Abstract
Alseodaphne, Dehaasia and Nothaphoebe are, morphologically, three closely related genera belonging to the Persea subgroup of the Lauraceae. A total of 214 binomials of the three genera have been published by various authors (International Plant Names Index, March 2007), of which 44 have been attributed to species occurring in Borneo. In revising the Lauraceae for the Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak Project, we recognize 40 distinct species (i.e., Alseodaphne 11; Dehaasia 16; and Nothaphoebe 13) for Sabah and Sarawak. These include 34 previously known and 6 undescribed species. Despite many attempts by various authors (Rohwer 1993, 2000, Van der Werff & Richter 1996, Van der Werff 2001) to clarify the generic delimitation between these three genera, to date there remains to be no satisfactory solution. In the absence of a well-accepted generic delimitation and classification within the Lauraceae as a whole, and for the purpose of preparing revision of the Lauraceae for the Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak, we have opted for recognising Alseodaphne, Dehaasia and Nothaphoebe as distinct genera. The distinguishing morphological characters of these three genera, based on specimens from Borneo (Sabah and Sarawak, in particular) are presented.
Highlights
The Lauraceae is one of the largest and important families of trees and shrubs throughout tropical and subtropical forests
In the absence of a well-accepted suprageneric classification and generic delimitation for the Lauraceae as a whole, botanists involved in the revision of the Lauraceae for the Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak volume, have adopted the generic delimitation as proposed by Van der Werff (2001), except for the inclusion of Nothaphoebe within Alseodaphne
At this stage and for the revision of these three genera for the Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak, we tried to use as many characters as possible to distinguish these genera; since we only look at Borneo specimens, variation in the characters across these three genera are possible when one study the genera worldwide
Summary
The Lauraceae is one of the largest and important families of trees and shrubs throughout tropical and subtropical forests. Based on literature dating back to Blume (1825), about 287 species in 16 genera of the Lauraceae have been reported for Borneo All these 16 genera are represented in Sabah and Sarawak. We recognise 208 species in 16 genera of Lauraceae in Sabah and Sarawak, of which 11 represent undescribed new species. This paper is a first report following from a study undertaken by the authors as part of the revision of Lauraceae for the Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak Project (Julia et al in prep., Yahud & Soepadmo in prep., Yahud et al in prep.). Its main goal is to highlight the readily observed morphological characters which may be used to distinguish and identify species of Alseodaphne, Dehaasia and Nothaphoebe occurring in Sabah and Sarawak. Additional flowering and fruiting specimens were occasionally obtained from the field in Sabah and Sarawak
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