The Manokwari Declaration: Challenges ahead in conserving 70% of Tanah Papua’s forests

The Manokwari Declaration is an unprecedented pledge by the governors of Indonesia’s two New Guinea provinces to promote conservation and become SE Asia’s new Costa Rica. This is an exciting, yet challenging endeavour that will require working on many fronts that transcend single disciplines. Because Indonesian New Guinea has the largest expanse of intact forests in SE Asia, large-scale conservation pledges like the Manokwari Declaration will have a global impact on biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation

Devogelia (Orchidaceae), a new genus from the Moluccas and New Guinea

The new orchid genus Devogelia from the Moluccas and New Guinea is described and illustrated. Its possible affinities are discussed and it is tentatively concluded that Devogelia belongs either to the tribe Cymbidieae or to the Malaxideae. So far a single species, here described as D. intonsa Schuit., is known, which occurs as a locally abundant terrestrial in lower montane forest

A new combination in Agrostophyllum (Orchidaceae)

Appendicula elongata Ridley, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. II, 3 (1893) 375. — Type: Ridley s.n., Malay Peninsula, Tahan River. Appendicula hasseltii Blume, Bijdr. (1825) 304. — Podochilus hasseltii (Blume) Schltr., Mém. Herb. Boissier 21 (1900) 61. — Agrostophyllum hasseltii (Blume) J.J. Smith, Icon. Bogor. 2 (1903) 55, non Reichb. f. (1864). — Syntypes: Blume s.n., Java, Bantam; Blume s.n., Java, Buitenzorg (Bogor)

Review

As stated in the preface, this book is intended as a textbook on orchid biology. Fifteen chapters treat a diverse array of topics, from physiology to ethnobotany. In spite of its title, Fundamentals of Orchid Biology contains much general information that is only indirectly related to the purported subject matter. The chapter on cytology, for example, contains little which cannot be found in any undergraduate textbook on cell biology. More than one page in this chapter is devoted to the microscope used by Robert Brown, about which we learn that “it was made by the English barometers manufacturer Robert Banks (who also spelled his name Bancks) before 1820, and its stage is engraved with the maker’s name and address –Banks 441 Strand London.” I quote this as a specimen of the irrelevant information (others might like to call it erudition) which is found on almost every page, perhaps the most irrelevant item being a photograph of the last wife of Mao Zedong on page 50

Typification of infrageneric taxa in Dendrobium (Orchidaceae)

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