Sarawakodendron, a new genus of Celastraceae

During my trip to Malaysia in 1966, sponsored by the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO), for doing field work on Anacardiaceae, a new tree genus was found in Sarawak belonging to the family Celastraceae which I have revised for the Flora Malesiana series I, volume 6. While camping at the Nyabau Forest Reserve, Bintulu, Sarawak, with the field team of the Forest Department, I examined and collected a number of interesting plants. The area is quite near the sea coast and the type of forest is intermediate between kĕrangas (heath forest) and dipterocarpaceous forests. One day, the plant collector Mr Sibat ak Luang guided me to see a flowering tree of Anisophyllea ferruginea Ding Hou ( Rhizophorac.). On the way I picked up one fallen flower from the forest floor just a few metres from the camp. With its characteristic fleshy disk and three stamens, I thought it might belong to Salacia (Celastrac.). I showed the flower to Sibat and asked him to look for the plant. He pointed to a tree, c. 12 m tall, beside me. I could hardly believe it, because the Malesian Salacia species are mostly lianas. He climbed the tree and obtained a fertile branch for me. I examined the material and the flower in my hand was evidently from that tree. To my surprise, the leaves were distinctly alternate, while those of the Salacia species are mostly decussate.