VNU JOURNAL 0F SCIENCE Ni.l1 Sci & Tech T XIX N04 2003 M AIN R K SU LTS OF IN T E R N A T IO N A L C O O PE R A T IV E R ESEARCH IN T H E ST U D Y O F P IA N T D ĨV E R SIT Y IN V IE T N A M , 1993-2002 J a c i n t o K e g a la d o J r Xlisstỉuri ỉiota n ica i (ỉarden, St Louis, M issouri D a n ie l K H a r d c r A rboretum Ih ìircrsitx o f ('cilifornỉa, S a n ta Cruz, C alifornia N g u y ên TÌC‘ 11 H iep , N g u y e n T h i T h a n h H u o n g In stitu te ()/' Ecology Ả’ Biological Resources , N C S T L e o n id V A v e ry a n o v K om arov B otnnical Ìn stìtư tv u f the R u ssia n A cadem y o f Sciences P h a n Ke Loc College o f N a tu l Sciences, V N U H anoi In stitu te o f Ecology & B iological Resources N C S T A b s t r a c t G re a t p ro g rt* » in b o ta n icỉkl e x p lo tio n s and s c ie n tiíĩc ìn v e s tìg a tio n s in th e fĩe !d f p la n t dive rsitN in V ie tn a m d u r in g past decade (1993-2002) h a ve re s u ỉte d in n u m iT o u * Iìi?w ta x a a n d novv a d d itio n s to th e ílo ()f V ic tn a m T h e c o lla b o tív e e íĩo rts o f thi* Vtetnam B otanical C onsenation Program a s c ie n tiíìc c o o p e tio n betw een th e In s titu tt* o f Ecology and H iolo gica l Resources (IK B R ), V ie tn a m and th e M is s o u ri B o ta n ic iìl G a rd e n (M B G ) U S.A an d o f m a n y o th e r p ro g m s , in c lu d in g th o Program o f the Basic Research in Natural Sciences Vietnam and thi* Flura ofVietnam prọịect, have contributed to the revitalization of plant diversity research in Vietn*m In the past decade a lo n e (1993-2002) m o re th a n tw o h u n d re d new ta x a in c ỉu d in g th ir te e n genera o f h ig h e r v a s c u la r p l.in ts ve be en described 77 new records o f p la n ts ve been similarly documented Thest* íìndingrt nccounted for a remarkable 3% increase in the tlo S ÌK iiiíìc a n t g a in s in n u m b e rs o f new M vrsinnceac* Araceae an d K u p h o rb ia ce n e ta x a vvere m ade in th e O rchidaceae T h e m ost sp e c ta c u la r d isco ve rie s a re th e n e w Ken 118 a nd species o f c o n ife r iXanthỉtcyparis vietnam cnsis ), new ge n u s a n d species o f fe rn (Caohangia squam ata), an d tw o new genera a nd species o f o rc h id s (Vietorchis aurea a n d Zeuxinella n ctnam íca) T h í* V ie tn a m G olden C yp re ss is th e ío u rth new c o n iíe r genus describecỉ since 1948 w h ilc Caobangta 18 one o f tw o ft»rn g e n e re c c n tly d e scrib e d ; th e la s t new tVrn penera w ert* ciescribed in th e la te 1960s M o s t o f new taxtt ;ind new records for the ílora of Vietnam were ĩound in norlhernmost limestone areas a n d on h ig h g n ite m o u n ta in s In tro d u rtio n V ietnam is ranked as one of th e most biologically diverse countries in the vvorlđ and is vvidely recognized to have a globally signiíìcant proportion of rare and enđemic species of p lan ts and anim als A num ber of prelim inary estim ates ()f the flor;ì (Nguyên Nghia Thin 1997; Phan Ke Loc, 1998; Thai Van T rung, 2000 ) offer figures of about 9600 native species of higher vascular p lants in Vietnam In addition, ahout 750 cultivated specics occur in Vietnam An e stim a te of at least 2400 additioníil specics is expected to be discoverecl and added to the flora The 63 64 'ỉ a c i n t o R e g a la d o J r., D a n ie l K H a r d e r , N g u y en T ie n H ie p total n u m b er of native species of higher vascular plants known in Vietnam for the ti me being is about 9,628 species in 2, 010 genera and 291 families (Phan Ke Loc, 1998) T his is a rem ark ab ly divẹrse flora for a relatively sm all country like V ietnam The ten largest families in this flora are Orchidaceae (897 species) (Averyanov & Averyanova, 2003), Pabaceae s.l (557), Poaceae (467), E uphorbiaceae (416), Rubiaceae (395), C yperaceae (304), A steraceae (291), L auraceae (245), Pagaceae (211) and A canthaceae (177) (Phan Ke Loc, 1998) The flora of V ietnam is not only large, but also rich in endemic species, adding to its significance The proportion of endemics has been variously recorded, ranging from 20 percent (Pocs Tomas, 1965) to as high as 27.7 percent (Thai van Trung, 2000) A more conservative estim ate suggests th a t about 10% of species and 3% of genera in th is flora are endemic to Vietnam (Vo Quy, 1995) Among 291 vascular plant íam ilies reported for Vietnam the highest levels of endem ism are observed in the íam ilies A canthaceae, Anacardiaceae, Annonaceae, Apocynaceae, Araceae, Arecaceae, Asclepiadaceae C elastraceae, Ericaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fagaceae, M yrsinaceae, Rubiaceae, Sapindaceae, Sapotaceae, Symplocaceae, Theaceae and Zingiberaceae (Schmid, 1974; T a k h tajan , 1986; Rundel, 1999) A recent inventory of th e orchid species in V ietnam places endemicity of th e family at 20% (Averyanov & Averyanova, 2003) P r e v i o u s s t u d ỉ e s o n t h e f l o r a o f V ie tn a m O ur u n d e rs ta n d in g of the flora of Viet Nam, albeit incomplete, is a ttrib u te d to several fu n d am en tal taxonomic publications, such as "Klora Cochinchinensis" (Loureiro, 1790, 1793), ”Flore Gộnộrale de r Indo-Chine” (Lecomte & H um bert (eds.), 1907-1951), "Klore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viet-Nam" (Aubrộville, Leroy & M orat (eds.), 1960-2001), "An illustrated flora of V ietnam " (Pham Hoang Ho 1991-1993, 1999-2000), "Vascular plant synopsis of V ietnam ese fIora" (Averyanov, et al 1990, 1996) and a n u m b e r of large recent Horistic an d taxonomic studies A nalyses of th e svstem atic stru c tu re of the flora have been done by Phan Ke Loc (1998) and Le T ran C han (1999) Tho flora of V ietnam is being vvritten in French, as p a r t of the regional ílora FIore d u C am bodge, du L aos et du V iet N a m , but the progress h as been slow From 1960*2001, it has published seventy-four faniilies, which comprised only 26% (74/291) of tho total n u m b er of íam ilies in Vietnam Most major groups have not been revised, including Acanthaceae, Asteraceae, Cyperaccae, Euphorbiacae, Kricaceae, Kagaceae, Lamiaceae Lauraceae, Moraceae, Orchidaceae, Poaceae, Pteridophyta, Hubiaceae, Urticaceae, and Zingiberaceae P erh ap s Loureiro g athered the íirst collections of h erb ariu m specimens in V ietnam beíore 1790 Mostly French collectors, such as Balansa, Chevalier, E b erh ard t H arm and, Pộtelot, Pierre, Schmiđ, ThoreK Vidal, and especially Poilane, collected a m ajority of the e x tan t specimens during the íirst four decades of th e past century E stim ates of th e num b er of collections made by these botanists is around 75.000 with a majoritv of the specimens deposited in th e herbarium a t the M a irt re s u ỉts o f i n t c n t u t ì n n a ỉ