Flora Of Thailand Research Articles

The World Flora Online: Summary and Status

The World Flora Online (WFO) project was initiated in 2012 in response to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation – "To create an online flora of all known plants by 2020" (CBD 2010, Wyse Jackson 2013). A WFO Consortium of 50 international institutions and growing has been formed (see Wyse Jackson and Miller (2015) for a historical overview). The World Flora Online Public Portal (www.worldfloraonline.org) was relaunched in July, 2022. It is populated with a taxonomic backbone of plant taxonomic data, which integrates the International Plant Name Index (IPNI), World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP, Govaerts et al. 2022), Tropicos, Angiosperm Phylogeny Group IV (A.P.G. 2016), Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group (Schüttpelz 2016) and others supplemented, inter alia, by the Global Compositae Checklist and Solanaceae Source. The WFO taxonomic backbone aims at covering all “effectively published” (Turland 2018) plant names that are in use or found in taxonomic literature and to integrate them into a modern phylogeny-based system of classification (Borsch et al. 2020). To facilitate the ongoing curation of the WFO backbone, identifiers, called WFO-IDs, have been created for 1.4 million names, including both vascular and non-vascular plants. WFO IDs are also cross-referenced to IPNI and WCVP identifiers as well as to the name IDs used in the source databases. WFO is updating the taxonomic backbone by engagement of new plant Taxonomic Expert Networks (TENs) focused on selected plant groups (for an example see Korotkova, this symposium), thus contributing to a transparent and inclusive reorganisation of the taxonomic research community. WFO also includes by now over 600,000 “content” data items gathered from digital floras and monographs, and other sources like International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat assessments and the Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) Global Tree Assessment. Content data can be text descriptions, images, geographic distributions, identification keys, phylogenetic trees, as well as atomized trait data like threat status, lifeform or habitat of a taxon. Over 30 digital descriptive datasets have been received from sources such as Flora of Brazil, Flora of South Africa, Flora of China, Flora of North America, Flora of Thailand and many others. WFO aims at clearly showing the original sources to give credit to the authors, both for backbone and content data. Extensive work is required to match the names associated with the submitted descriptions to the names and WFO-IDs in the World Flora Online taxonomic backbone and then merging the descriptive data elements into the WFO Portal. Numerous techniques have been adopted and created to accomplish the data cleaning, standardization and transformation required before descriptive data can be integrated. Among the new tools created is a system called Rhakhis developed at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (Hyam et al. 2022). Rhakhis is used to manage the WFO taxonomic backbone data including ingestion, editing and export and includes APIs to access the versioned backbone data. This presentation will focus on the current state and plans for the future of the World Flora Online.

Research advances in chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of Pueraria genus

Kudzu plants in the subfamily sphenoideae of Leguminosae are commonly used herbs in China, Japan, Korea, India and Thailand, with a long history of medicinal use. They are recorded in Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Japanese Pharmacopeia, Korea Pharmacopeia, Ayurveda Pharmacopoeia of India and Flora of Thailand. There are 15-20 species of Pueraria in the world, including 7 species and 2 varieties in China. At present, there are 6 species with medicinal value, such as Pueraria lobata and P. thomsonii. The main chemical components of the genus are isoflavones, flavonoids, terpenes, steroids, coumarins, puerarin glycosides and benzopyrans. A total of 240 compounds have been isolated and identified from this genus, and their pharmacological effects mainly include improvement of the cardiovascular system, antioxidant, hypoglycemic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, anti-alcoholic and estrogen-like effects. In this study, chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of Pueraria at home and abroad were systematically summarized, in order to provide references for the material basis, quality control and further development of Pueraria genus.

Taxonomic Notes on the 'Mahat' (Artocarpus lacucha and A. thailandicus, Moraceae) Species Complex in Thailand.

‘Mahat’ is a well-known medicinal plant utilized in Thailand. The Thai name ‘Mahat’ has been used in many scientific articles for years. However, it is, unpredictably, a homonym of two scientific names in Flora of Thailand, i.e., A. lacucha and A. thailandicus. Additionally, both species are complex due to their high morphological variation. This causes difficulties in species identification especially when this Thai name is referred to as the scientific name for research publication, quality control of pharmaceutical raw materials, and registration of pharmaceutical products. In this study, we scrutinized the taxonomy of ‘Mahat’ by detailed examination of its morphology and distribution, including molecular and qualitative phytochemical studies. Leaf surfaces were inspected using scanning electron microscopy. The phylogeny of both species was studied using DNA sequences of nuclear and plastid regions. Chromatographic fingerprints, focusing on the major active compound oxyresveratrol, were identified using high-performance liquid chromatography. According to our current study, phylogenetic evidence showed that some samples of both species were clustered together in the same clade and phytochemical fingerprints were almost identical. These results are valuable data for taxonomic revision in the near future and reveal the possible utilization of A. thailandicus as a new material source of oxyresveratrol in the pharmaceutical industry.

A New Species of Crepidium (Orchidaceae) from Thailand

While preparing an account of Crepidium (Orchidaceae) for Flora of Thailand, a new species was discovered on limestone hills in peninsular Thailand; it is described here as Crepidium falcifolium. It has previously been collected and identified as C. godefroyi, but is more similar to C. khasianum.Wedemonstrate that the new species differs from either in both vegetative and floral characters.Adetailed description and illustrations are provided together with notes on taxonomy, habitat requirements, and conservation status.

Building an Ontology of Flora of Thailand for Developing Semantic Electronic Dictionary

Thailand is one of the tropical countries teeming with diverse flora and vegetation. The diverse vascular plants of Thailand with estimated number of no less than 10,000 species, have been recorded and published in continuation in the Flora of Thailand since 1970. Domain ontologies express conceptualization that are specific for particular domain and greatly useful in knowledge acquisition, sharing and analysis. In this paper, we propose a Thailand’s Flora Ontology (TFO) for developing semantic dictionary on the web to discover the flora knowledge for plant biologists across all disciplines of botany. A mixed methods was applied in organizing of the specification of conceptualizations on flora of Thailand using the domain analytic approach in order for developing an ontology. The TFO has been constructed by using HOZO ontology editor. The research methods included 1) Domain analysis for knowledge organization. 2) Ontology development. The results of classification of Thailand’s Flora based on concise encyclopedia of plants in Thailand, floral characteristics and area of distribution can be divided into 8 concepts including Plant_Information, Plant_Family, Plant_Genus, Plant_Habitat, Botany_Habit, Uses, Medicinal_Properties, and Floristic_Regions. In the next step, semantic electronic dictionary will be developed by using the TFO from this study.

A new species and a new synonym in Pandanus subg. Rykia (Pandanaceae) in Thailand

Callmander M.W. & S. Buerki (2018). A new species and a new synonym in Pandanus subg. Rykia (Pandanaceae) in Thailand. Candollea 73: 115–120. In English, English abstract. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15553/c2018v731a12The genus Pandanus Parkinson (Pandanaceae) has never been critically revised in Thailand. Most species belong to the taxonomically challenging Pandanus subg. Rykia (Vrise) B.C. Stone. Recent field observations coupled with a review of herbarium material of Thai Pandanaceae (serving as a backbone for the forthcoming family treatment for the Flora of Thailand) have revealed new findings enabling better understanding the taxonomy of Pandanus species in this region. In this article, we formally synonymize Pandanus bifidus H. St. John under Pandanus obconicus H. St. John, two species among the fifteen that Harold St. John described from Thailand in 1963 and 1965. We also describe a new species, Pandanus voradolii Callm. & Buerki, restricted to north-eastern Thailand. The new species resembles Pandanus obconicus in its acaulescent low shrub habit, but differs in its ecology, shape and texture of its leaves, the length of its peduncle and shape and dimensions of its syncarp. Field photographs and a preliminary risk of extinction assessment is provided for the new species.Received: March 3, 2018. Accepted: April 19, 2018. First published online: June 25, 2018.

Human influence on the occurrence of deciduous forest vegetation in Thailand : The Lectures on the Flora of Thailand

Human influence on the occurrence of deciduous forest vegetation in Thailand : The Lectures on the Flora of Thailand

Aristolochia longeracemosa, a new synonym of A. chlamydophylla (Aristolochiaceae)

Aristolochia Linnaeus (1753: 960) (Aristolochiaceae) comprises about 500 species. The genus has worldwide distribution (Wanke et al. 2006). Recent findings of Aristolochia (Phuphathanaphong 2006, Xu et al. 2011, Huong et al. 2014, Do et al. 2015, Wu et al. 2015), together with the previous treatments for the Flora of Thailand (Phuphathanaphong 1987), the Flora of Vietnam (Pham 2000) and the Flora of China (Huang et al. 2003) confirmed the Thai & Indo-Chinese floristic region as a center of diversity for Aristolochia, with currently about 90 species. A high degree of endemism is found for specific countries (Huang et al. 2003, Phuphathanaphong 2006). However, the delimitation and taxonomic status of some species are still unclear due to limited access to specimen databases, especially for the type specimens in those countries. Notably, recent studies have significantly revised the taxonomic status of several previously described Aristolochia species when herbarium materials from multiple countries in the region were consulted (Do et al. 2014, Do 2016, Zu et al. 2016). On the basis of the examination of the protologue, the type specimens, and recent collections from the herbaria BKF, C, GXMI, HITBC, IBSC, KUN, PE and PEM, we conclude that Aristolochia longeracemosa B. Hansen & Leena Phuphathanaphong (1999: 557), described from collections made in northern Thailand, is conspecific with A. chlamydophylla C.Y. Wu ex S. M. Hwang (1981: 223) from southern China. Hence, we here propose the former as a new synonym of the latter. A detailed comparison of the morphological characters and habitat of these two species is provided.

Nomenclatural notes on species of Asian Vitaceae

AbstractLectotypifications, neotypifications, epitypifications, and nomenclatural corrections are provided for fifty‐eight Asian Vitaceae names (excluding those belonging to Tetrastigma) for the forthcoming floristic account in the Flora of Thailand. A total of fifty‐four lectotypes, three neotypes, and one epitype are designated here and two nomenclatural clarifications and corrections are also proposed.

Two New Species of Jasminum (Oleaceae) from Peninsular Thailand

Two new species from the Peninsular Region of Thailand, Jasminum peninsulare Kiew from Ranong, Phangnga, and Pattani Provinces and J. ranongense Kiew from Ranong Province, are described and illustrated. Previously, they had both been confused with J. kedahense (King & Gamble) Ridl. from Malaysia and included under this name in the Flora of Thailand.

Amaranthus species around Bangkok, Thailand and the release of allergenic proteins from their pollens.

Pollen of Amaranthus L., commonly known as careless weed or Phak-khom in Thai, has become one of the major causes of airway allergy in many countries including Thailand. Despite its recognized importance, there is no available information about which Amaranthus species are producing allergenic pollen more likely to affect Thai patients. Furthermore, only allergenic proteins released from pollen can cause allergy. This study aimed to survey species of Amaranthus found in Bangkok and to investigate the impact of water on pollen damage and protein release from Amaranthus pollens. Amaranthus inflorescences were sampled and identified using the identification key provided in "Flora of Thailand". Shed pollens were collected on day 1, 3 and 7 after shedding. Ten mg of pollens in distilled water including damaged pollens were counted under a light microscope. In addition, supernatant was analyzed for concentration of proteins released from pollens using Bradford's assay. Profiles of released proteins and IgE binding proteins were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. Three species of Amaranthus-A. hybridus, A. spinosus, and A. viridis were identified. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed at least twelve protein bands with MW ranging from 10 to 80 kDa. Water caused more damage to pollens and higher amount of proteins were recovered from pollens 1 day after shedding than from 3- and 7-days old pollens. The results of Western blot showed IgE-bound proteins with MW ranging from 30 to 50 kDa. Water could damage pollens and time after shedding and significantly affected the amount of allergenic proteins released from pollen.

Keys to and checklist of species of the genusTrichosanthesL. (Cucurbitaceae) in Indochina

In this account the genus Trichosanthes L. has 20 species occurring in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Since the treatments in Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viêtnam (Keraudren-Aymonin 1975; 10 species), and in Flora of Thailand (De Wilde & Duyfjes 2008a; 17 species) more knowledge by fieldwork in Thailand has become available resulting in the inclusion for Thailand of the taxa T. baviensis Gagnep., T. pedata Merr. & Chun, T. tricuspidata Lour. subsp. rotundata W.J.de Wilde & Duyfjes. For Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam of the species T. dunniana H. Lév., T. erosa Duyfjes & Pruesapan var. erosa, T. inthanonensis Duyfjes & Pruesapan, T. fissibracteata C.Y.Cheng & C.H. Yueh, T. tricuspidata Lour. subsp. rotundata W.J.de Wilde & Duyfjes, and T. truncata C.B.Clarke. Two keys to the species are presented, one for male flowering specimens, and one for fruiting specimens, as well as for each species literature references, distribution and occasional other information.

New taxa and new combinations of Eriocaulaceae from Thailand

Eight species, three subspecies, four varieties and three combinations of Eriocaulon L. from Thailand are described, preparatory to a revision of the Eriocaulaceae for the Flora of Thailand.

Notes on the genus Ischaemum (Poaceae)

During a revision of the genus Ischaemum for the Flora of Thailand, a new species, Ischaemum thomasii, was discovered. A description and illustration are presented here. Two taxa are reduced to synonymy: Ischaemum barbatum Retz. var. glaberrimum Bor and I. tenuifolium A. Camus are placed under I. barbatum Retz. and Andropogon burmanicus Bor, respectively. A further four names are lectotypified: I. aristatum L. subsp. imberbe Hack. var. imbricatum Hack., I. aristatum L. var. arfakense Rendle, I. magnum Rendle and I. macrurum Stapf ex Ridl.

A precursory study of theCalanthegroup (Orchidaceae) in Thailand

Kurzweil H. 2010. — A precursory study of the Calanthe group (Orchidaceae) in Thailand. Adansonia, sér. 3, 32 (1): 57-107.A review of the Thai species of the Calanthe group (Orchidaceae) is presented, based on the examination of over 500 herbarium and spirit specimens, and is a precursor for a later treatment in the Flora of Thailand. The group comprises the genera Calanthe R.Br., Phaius Lour, and Cephalantheropsis Guillaumin. In the genus Calanthe, 21 species are recognized, one of them being new but incompletely known as only a single flower was available for study. Calanthe angustifolia (Blume) Lindl. is newly reported for Thailand. Unusual forms of C. vestita Wall, ex Lindl. are commented on, and the extensive variation in the spur length of C. triplicata (Willemet) Ames is discussed. Five Phaius and one Cephalantheropsis species are recognized. Identification keys to the three genera and all species are given, and descriptions are provided for all species. A selection is illustrated by line drawings.

Taxonomic studies in the genusPeristylus(Orchidaceae) in Thailand

A taxonomic review of the Thai species of the orchid genus Peristylus is presented. Seventeen species are recognised, five of them new to Thailand. Peristylus rigidus and P. phuwuaensis are endemic species, new to science, and the widespread P. maingayi and P. mannii have recently been newly recorded in the country. In addition, two further collections do not match any known Thai species, but very much resemble P. nematocaulon from the Himalayas and China. The present study will form the basis for the taxonomic account of Peristylus in the Flora of Thailand.

Taxonomic Notes on Some Southeast Asian Species of Vitex. (Lamiaceae)

Whilst preparing a revision of the genus Vitex L. for the Flora of Thailand, it became evident that one neglected species, V scabra, is present in Thailand, and is, in fact, common and widespread. Collections of V scabra have been misidentified as V quinata (Lour.) F. N. Williams. We have also examined material from neighbouring countries for comparison. As a result, V cochinchinensis Dop from Vietnam is reinstated as a species and lectotypified. A lectotype is also selected for V longisepala King & Gamble froim Malaysia.

English

English

The varieties of Bauhinia pottsii G. Don in Thailand (Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae)

Bauhinia pottsii G. Don, B. subsessilis Craib, B. velutina (Wall. ex Benth.) Baker, B. mollissima (Wall.) Prain, and B. decipiens Craib were recently recognized as five varieties of Bau- hinia pottsii G. Don. They grow naturally in southern Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina and the Malay Peninsula. Bauhinia pottsii var. decipiens (Craib) K. Larsen & S. S. Larsen is endemic to Thailand and known only from the type collec- tion, so it was omitted from this study. Quanti- tative and qualitative morphological characters were examined in 200 specimens using multivar- iate and univariate analyses to determine the taxonomic relationship among the four. Some variation in qualitative characters was found between the varieties which separated them as previously defined in Flora of Thailand. Forty- three quantitative characters were subjected to cluster analysis to allow an objective classification into groups. The groups were subsequently eval- uated by a canonical discriminant analysis. It was found that these characters collectively support the four varieties as defined by qualitative char- acters. However, the close relationship of varieties mollissima (Wall. ex Prain) K. Larsen & S. S. Larsen and velutina (Wall. ex Benth.) K. Larsen & S. S. Larsen is observed. The linear discriminant function has an overall rate of 98.5% correct classification and is useful for variety classifica- tion. Among quantitative characters, petal-claw length and ovarystalk length together with some qualitative characters are useful for key construc- tion to separate the four varieties.

Novelties in Croton (Euphorbiaceae) from Southeast Asia

A new species, Croton kongkandanus Esser, is described from Thailand, based mainly on its large fruits. The name of Croton lissophyllus from India and Bangladesh is validated, and C. laniflorus Geiseler is recognized as the valid name for the poorly known and illegitimate Croton lanatus Loureiro from Vietnam and described here. Seven taxa of Southeast Asian Croton are lectotypified, two new synonyms are proposed, and two potential ones are discussed, some of them in preparation for inclusion in the Flora of Thailand.