Research in the Botany Department. University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur

Dr. B.C. Stone, the present Head of the Botany Unit, is continuing his investigations on Pandanaceae, which form the major research work; and on Rutaceae and Araliaceae, two other families which are his favorites. The genus Freycinetia is the nearest to completion; it is expected to have about 180-200 species when completed monographically. Pandanus is being studied partly at the micromorphological level, and studies of leaf anatomy and cytology and embryology are and have been carried out, with much of this work in the hands of research students. The results of explorations in Mauritius, Madagascar, and East Africa are being readied for publication, including several large papers on the rich pandan-region of Madagascar. This work has been done with the considerable aid of Mr. J.-L. Guillaumet of ’ORSTOM’ in Tananarive, who is continuing to collect material and has found much of interest. Regional treatments of Freycinetia in Borneo, of the same genus in Malaya, of Pandanus in Malaya and of this species in Borneo, are nearly ready for publication or are already in press. A review of Java Pandanaceae is being prepared. A review of Sumatran Pandanaceae is next contemplated. In Rutaceae, the long-awaited monograph of the Hawaiian genus Pelea has finally appeared (Phanerog. Monogr. Tom. III, J. Cramer Verlag, 1969). Also the treatment of Rutaceae for the new Tree Flora of Malaya (ed. T.C. Whitmore) is in preparation. Work in Araliaceae is presently quiescent except a report on some chromosome studies of Polyscias which is to appear in the J. Jap. Bot. in 1969. The MS for the ’Flora of Guam’ is now with the printers and should be out within 2 years of this writing (Sept. 1969). It will appear in the journal ’Micronesica’ (which Dr. Stone founded and continues to co-edit). The then College of Guam has now become the University of Guam (Agana).