Some notes on the seedling of Haplolobus (Burseraceae)

Though the embryo provides one of the main generic characters of Haplolobus, up till now nothing was known about its germination or seedling (blastogeny). That is why the first author, when revising the genus Haplolobus (Leenhouts, 1972) contacted Mr. J. S. Womersley, Chief Division of Botany, Department of Forests, at Lae, Papua and New Guinea, and asked him for either viable seeds, or seedlings. We are very obliged to him and to the Department of Forests for providing us with both, including herbarium and spirit material of seedlings and a herbarium specimen of the parent tree. The latter was collected under nr. NGF 49210 (Henty) at Markham Point near Lae, and could be identified as Haplolobus floribundus H. J. Lam ssp. floribundus group A. The seedlings were collected 8 weeks after being sown in the Lae Botanic Garden; they were preserved under nr. NGF 49275. It is a pity that the seeds sown in the Botanic Garden at Leiden did not germinate.