XVI International Botanical Congess

Over the last few years there has been a concerted effort to monograph thegenera of the traditionally defined Apocynaceae in South-East Asia and to complete the various Flora accounts of the region: the Flora of China, the Flora of Thailand, Flora Malesiana and the Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam. The Flora of China and the Flora of Thailand accounts have been published. The Flora Malesiana account with an estimated 300 native species in 41 genera is the largest challenge for this region. To ensure maximum accuracy many of the genera have been monographed. The number of genera has been greatly reduced although two new genera, Ecua and Baharuia, have been described. In continental South-East Asia, the Philippines, Malaysia and western Indonesia the number of species has generally also been reduced, but in the previously much less well explored regions of eastern Indonesia and Papua New Guinea new taxa have been described from recent collections.