A revision of the family Taccaceae

A historical survey of the family is followed by a discussion of the systematic position, the affinities within the family, the morphology, anatomy, phytochemical characters, flower biology, geographical distribution, dispersal, and growth. A key to the species is given. Each taxon has been described and provided with its full synonymy. All specimens have been cited except in those cases where more than 5 collections were made in one partial area (country, province, district, or small island). A complete identification list will be issued separately. In this revision of Taccaceae 1 genus and 10 species are accepted; 8 species are restricted to Indo-Malesia (SE. Asia to the Solomons), 1 to tropical South America, and 1 species occurs from the tropical west coast of Africa eastwards to Easter Island in the eastern Pacific. Two new species have been described, one from Borneo and one from the Solomons and New Guinea, and one new combination has been proposed. The genus Schizocapsa and a large number of specific names have been reduced. The species synonymy is considerable and comprises not less than 49 specific epithets. This situation is due to the fact that some widely distributed species have proved to be very variable. The material which I had at my disposal was considerably larger than previous workers, especially Limpricht, had in hand. As a result of this rich material numerous locally described species could no longer be maintained.