Good Health to the Dipterocarps! The Paris Round Table Conference

According to rough estimate, in these years one quarter of the hardwood in the international timber market comes from Dipterocarpaceae: keruing, meranti are the best-known names. It was a good idea to convene a conference for a review of the available knowledge on this family, which is best represented in Malesia with 380 species. Most of them occur in Borneo, Malaya, Sumatra and the Philippines, in that order. About 35 botanists – too few of them from the region itself – attended the 3-day session, on 14, 15, and 16 June 1977. Organizer was Mme. Géma Maury of Brunoy near Paris, whose work in Malaya on seedlings of the family was mentioned on pages 2565-2566 of the Flora Malesiana Bulletin. Host was Professor J.F. Leroy, Director of the Paris Herbarium. (In his speech he spoke of the Dipterocarpaceae as a kind of Drosophila of tropical forestry. A nice feat of French originality!). Professor Jean Dorst, general Director of the Paris biological museums, opened the conference and later treated the participants to champagne. (His name in Dutch would mean ’thirst’).