Publications (4)

Pandanus ramromensis (Pandanaceae), a new species from Peninsular Thailand

Gardens' Bulletin Singapore
2024

Vol. 76, Issue 2

pp. 269-275

Pandanus ramromensis Callm., Y.W.Low & Buerki (Pandanaceae) from the summit of Khao Ram Rome (Nakhon Si Thammarat Province) in Peninsular Thailand is described here. The new species resembles Pandanus kedahensis H.St.John in its ecology and habit but differs by the dimensions of its leaves, leaf shape, syncarps and styles. The new species is provided with line drawings and field photographs, and is assigned a preliminary conservation status of Vulnerable (VU) using the IUCN Red List criteria.

DOI:

10.26492/gbs76(2).2024-09

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Flora of Singapore: Checklist and bibliography

Gardens' Bulletin Singapore
2022

Vol. 74, Issue (suppl.1)

pp. 3-860

A checklist of all species of bryophytes, lycophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms that are found in the wild (native, naturalised and casual) in Singapore is presented. We have attempted to account for all names of species and infraspecific taxa that have ever been recorded for Singapore, along with the pertinent publications that reported each of these names. For each currently accepted name, the synonyms of relevance for Singapore are included. The native or non-native status for all taxa is given, along with the most recent national conservation assessment applied to each native taxon. If we were aware that the most recent assessment required an update, the taxon is newly assessed here. The checklist includes 2654 native taxa, 479 naturalised/casual taxa and 101 cryptogenic taxa.

DOI:

10.26492/gbs74(suppl.1).2022-01

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New Guinea has the world’s richest island flora

Nature
2020

Vol. 584, Issue 7822

pp. 579-583

New Guinea is the world’s largest tropical island and has fascinated naturalists for centuries. Home to some of the best-preserved ecosystems on the planet and to intact ecological gradients—from mangroves to tropical alpine grasslands—that are unmatched in the Asia-Pacific region, it is a globally recognized centre of biological and cultural diversity. So far, however, there has been no attempt to critically catalogue the entire vascular plant diversity of New Guinea. Here we present the first, to our knowledge, expert-verified checklist of the vascular plants of mainland New Guinea and surrounding islands. Our publicly available checklist includes 13,634 species (68% endemic), 1,742 genera and 264 families—suggesting that New Guinea is the most floristically diverse island in the world. Expert knowledge is essential for building checklists in the digital era: reliance on online taxonomic resources alone would have inflated species counts by 22%. Species discovery shows no sign of levelling off, and we discuss steps to accelerate botanical research in the ‘Last Unknown’.

DOI:

10.1038/s41586-020-2549-5

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Yee Wen Low | Flora of the World