Daphniphyllum ( Daphniphyllaceae ) in peninsular malaysia

There has been confusion concerning the number of Daphniphyllum species that occur in Peninsular Malaysia. Hooker (1890) recorded three species, D. lancifolium Hook.f, D. laurinum (Benth.) Baill. and D. scortechinii Hook.f. Ridley (1924) included another species, D. bancanum Kurz, in addition to the three species recorded by Hooker. Huang (1966) in his monograph of Daphniphyllum considered only two species to be present in Peninsular Malaysia, i.e. D. laurinum (with D. bancanum as a synonym) and D. glaucescens Blume with D. lancifolium and D. scortechinii being reduced to subspecies of the latter. whitmore (1972) recognized two species, D. glaucescens and D. laurinum, but not the subspecies noting that “the form with blunt leaves may be distinguished as D. glaucescens ssp. scortechinii (Hook.f.) Huang, the other as D. glaucescens ssp. lancifolium (Hook.f.) Huang”. Turner (1997) listed D. laurinum and D. glaucescens with D. lancifolium and D. scortechinii as synonyms of the latter. However, Huang (1997) in his flora Malesiana account no longer recognized subspecies in D. glaucescens but reinstated Malesian taxa at specific rank, thus he considered both D. lancifolium and D. scortechinii as species. However, he retained var. blumeanum (Baill. ex Müll.Arg.) J.J.Sm. as a variety of D. glaucescens. Thus, the number of Daphniphyllum taxa he recorded for Peninsular Malaysia was five (four species, D. lancifolium, D. laurinum, D. scortechinii and D. glaucescens with two varieties, var. blumeanum and var. glaucescens).

originally been described, and specimens identified as these two varieties from Peninsular Malaysia and as D. lancifolium.
Leaf characters were not useful in separating these taxa.However, a combination of fruit characters, especially stalk length and fruit surface previously used by Huang (1996Huang ( , 1997)), as well as infructescence length and persistence of the stigmas (Table 1) showed firstly that specimens from Peninsular Malaysia variously described as D. lancifolium, D. glaucescens var.glaucescens and var.blumeanum belong to a single taxon; and secondly that the Peninsular Malaysian taxon is distinct from either var.glaucescens and var.blumeanum, neither of which therefore occur in the Peninsula.
Using the characters in Table 1, Peninsular Malaysian specimens (var.lancifolium) are distinct from those of var.blumeanum (fruit surface smooth) and from both var.blumeanum and var.glaucescens using a combination of infructescence and fruit stalk lengths (generally shorter in Peninsular Malaysia specimens) and in the stigmas being persistent.The tuberculate surface of the fruits is the result of uneven shrinkage of the fruit wall on drying rather than to outgrowths of the fruit wall or state of maturity.
Although the Peninsular Malaysian population is distinct by a combination of these characters, it cannot be distinguished from the other varieties of D. glaucescens by characters of the leaf, female flower, and fruit size and shape.Therefore this taxon does not warrant specific rank and is accorded varietal status.
Hooker (1890), Ridley (1924) and Huang (1997) all based their descriptions of D. lancifolium on very few specimens, all from the type locality.Now that more specimens have been collected, a detailed description is provided, except for male flowers, which have yet to be collected.
Note -when Hooker (1890) described Daphniphyllum lancifolium he cited King's Collector without a number but gave the detail 'Perak; alt.4500-4600 ft.'The only King's Collector specimen at Kew is number 7010 and it has 'alt.4500-4600 ft' written on the label.This is therefore the type.Huang (1966) was in error in citing King's Collector 7007 as the type, because firstly there is no duplicate of it at Kew, and secondly the label records a different altitude (4000-4600 ft).

ACKNOwLEdGEMENTS
This research was carried out as part of the flora of Peninsular Malaysia Project (Project no.01-04-01-0000 Khas) at the forest Research institute Malaysia funded by the Ministry of Science, Technology and innovation (MOSTi).we are grateful to the curators of the Kew, United Kingdom; Natural History Museum of London, United Kingdom, Singapore Botanic Gardens; and University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia herbaria for permission to examine specimens in their care.

Table 1 .
differences between varieties of Daphniphyllum glaucescens and Peninsular Malaysian specimens identified as varieties of Daphniphyllum glaucescens and D. lancifolium.Shrub or tree 2-21 m tall, to 25(-40) cm diameter.Bark smooth, red brown; inner bark brown to greyish brown.Sapwood pale to brownish white.Daphniphyllum glaucescens is widespread in Malesia.Only var.lancifolium occurs and is endemic in Peninsular Malaysia (Perak, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Johor).