On the diversity of Haniffia Holttum (Zingiberaceae)

1. In Peninsular Malaysia there are four genera named after notable Malaysians. The fungus genus Nawawia named after Emer. Prof. Dato' Dr. Ahmad Nawawi Hj. Ayub, ex Deputu Vice Chancellor, Dean & Head of Botany Department, University of Malaya. The genus Kochummenia (Rubiaceae) is named after the late Mr. K. M. Kochummen, once the living dictionary of dendrology of FRIM; Abdulmajidia (Lecythidaceae) is named after the late Mr. Abdul Majid, ex Forest Conservator of Malaya. He was the father of jazz-singer and celebrity Sheila Majid and Haniffia is named after the late Mohd. Haniff, a famous plant collector, gardener and curator of Penang Botanical Gardens

2. The genus Haniffia was named and described by the late Holttum in 1950 to accomodate a taxon, Ellettariopsis cyanescencs of Ridley (1904). The species is known from Bukit Tangga, Negeri Sembilan.

3. The second species Haniffia albiflora is described by Kai Larsen & J. Mood in 2000 based on specimens from Narathiwat province, Thailand. This species has white flowers with labellum white and yellow blotch at base. Whereas H. cyanescens has violet flowers and its labellum has white veins.

4. In the same year, Datuk Seri C K Lim described a new taxon from Penang that has white flowers with labellum veins blotched violet. In addition, the petiole apparently very short or absent. He named it Haniffia cyanescence var. penangiana.

5. Last year Datuk Seri C K Lim apparently collected another taxon that may be new, as it differs from the above taxa, from Perak. The specimen lacks flowers to ascertain its taxonomic status.

6. My student Ms. Rohana Kamarul Ariffin (2009) studied the three taxa, excluding H. albiflora and noted that they differ in detailed morphology and anatomy. She investigated the anatomy of petiole, midrib, lamina (margin), adaxial and abaxial epidermis. There are enough evidences to elevate var. penangiana to a specific rank. However, she is short of doing molecular studies, in particular DNA sequencing to ascertain their phylogenetic relationship.

7. I am keen the get the fresh samples of the four taxa to do some molecular studies.

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