Revision of Heteroblemma gen . nov . ( Dissochaeteae – Melastomataceae ) from Malesia and Vietnam

A taxonomic revision is presented of the new genus Heteroblemma (Dissochaeteae – Melastomataceae), formerly a section of Medinilla which occurs in Malesia and Vietnam with 14 species, 3 new, and 11 new combinations. Descriptions, illustrations, a key, and an index to collectors are provided.


INTRODUCTION
distinguished a number of sections in Medinilla Gaudich.(Melastomataceae), which have not been accepted by later authors, e.g.Cogniaux (1891) and Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr (1943,1946,1947).However, a very peculiar one is sect.Hetero blemma Blume with (then) as the only species M. alternifolia Blume. Stapf (1895a, b) already noted that the latter is "a well-characterised group … differs from the other species of Medinilla very strikingly in habit; a difference which is brought about by the long and slender branches, which climb by means of aerial roots, and by the alternate, generally long-petioled, and often large leaves, the transverse venation is more marked than in most Medinillae".
Curiously, in between the illustrations for his new species belonging to Heteroblemma (t.2411, 2417) he described the genus Hederella Stapf with 4 species (now Catanthera F.Muell.) (t.2415, 2416) but did not note the similarity or differences between this and Heteroblemma.
Medinilla has opposite or whorled leaves, which usually are more or less isophyllous.However, in Heteroblemma the leaves are so strongly anisophyllous that they appear to be alternate.Apparently only in very young shoots one minute member of the pair is still present (e.g. in SF 32755 (Corner), Veldkamp 7902), but generally in older ones this has totally disappeared or has become invisible because of the overgrowth by mosses and humus.Only rarely some leaves are opposite, showing the plesiomorphic state.
Over the years other species with such leaves have been described.They all share a curious woody stele.In Medinilla it is terete in transverse section, but in Heteroblemma (and Kendrickia from Sri Lanka with isophyllous, opposite leaves; see Bremer 1988) it is more or less stellately lobed (see Fig. 1).In Catanthera (incl.Phyllapophysis Mansf.) the lobes are further broken up into lobed bodies.Thus Catanthera, Heteroblemma, and Kendrickia are united by a complex wood anatomical synapomorphy that appears to relate to their growth form (Clausing & Renner 2001a).This remarkable 'anomalous' anatomy is discussed by Van Vliet (1981) and summarised by Clausing & Renner (1992a: 55-56).In brief, after a closed cylinder of secondary xylem has been formed in young stems, the cambium starts to produce parenchymatous tissue at usually four equidistant positions (no doubt due to the decussate leaves).Continuing production of xylem between these meristematic patches results in a radiate, sometimes cloverleaf-shaped xylem.
Heteroblemma never has coroniform hairs, while these are usual in Catanthera.Kendrickia is glabrous.
In Heteroblemma the sessile fascicles of flowers are directly placed on opposite tubercles on the stem, while in Catanthera the inflorescences are axillary to cauliflorous, and often umbellate and pedunculate.Growth thus seems to be monopodial, which appears to be exceptional, for in Medinilla it apparently is sympodial.In Kendrickia the flowers are solitary or in umbelshaped few-flowered terminal cymes, growth here is therefore also sympodial.
The 8 stamens of Heteroblemma and Kendrickia are equal in shape, size, and development, while in Catanthera they are alternatingly 4 long and 4 short, the latter often staminodial.
The extra-ovarian pockets extend nearly to the base of the ovary, while in Medinilla they are said to reach at most to its middle (Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr 1943, 1946, 1947: 41, key lead 7b).
Although especially Kendrickia is morphologically and phytogeographically quite different from the other two, the three form a monophyletic clade when their ndhF sequences are analysed (Clausing & Renner 2001a).
The combination of these features clearly sets Heteroblemma apart, and one might imagine a line from Medinilla s.s. to Kendrickia through Heteroblemma to Catanthera.As these are considered to be distinct genera, sect.Heteroblemma should be, too.The name Blume gave to the section appears to be indicative of this, also.He gave no explanation for its meaning, but clearly it is derived from the Greek words hetero and blemma: 'different looking'.
Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr (1943, 1946, 1947) in his revision of the Indonesian Melastomataceae based on material present in Leiden (L) and Utrecht (U, now in Leiden) casually mentioned the section (p.177), but did not maintain it, as he regarded the characters as too inconstant.He included M. alternifolia and two new species clearly related to it in sect.Heteromedinilla Bakh.f., which name is therefore superfluous.
In 1977 JRN, in a course on taxonomic botany supervised by JFV, and Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr prepared a manuscript based on the Leiden holdings.Due to duties elsewhere it remained unedited and unpublished.Since then some species from Borneo were published by Regalado (1990).The first author, RCL, as part of the requirements of a Master's Degree of the Leiden University, has now completed the revision.
Labels indicate the plants to be epiphytes, once as an epilith.Several species have been noted to grow near rivers or in periodically flooded areas and may be at least facultative rheophytes (e.g.H. capillipes: Zainudin 4611).These are plants that occur in river beds which experience flash floods (banjir) and have special adaptations to such an event: extensive root systems, tenacious branches, streamlined leaves, etc.In this case the numerous vegetative rootlets with which the plants are attached to their hosts or rocks can be expected to prevent the plants to be swept away.None were mentioned by Van Steenis in his studies regarding rheophytes (1981,1987).Most species are rarely collected, either because they are indeed rare and local, or because they grow way up in the canopy, and so are only occasionally seen and within reach, or grow in dangerous places along riverbeds.
As is usual in the family, petals, and stamens are easily lost in the drying and mounting processes, so specimens often only have undeveloped hypanthia.Fortunately, contrary to the situation in Catanthera, the leaves appear to be quite diagnostic and useful in the delimitation of the taxa.However, when there are only a few collections it is not always clear whether two different leaf forms belong to the same taxon or represent two distinct ones (see the notes under H. capillipes and H. loratum).

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Herbarium collections from AAU, BM, C, E, K, L, M, SAR, and SING were examined.
Because flower parts elongate after opening, for the measurement of the length of petals, filaments, anthers, and style mature but still closed or nearly open buds were studied after briefly simmering in water.
Heteroblemma (Blume)  Woody, branching monopodially, climbing with numerous adventitious roots.Hairs never coroniform.Branches terete, sometimes grooved, often pubescent when young; the older ones, in transverse section, with a lobed stele and a round marrow channel.Leaves long-petiolate, apparently alternate, rarely some opposite, blades 3-9-plinerved, with or without a marginal vein, secondary venation scalariform (rarely absent), more or less elevated on the lower surface.Flowers in opposite, cymose bundles, 1-many together depending on the age of the stem, ramiflorous to cauliflorous on tubercles, 4-merous.
Hypanthium broadly to narrowly campanulate, calyx inconspicuous or conspicuous, sepals sometimes represented by short teeth.Petals broadly falciform to triangular, somewhat fleshy.Stamens 8, equal in shape and size; plectrum triangular, rarely rectangular, somewhat wrinkled, auriculate, shortly stalked to sessile, passing into the ventral ridge along the middle of the anther.Ovary 4-locular, obconical, extra-ovarian chambers 8, reaching nearly to the base of the hypanthium.Fruits glabrous to hirsute, often filled with a jelly-like substance, calyx remnants persistent or absent in fruit.Distribution -14 species in Malesia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra s.l., Borneo, Celebes, New Guinea) and Vietnam.

Habit
In contrast to Medinilla, in Heteroblemma all species are woody root climbers.Root climbing has evolved in 9 genera in the Palaeotropics and in 9 or 10 in the Neotropics (Clausing & Renner 2001a: 46).Adventitious roots provide a firm hold on supporting trunks and branches but also on rocky boulders along streams.Other than support, adventitious roots simultaneously allow for the up-take of the stem run-off, which contains many nutrients leached from the canopy (Nadkarni 1981).Apparently, in age the roots may die off and the stems become free from the hosts, field labels then report the specimens as vines or lianas, sometimes of considerable length e.g.c. 25 m in H. coronatum.
Most species are found growing on trees on primary or secondary dipterocarp forests, on swamp forests, some appear to be restricted to limestone hills (H.serpens), in montane forests from c. 1500 to 2000 m (H.bisetosum), and presumably as facultative rheophytes.The occurrence in generally closed undisturbed forests may be due to the fact that their exposed living climbing roots are draught sensitive (Clausing & Renner 2001a: 57).

Vestiture
The Melastomataceae presents the greatest diversity of vestiture in the angiosperms (Wurdack 1986).Conventionally, trichome characters have been used in species delimitation in the Melastomataceae because of their diversity and constancy (Gleason 1939).However, on young stems or innovations the indument when present may be quite variable in expression and it may change with maturity and also may vary considerably between individuals or populations, yet many species display a remarkable constancy in trichome size, posture, pattern, and distribution.Remarkable is H. bisetosa which has both apparently stipitate stellate hairs on the innovations and sessile stellate hairs on the hypanthia, these types being extremely rare for the genus.Terms used in characterising the vestiture are used here in the following sense: hirsute: covered with long, rather stiff trichomes.hirsutulous: minutely hirsute.pilose: with soft, shaggy trichomes, they appear shorter and sparser than hirsute.stellate: trichomes star-shaped, sessile or stipitate.

Innovations and branchlets
With time the innovations increase in diameter and the mature stems or branchlets develop the distinctive lobed woody stele.Young branchlets appear pubescent (hirsute) only in one species (H.barbatum).
The bark of the branchlets is either smooth, roughly striate, or covered by warty elements (here termed pustulate).Branchlets can attain a diameter of at least 15 mm.Yet this may be an artifact, as old and thicker stems perhaps have become leafand flowerless and so are not collected, just as in the youngest innovations where anisophylly might have been observed.
Only one collector mentioned the direction of climbing: sinistrorse for H. barbatum from New Guinea (BW 8404 (Vink)).This direction agrees with our observation in a collection from Borneo (S. 12139 (Ashton)) of H. decurrens, which suggests that the direction of climbing might be uniform at the generic level.

Petioles
A generic character seems to be that the leaves are longpetiolate and the contour of the petioles proved to be useful in the distinction of a group of species, where they are narrowly winged: H. coronatum, H. decurrens, and H. flagellatum.Vestiture of the petioles varies between hirsutulous (H.barbatum, H. coronatum, H. flagellatum, H. serpens), pilose (H.formanii), or generally glabrous.

Leaves
The Melastomataceae appears to be the largest family of flowering plants characterised by acrodromal or campylodromous pinnate venation (Clausing & Renner 2001b: 486, 492).
The path followed by the primary nerves from the base of the leaf to the apex is an important qualitative character.Thus leaves can be either campylodromous or basal-or suprabasal acrodromous.Campylodromous nervation (H.cordatum, H. serpens) is used here in the sense of Hickey (1973): "several primary veins [nerves] originating at, or close to, a single point and running in strongly developed, recurved arches before converging towards the leaf apex".In contrast, acrodromous nervation differs in the arches which are not recurved at the base.Acrodromous nervation can be further subdivided by the position at which the nerves originate.Thus in basal acrodromous nervation, the acrodromous nerves originate at or very close (a few mm) to the base of the blade, while in suprabasal acrodromous nervation, they originate several cm above the base of the blade (H.coronatum and H. loratum).This character is indicated here by the distance of the first pair of nerves from the base of the blade.Another character using venation is the distance between the most distal pair of nerves and the preceding pair.
The number of nerves, type of venation, presence of secondary nerves and other characters found in the leaves (see below) are very useful for distinguishing species in Melastomes.
The blades may have a conspicuous submarginal vein (less wide than the secondary nerves) but this can be inconspicuous to apparently absent (H.bisetosum, H. sandakanense).
The shape of the base of the blade is also important as a vegetative character and the terminology followed here is that as found in Hickey (1973) the margins progressively converging to the base and slightly extending downward along the petiole.Long-attenuate leaves (H.loratum) differ from the previous one in the abrupt arch they form at the point of origin of the first pair of nerves, their margins converging to the leaf base already very high up in the leaf.The leaf base is decurrent when its margin extends downward along the petiole at a low angle to it (H.coronatum, H. decurrens, H. flagellatum).
Secondary venation is generally prominent (except in H. bisetosum).The angle of divergence of the secondaries is measured between the branch and the continuation of the source vein above the point of branching (see Hickey 1973).It is acute (65-80°) in all cases but for H. sandakanense where the secondaries diverge at a right angle.
Of all the collections studied here only H. barbatum once (out of four) had what appear to be acaridomatia on the leaf underside (BW 8404 (Vink)).They appear as adjacent leaf pouches on each nerve pair and their size is greater in the distalmost pair of nerves than in the proximal ones.In the first proximal pair of nerves domatia appear absent (or if present they must be very much reduced).
Nearly 20 % of the myrmecophytes known worldwide belong to the family Melastomataceae (Benson 1985, Huxley 1986) but it seems ants have never been associated with Heteroblemma and the size of the pouches (a few mm 2 ) seems to be too small for them, anyway.As mites are small and soft bodied they are usually lost when plants are pressed and dried and therefore are rarely observed in the domatia of herbarium specimens (Almeda 2001), but in the field in Central America they have been collected in the domatia of Melastomataceae (Almeda 1989, Pemberton & Turner 1989).

Inflorescences and pedicels
Flowers are crowded in dense or lax clusters on the old wood or on leaf axils.They are born singly or rarely in cymes, subtended by lanceolate and glabrous 0.5 -2.5 mm bracts, these at times are papillose.The pedicels are slender and vary in length: in the flowers they range from 5 -20 mm.In fruit they are usually longer, from 5 -40 mm.In flower and fruit they can be either glabrous or pubescent in various degrees (see vestiture).
Hypanthium and sepals -Fig. 2 The hypanthium is elliptic or urceolate in unopened buds and during anthesis its rim may become truncate whereby it may become campanulate.Hypanthia are hirsute in H. barbatum, H. capillipes, and H. serpens.Their length is measured from the torus downwards to the attachment to the pedicel.The term 'torus' is used here in the sense of Gleason (1939) for the ring of vascular tissue at the apex of the hypanthium upon which the petals and stamen are inserted.The sepals can vary from 0.5-2 mm in length and in several species they are minutely to conspicuously tooth-shaped.Teeth are broadly triangular to ovate, those less than 0.5 mm were considered to be 'minute'; those longer than 0.5 mm were called 'conspicuous'.The teeth are mostly glabrous but in certain species they can be hirsute (H.capillipes) or prolonged by the presence of a slender 1-3 mm long hair (H.barbatum, H. coronatum, H. serpens).

Petals
Petals upon expansion are orientated in a spreading whorl.In Heteroblemma as in most Melastomataceae they are fugacious.
Their number (4) and shape is constant: they are ovate, acute, and with a clawed base.Outside they are generally covered by minute reddish (i.s.) papillae which can be best observed after simmering the flowers.Notes on petal colour have not been recorded for all species (they are missing in

Androecium
In bud the anthers lie in extra-ovarian pockets, their dorsal sides facing in towards the ovary and their ventral sides facing out.When the flower opens, the anthers are pulled from the pockets, become more or less erect and slightly twist into a row at the lower region of the flower.The style curves upwards and the stigma is positioned above this row.See Fig. 2. Anthesis is here used in the sense of Wurdack (1953: 352) as the time at which this erection occurs.At anthesis their position changes from the being inflexed in bud to erect.
Filaments are taxonomically trivial, they are equal or slightly unequal, ligular, broader at the their base than at the apex, dorsoventrally flattened, striate, and glabrous, the basal margins are only slightly expanded.Their length varies from 1.5 -3.5 mm.
Because in the drying and mounting process petals and anthers are often lost in the Melastomataceae they are unknown for H. capillipes, H. clemensiae, H. coronatum, H. kemulense, and H. sandakanense.It may be deduced from the other species that they, too, are diplostemonous, isomorphic, glabrous, taper from the bases of the thecae to the single apical pore, and present a slightly to well-developed connective that appears in the form of two slightly elevated ridges.From the number of the calyx teeth, extra-ovarian pockets, and the number of ovary locules it is inferred that they are also 4-merous.
The dorsal spur of the anthers, where known, is conspicuous and usually lanceolate but the lateral appendages that protrude to the sides are usually straight and minute, usually less than 0.5 mm, but reaching 1 mm in H. barbatum, H. bisetosum, and H. serpens.The exception seems to be that in H. barbatum the dorsal spur is rectangular and the lateral appendages are recurved.
Pollination is likely by insects like bees and bumblebees, hoverflies, and the like.The position of the anthers and the apical pores suggest pollination by 'buzzing', as is well-known from the flowers of e.g.Solanum.For this they have to alight on the flower.

Gynoecium
The ovary is 4-locular, concrescent with the hypanthium, and with 8 extra-ovarian chambers.In Medinilla the depth of these does not reach beyond the middle of the ovary, in contrast in Heteroblemma they reach nearly to the base.
The style in bud ranges from 5 -8 mm, its colour is white, pink, or reddish purple.Generally, it is covered by minute reddish (i.s.) papils from the base upwards.At anthesis it is usually exserted and continues to increase in length even after the corolla drops.The stigma is always punctiform, and only for two species the colour has been recorded: white.

Fruit
In the palaeotropical Dissochaeteae there has been an independent evolution of berries from capsules (Clausing & Renner 2001b).Fruits in Heteroblemma are hard berries (sclerified pericarp) with persistent placentas, their inside is usually filled with jelly.Catanthera has soft berries with a weakly sclerified pericarp, while in Kendrickia in contrast has a fleshy capsule that opens by four longitudinal cracks (Clausing & Renner 2001a).Generally, the surface is smooth, rarely rugose-wrinkled (H.kemulense) and occasionally it appears ribbed (H.barbatum) and with thicker walls.Seeds are numerous, commashaped with a papillate testa, up to 1 mm long, bright yellow to orange.
The way of dispersal is unknown, but at least in the instances where jelly was observed in the fruits it is likely to be by birds.Clausing et al. (2000) mentioned the presence of 'woody berries', 'fleshy capsules', which are terms in contradiction, for the fruits here are not berries (fleshy, indehiscent, mesocarp well-developed, the seeds immersed in it, no cavities present, no developed septs), nor capsules (dry, dehiscent, severalseeded, pericarp splitting open, the valves remaining attached).Curiously, although this seems to be a fairly common type of fruit in the tropics, there is no general term.
The most widespread species (and also the best collected one) is H. alternifolium distributed from Vietnam, the Malaysian Peninsula (but so far not in between), Sumatra, Borneo, and Celebes.
In Vietnam Averyanov et al. (2003) stated that H. alternifolium is very common in closed evergreen tropical monsoon submontane broadleaved forests between 600 -1400 m and also in riparian communities between 600 -1000 m.The collections made by Averyanov et al. in 2001Averyanov et al. in -2002  Habitat -Primary mixed dipterocarp forest, secondary forest, marshy forest, fresh water swamp forest, near water, along river side, on sandy clay, loam, sandstone, sometimes ultramafic, 0-1100 m altitude.
Notes -The best collected species of the genus, it presents great variability in the morphology of the leaves and the reported colour of the fruits, whereby the 'fruits' clearly are hypanthia from which the petals and stamens had dropped off.
From Celebes there is only one collection (Van Balgooy 3531) and it has hirsutulous pedicels but otherwise it falls within the variability of the species.From Vietnam there is only one collection (Poilane 29857) found in the Thua Thiên-Huê area, with the longest lateral appendages of all H. alternifolium collections (up to 2 mm).
Habitat -Notes on habitat and ecology are only available from Vietnam collections.In closed primary broadleaved mountain forest, between 1500 -2000 m, common.
Collector's notes -Epiphytic creeping vine up to 15 m long, cauliflorous.Petals pale pink to pink.
Notes -Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr erroneously cited Bünnemeijer 5662 as the type.This is the type of M. buenne meijeri Bakh.f. (1943Bakh.f. ( , 1946Bakh.f. ( , 1947: 192): 192).The Forbes collection is correctly cited in his list of collectors and the specimen itself in L is also so labelled by Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr himself.This mix-up of type citations is not covered by the Code, but we have regarded it as a bibliographic error that can be corrected, similar to Art. 33.5.In 1943 one was not required to designate a type, anyway (Art.8).

Heteroblemma capillipes
Collector's notes -Creeper, climber, or rheophyte, or terrestrial, with adventive roots, up to 2.1 m.Stem dark brown, brown hairy.Leaves slightly papery, above green, beneath pale green.Peduncle dark red.Pedicels pale green.Young calyx pink with long straw-coloured hairs.Petals pale pink.Fruit bright yellow, orange yellow to orange, red, with yellowish orange to brown bristles, pedicel green to yellowish green.differs in its shorter petioles, leaves being linear-lanceolate, decurrent base, 3-plinerved, but shows the distinctive hirsute fruits.
Distribution -Endemic of W Kalimantan: NE of Pontianak, G. Bentuang area.
Notes -Although similar to H. serpens by its cordate leaf base and the 9 primary nerves, it is different in its glabrous flower and fruit pedicels and hypanthium, while its calyx teeth are minute or absent and glabrous.It differs from H. alternifolium in its cordate leaf base and campylodromous venation and abaxially it is hirsutulous along the reticulations below.
Collector's notes -Climbing 3 m high in a tree.Fruits red.
Notes -Named after its distinctive crowned fruits, adorned by very conspicuous calyx remnants.
Only known from the type.Habitat -Clay rich alluvium along streams, river bank, in occasionally flooded riverine forest, 25 -950 m altitude.
Collector's notes -Climber, reportedly up to 10 m high, stem naked except for the top 1.5 m, greyish, mid-brown, chocolate brown.Petiole proximally tinged brown.Leaves when young pinkish (green), later above deep green, beneath paler, drill purple.Flowers cauliflorous.Peduncles pale green, green.Pedicel pale red; hypanthium pale red, orange.Petals pink; pale yellow to yellow flowers as noted for S. 22818 (Jugah ak.Kudi ) and Chew Wee-Lek 346 are extremely exceptional in the alliance.Filaments white, anthers cream.Style creamy, white; stigma white.Fruits pale yellow, orange; pedicel green, pale orange Note -13 collections were seen.

9.
Heteroblemma flagellatum (Stapf)  Collector's notes -Root climber, up to 8 m high, flowers 1-2 m above the ground.Petioles succulent, dark purplish.Leaves above green to dark green, beneath pale green with a purplish brown indument on the nerves.Pedicel pinkish red, dark pink.Flower buds dark pink, purplish.Hypanthium pinkish red, dark pink.Petals pale pink, pinkish white.Filaments white.Stamens arranged in a group so that they are parallel.Filaments white.Anthers yellow, apex and dorsal appendage slightly purplish.Top of ovary pink.Style white at base, upwards reddish purple, stigma white.Berries orange, tasteless.
Note -5 collections were seen.(Regalado)  Collector's notes -Climber, up to 3 m.Flowers scattered on middle (older) leaf bearing part, pinkish in bud.Stigma violet.Immature fruit pale green, green.

Heteroblemma formanii
Notes -We are not sure whether Church et al. 348,409,and Hansen 1230 are conspecific or perhaps represent a proper species.They differ by having 5-7-plinerved leaves, basal acrodromous venation, acute leaf bases and their distribution, and are found in W Kalimantan. Collectors have noted for this: Climber, 3.5 m long.Leaves above glossy green, beneath pale green, venation very prominent, brownish purple, sunken above; secondary nerves parallel, widely spaced.Pedicels green.Hypanthium pale green.Petals white, white with pink tinge, pale pink.Filaments yellow near apex.Style purple.Fruit orange.
Habitat -Primary forest near stream, at low altitude.
Note -Only know from the type.Jaheri 18 (BO), from Kalimantan possibly belongs here, but it has shorter pedicels and bristly fruits (Regalado 1990: 65).
Habitat -On trees or rocks, limestone hills, only one reference to altitude: 460 m altitude.
Acknowledgements (especially by RCL) Dr. Max M.J. van Balgooy contributed with his expertise in the generic identification of the incoming Melastomataceae.Prof. Pieter Baas was very kind in pointing out some key literature in regards to vestiture and plant anatomy.Dr. Wim Vink was helpful with my doubts on the subject of domatia.Dr. Paul Keßler on collecting methods and their influence on herbarium material.Dr. Marco Roos in the administrative issues concerning the thesis.Dr. Frits A.C.B. Adema for his help in searching localities.Ms. Anita V.M. Walsmit Sachs-Jansen was extremely kind in preparing the illustrations and initiating me in botanical illustration.In the early stages of the revision valuable advice was given by the late Dr. Rein C. Bakhuizen van den Brink f.We all are also grateful to the directors and curators of the following herbaria who on very short notice were able to send on loan their valuable material or send high resolution images: AAU, BM, C, E, FI, K, M, and SING.
JFV visited SAR in 2012 and thanks its staff for their generous assistance.