Aneesah and Neolitsea

1. My Yemeni MS student Aneesah has had her viva voce on the systematic study of Neolitsea, a small genus in Lauraceae. Since the last treatment of the late Kochummen, Dr. Francis Ng is revising the family for the Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak.

2. There are things she agreed with Dr. Ng and there are a couple of things she chose to disagree. This is systematic botany. She did carry out studies on morphology, anatomy, palynology and phytochemistry.

3. N. zeylanica is now N. cassia and what Mr. Kochummen thought was a new species is now recognised a variety, N. cassia var. pahangensis. Dr. Ng also regarded it as a variant of the widely distributed N. cassia.

4. N. kedahensis and N. mollissima are conspecific, agreeing with Dr. Ng. However, Aneesah thought N. villosa and R. coccinea should be separated as distinct species.

5. She believed there is a new species tentatively called N. brinchangensis, collected without flowers and fruits from Gunung Brinchang, Cameron Highlands. Apparently this new taxon differs from the recognised ones above in both the morphological and anatomical features. We have to monitor this tree for its reproductive structures before describing it.