Resources for inventorying plants in the Southeast Asian tropics: Plans for the future

We aimed to cover two issues in this workshop; the third arose during the course of the discussion: 1. The need for an increased rate of collecting in the Southeast Asian tropical area (‘Malesia’ for short) if taxonomic decisions in the ‘Flora Malesiana’ and other taxonomic projects are to be soundly based and, more generally, if there are to be materials adequate for the future needs of taxonomy. 2. The likelihood that any attempt to increase collecting, or even simply to continue collecting at the present rate, without paying adequate attention to the distribution, mounting, and preservation of the specimens will be an ineffective use of scarce resources. 3. We have to consider how we justify the need for more collecting and the importance of the general maintenance of collections, and also how we can develop the general motivation and education of herbarium staff. In connection with the first issue, there was no discussion of specific areas to be targeted for collection, or of conservation; both matters were covered in other sessions. Most of the discussion covered problems that are common to institutions throughout the world; institutions in more temperate climates suffer from dermestid infestations, infestations which, if unchecked, can render much of a collection worthless. But the problems can quickly be compounded in the tropics, where a combination of climate, inadequate buildings and cabinets, and lack of funding to meet running costs may cause a remarkably speedy destruction of valuable collections.