structure do not arise perforce of competition among the plants themselves.  Their changed remain autonomous, it is the animals which adapt themselves.  It is argued that, whereas in the gliding, divergent evolution of animals there will be hardly any chance of reticulate phylogeny, though there will be of course reticulate affinity.  In plants, however, it has been shown that reticulate phylogeny has played an important role in their evolution.  Finally attention is given to the basic difference between animals and plants in their embryological and ontogenetical development which must have had essential implications for their evolution.

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More than 500 species of Pandanus are now known, and 70% of these have been described since 1900, nearly half since 1939, and new ones are being discovered.  Many obstacles have prevented the completion of a monograph (dioecism, large structures, remote locales) but perhaps the most serious has been ignorance of morphology and morphogenesis.  Studies of these are thus critical importance.  Micromorphological-anatomical data and cytotaxonomic data have recently become available, permitting data integration not previously possible.  This has resulted in a new detailed infrageneric classification which can contribute to understanding of the phylogeny.  This classification recognizes 8 subgenera, 62 sections, and 22 subsections covering 468 species and numerous synonyms.  Chromosome numbers are 2n = 60 (1 species of Pandanus, P. spiralis R. Br., has 2n = c. 120).  Remarkable stomate variability is tied almost exclusively to systematic relationship.

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In preparing a systematic account of the Malayan Theaceae for volume 3 of the Tree Flora of Malaya, I came across an obviously undescribed species of Ternstroemia from southern Johore.  It is represented by several specimens collected by Professor E. J. H. Corner and others, all deposited at the Herbarium of the Botanic Gardnes, Singapore, of which one (Corner SFN 27840) was sent to Kew as early as 1935 for identification and returned with an annotation sheet stating that it was "Not matched in Kew", signed by Mr. Fisher in 1936.  Its large, obovate or oblanceolate leaves and ellipsoid fruits with a pointed apex are so characteristic that it can be readily differentiated from other large-fruited Ternstroemia species of Malaya and indeed those of the rest of the Malaysian region.  The new species, dedicated to Professor Corner, is described below.

Abstract:
Following the revised scheme of genera in the Family Thelypteridaceae proposed by the author in 1971, a revised account is here given of the genera Macrothelypteris, Pseudophegopteris and Metathelypteris in Malaya; these three genera, together with Phegopteris (sensu Ching 1963) appear to form a natural group.  Some corrections to the nomencalture of the author's book Ferns of Malaya (1955) are made, with revised decriptions where necessary, and the addition of two species Metathelpteris decipiens (Clarke) Ching and M. flaccida (Bl.)Ching, not previously recorded for Malaya.

Abstract:
The authors describe a new species of pore-bearing Tremellales : Aporium hexagonoides, and discuss a collection of a species closely related to A. dimidiatum David.

Abstract:
Boletus cornalinus, originating from Gabon, is a Xerocomus entirely spotted with the same purple rose colour that characterizes its pores, with the flesh and tubes being incarnate.  Spores yellowish brown, finely ornamented; ornamentation irregularly and densely foveolated to verrucosse-cristulate.  Related to other Boletes, especially of subgenera Phylloporus and Xerocomus where some species exhibit non-smooth spores.  Its remote affinities could be traced to the Piperati group.

Abstract:
The development of primary secretory ducts of stems of Mangifera indica L. has been studied with the aid of the electron microscope. The duct cavity has been found to be formed lysigenously. The primary ducts start to develop in the young leaf primordia.  There the future epithelial cells still contain very large central vacuoles. These cells envelope a single file of cells which disintegrate and initiate the duct cavity. In the stem the duct cavity enlarges by lysis of epithelial cells and neighbouring cells become epithelial. In open ducts wall-remains of disintegrated cells are found attached to the active epithelial cells.

Abstract:
For more than 35 years, girdling vascular bundles have been known to occur in the flowers of species belonging to nine families of dicotyledons.  Further families are now added to the list, bringing the total to twenty.  The occurrence of girdling bundles does not appear to have any special taxonomic or phylogenetic significance.  Vascular patterns with girdling bundles are illustrated for members of eleven families.

Abstract:
Vegetatively unbranched trees with indeterminate apical growth and lateral sexuality belong to 'Corner's Model', as previously defined (Halle & Oldeman, 1970).  The papaya tree and the oil palm are familiar examples of this strange and probably very old strategy of growth. The monoaxial trunk, often thick in its primary tissues, is built by the activity of a single apical meristem; the leaves are large, often compound, and the internodes are short. Growth may be continuous or rhythmic; cauliflory is frequent in the Angiosperm examples. From an ecological point of view, they are mainly treelets of the tropical rain-forest undergrowth. Although flowering before branching, these trees are not necessarily unbranched throughout their lives, e.g. old papaya trees produce branches from buds on the trunk; see also Plate I. This repetition of the original model, for each new branch behaves as did the first axis, is the 'reiteration' of Oldeman (1974). Again, damage to the apex sometimes leads to the death of some species, e.g. Cyanea carlsonii Rock (Degener, Degener & Hormann, 1969), but others can recover, as their axillary buds grow out, giving a branched tree. Corner's Model is important in the tropics, as it occurs in nearly all the larger families of flowering plants. A list of 67 trees was published in 1970 by Halle & Oldeman; now more than a hundred species are known to be monoaxial, but the present list is likely to expand rapidly in the coming years, with the increasing interest in, and knowledge of, tropical tree architecture.

Abstract:
The tropical angiospermous flora had its beginnings with the origin of the angiosperms in earliest Cretaceous time from some unkown, generalized gymnospermous ancestor, probably a still unrecognized group of Mesozoic pteridosperms. Over most of early and middle Cretaceous time, the angiosperms, early split into dicots and monocots, gradually became more prominent in tropical and later in temperate floras, with evolution by late Cretaceous in part into extant families and genera. The facts of present and past angiosperm distribution still point to southeastern Asia and attendant archipelagoes as the primary centre of preservation and probably the primary centres of origin of the most primitive living angiosperms. Other important centres for the development of the tropical angiosperm flora have been West Gondwanaland before its break-up, the upland shield areas of South America and Africa since their isolation from one another, Australasia, and to a much lesser extent the Greater Antilles and Mexican highlands.

Abstract:
The distribution area of Ficus sycamorus can be divided into two distinct parts.  The main area, in which trees produce viable seeds and grow spontaneously follows along the Eastern Coast of Africa, from South Africa to Sudan.  The northern area, in which no seeds are produced and the trees are dependent on man for propagation, includes the Middle East and North Africa.  In the present paper an attempt is made to elucidate the problem of origin of F. sycamorus plants in the northern area.  These may be either remnants of prehistoric native populations which have lost their ability to set seed or secondary derivatives introduced into the area in remote times by man.  Remnants of fruit bat skeletons in caves from the Natufian period (9,000 - 7,000 B.C.) are taken as a possible indication for the presence of sycamore fig in the Middle East at an early date.  Remnants of sycamore roots in the upper Nile Valley dating from the Badarian period (about 4000 B.C.) also support the assumption of a primary origin of the tree in the Middle East.  It is proposed that, due to loss of the specific pollinator at the dawn of civilization, the trees ceased to reproduce spontaneously.  Instead they have since been propagated vegetatively by man for fruit and wood.

Abstract:
For conveniense, the history of fig wasp research may be divided into four periods.  Mayer's "Zur Naturgeschichte der Feigeninsecten" (1882) appears to present the first natural break. On the one hand, in giving a comprehensive review of older literature, it is the conclusion of its period. On the other hand, in being one of a number of contemporaneous reports on exotic fig wasps and, above all things, as a precursor to Mayr's paper of 1885, it also is the opening of a new era.  In a way, Grandi's revision of the Agaonidae described by Mayr, and its accessory world catalogue (1928d), would form a similar stage half a century later.  Between the two, past the times that scientists merely looked all wonder at figs and their wasps, we find the period in which the warp of fig wasp taxonomy was stretched.  Some of the weft, it is true, was a very inequal capacity. After 1928 we find more than a quarter-century of miscellaneous reports, waifs and strays in comparison with Grandi's synthesis. Then, in the fifties, a new activity arises with a gradual shift of interest to the symbiosis of figs and wasps, its mechanism and evolution. In the present review I shall not confine myself to data on the Agaonidae.  In the survey of our knowledge of fig wasp biology, we cannot dispense with their Torymid mess-mates. An outline of their nomenclatorial history is included in the first chapters. For data on pre-Linnean literature, and for a more complete discussion of eighteenth-century papers, I here refer to Mayer's review of 1882: their biological significance is negligible.

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The most satisfactory style for a Flora at the present time should be one of conciseness and practicality, with "correctness and clearness of method and language (being) the first qualities requisite," to quote Bentham (1874, p. 50). This should be inventory, identification, and provision of essential data.  Large-scale flora projects, of which there are perhaps too many on stage today, should be examined very carefully; in many cases their bulk ( and cost ) may defeat any real usefulness or impact, and their basis is shaky, leaving many to be terminated incomplete or only completed after more than a generation. Such incomplete works, with which the pages of floristic bibliographies are replete, are ultimately of less value than one which may be more modest but is complete, and in fact should perhaps a viewed as a wasting of botanists' time and resources.  Furthermore, with the EDP-IR communications, and media revolutions (the full impact of which has yet to be felt in systematic biology), it may be questioned whether much of the specialized data found in large-scale floras need be tied up in the print medium but could better be handled in other, less familiar ways; at the same time, such methods would lead to fewer losses than is usually the case at present in translating taxonomic and floristic research into conventional problems and an unfavourable administrative climate and it may have been too big a step at that time and place. Some smaller but similar projects are still under way in other parts of the world and it is these "guinea-pigs" that will be watched with interest in the next few years. However, there is still plenty of scope for the more modest, concise work, which, because less time is usually taken in production, stands beter chance in the present economic climate of gaining support and carrying through to completion, although technically it might be less "prestigious". It it thus to be hoped that works such as Flora Europaea, Flora of Turkey, Flora Iranica, and the Tree Flora of Malaya will be successfully completed in the next decade, and others like them undertaken , even for lesser-known tropical regions. There is also, in my view, scope for  good annotated enumerations, preferably with keys ; the recent Prodromus einer Flora von Siidwestafrika is a good example.

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P. microcarpus sp. nov. is described as a montane species from Sarawak and Sabah, as the most leptocaul species of the genus able to fruit with small 1 (-2) seeded syncarps. Four species are recognised, namely P. bracteatus, P. forbesii, P. microcarpus, and P. venenosus.

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A revision of the Malesian genus Iguanura Bl. is presented. The genus, which is confined to Thailand, Malaya, Sumatra and Borneo, comprises 16 species, four of which represent new species.

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Eugenia filiformis Duthie var. constricta Kochummen and Eugenia spicata Lamk var. cordata Kochummen are new varieties. Tristania razakiana Kochummen is a new species, named in honour of the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

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Vaccinium whitmorei Ng and Vaccinium pseudodialypetalum Ng are new species.

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In Cockburn's revision of Erythroxylaceae for the Tree Flora of Malaya (1972) and Payens' revision of the same family for the Flora Malesiana (1958) only one indigenous species was recognised in Malaya. We now have evidence to show that there are in fact two species in Malayan forests. The new species is known from only two localities and differs from the more widespread E. cuneatum in the following characters.

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The conventional methods of vegetative propagation of monopodial orchids is by cuttings while sympodial orchids are propagated by the division of the pseudobulbs. Both the methods can be very slow if one desires to propagate a large number of plants from a single selected plant. In view of this, in recent years orchidologists have successfully propagated plants through the technique of 'meristem' culture. Through this method, one may start with a piece of meristematic tissue and on successful culture, obtain a large number of protocorm-like bodies which could be induced to differentiate into new plants or be made to proliferate further to obtain more protocorm-like-bodies. The success in meristem culture in orchids will have a tremendous impact on the economics of orchid culture in Singapore. The production of large numbers of 'prize' plants will enable orchid enthusiasts to obtain them more easily and it will also enable the commercial nurseries to increase their plants and flower production, both for export and for local distribution.

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The author describes for the first time: Horsfieldia brachiata var. laticosta, H. bracteosa var. microcarya, H. hellwigii var. novobritannica and H. polyspherula var. tenuifolia. An unnamed infraspecific hybrid of H. hellwigii: var hellwigii x var pulverulenta is also described. He further proposes the new combinations: — H. parviflora comb. nov. based on Myristica parviflora Roxb.  — H. hellwigii var. pulverulenta stat nov. based on H. pulverulenta Warb. — Horsfieldia brachiata var. sumatrana comb. nov. based on Myristica glabra var. sumatrana Miq. — H. polyspherula var. oligocarpa stat. nov. based on H. oligocarpa Warb. — H. spicata comb, nov. based on Myristica spicata Roxb. — H. spicata var. sepikensis stat. nov. based on H. sepikensis Markgraf  — H. subtilis var. rostrata stat. nov. based on H. rostrata Markgraf — H. subtilis var. schlechteri stat. nov. based on H. schlechteri Warb.

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The status of this section (also known as a genus Neottopteris J. Sm.) is discussed. A key to all known species is provided, with synonymy and a brief description for each. The importance of growth-habit (not shown by herbarium specimens) is stressed, and the need for more observation of living plants, especially on the islands of the Pacific Ocean.  Two new species (A. pacificum and A. spirale) are described. Names of species which have been included by various authors, in Neottopteris but which do not belong to this section been included by various authors in Neottopteris but which do not belong to this section are listed.

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A critical commentary is presented on the statement on comparative morphology of Zingiberaceae in Malaya published in Gard. Bull. Sing. Vol. 13, part 1 (1950), and a comparison made with the account of the family prepared by Bakhuizen for the Flora of Java Vol. 3 (1968) where terms are differently used and a different view of some genera (Achasma and Amomum) is maintained. An attempt is made to correct inconsistencies in the use of terms in both accounts, especially in relation to inflorescence-structure which is of basic importance in this family. Floral morphology is only considered in reference to the genera Nicolaia (mis-named Phaeomeria in Holttum, 1950), Achasma and Amomum. Some comments are made on the status of some generic names but no proposals for change of the scheme of 1950 are made. A suggestion is made that experimental work might throw light on the structure of the condensed lateral cymes and in demonstrating the essential uniformity of structure of the inflorescence in the family. A plea is made that taxonomic statements on tropical plants should no longer be limited by the defects of dried specimens in European herbaria.

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