/ Plant Resources of South-East Asia Proposal for a handbook E. Westphal and P.C.M. Jansen (Editors) T r Pudoc Wageningen 1986 Dr E. Westphal is a tropical agronomist and botanist, who graduated from the Agricultural University, Wageningen, in 1966. He has worked for several or­ ganizations in Uganda, Ethiopia and Cameroon in agronomy and economic botany. He has written several books and articles on pulses, agricultural sys­ tems, cropping systems, plants used for food, spices and tropical food crops, some in collaboration with others. Since 1983,h e has been senior staff member in the Department of Tropical Crop Science of the Agricultural University and has carried out several consultancies in Africa and Asia. Dr P.C.M. Jansen is a plant taxonomist, who graduated as tropical agronomist from the Agricultural University, Wageningen, in 1974. He has worked for several organizations in Benin, Ethiopia and Mozambique, and at the Depart­ ment of Plant Taxonomy of the Agricultural University. He has written some books on spices, condiments and medicinal plants. Since 1985, he has been em­ ployed by the Agricultural University, working at the Department of Plant Taxonomy. Design: Frits Stoepman GVN © Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation (Pudoc), Wagenin­ gen, the Netherlands, 1986. No part of this publication, apart from bibliographic data and brief quotations embodied in critical reviews, may be reproduced, re-recorded or published in any form including print, photocopy, microfilm, electric or electromagnetic rec­ ord without permission from the publisher Pudoc, P.O. Box 4, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands. Printed in the Netherlands Ri"1-1';; " Board of Trustees for the Netherlands President DR W.M. OTTO, Chairman of the Board of the International Agricultural Centre, Wageningen Members PROF.DR M. FLACH, Head Department of Tropical Crop Science, Agricultural University, Wageningen PROF.DR C. KALKMAN, Director National Herbarium, University of Leyden PROF.DR L.J.G. VAN DER MAESEN, Head Department of Plant Taxonomy, Agricultural University, Wageningen J.C.J. MOHRMANN, President Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam PROF.DR R.A.A. OLDEMAN, Head Department of Silviculture, Agricultural University, Wageningen PROF.DR C.C. OOSTERLEE, Rector Magnificus, Agricultural University, Wageningen Address of the Prosea Project P.O. Box 341 6700 AH Wageningen the Netherlands Contents Foreword 9 1 The project on 'Plant Resources of South-East Asia' (Prosea) 11 1.1 Objectives 11 1.2 Target groups 12 1.3 The many facets of the Prosea Project 13 1.3.1 The environment 13 1.3.2 Research 13 1.3.3 Data bank 14 1.3.4 Gene bank 14 1.3.5 Education 14 1.3.6 Extension 15 1.3.7 Lesser known crops and other useful plants 15 1.3.8 International cooperation 15 1.4 Stages of implementation and estimated costs 15 1.5 Cooperating institutions 16 1.5.1 The Netherlands 16 1.5.2 South-East Asia 17 1.5.3 International Agencies 17 2 Handbook about 'Plant Resources of South-East Asia' 18 2.1 Framework of the handbook 18 2.2 Plant species to be considered 20 2.3 Method of treatment 20 2.4 Illustrations 22 2.5 Estimated extent of the handbook 22 2.6 Authors and editors 22 2.7 Literature 23 3 Precursor of 'Plant Resources of South-East Asia' 24 3.1 Participating authors and institutions 24 3.2 Some plant resources of South-East Asia 26 Abrus precatorius :India n liquorice 26 Agathis labillardieri :Ne w Guinea kauri 26 Cajanus cajan : pigeon pea 28 Carica pubescens : mountain papaya 31 Cryptocoryne : genus including aquarium plants 32 Derris elliptica : derris 33 Elaeis guineensis : oil palm 35 Manihot esculenta : cassava 40 Metroxylon sagu : sago palm 45 Paphiopedilum : lady's slipper orchids 50 Pennisetum purpureum : elephant grass 51 Piper nigrum : black and white pepper 53 Pometia pinnata :taun 57 Rubus : genus including blackberries 60 Syzygium aromaticum : clove tree 61 Theobroma cacao : cocoa 66 Voacanga grandifolia : a medicinal plant 71 Acknowledgments 73 Sources of illustrations 74 Foreword Nature has made South-East Asia one of the richest regions of the earth. Among its natural endowments (such as oil, minerals, fish, solar energy, abun­ dant rains) the vegetation is the most essential resource for mankind, almost endlessly diversified and close at hand: timber of many kinds, some among the most valuable in the world, resins, medicine, foodstuffs for man and feedstuffs for animals. They exist in plenty and vary widely and will remain so if the plant cover is carefully managed and exploited. The population of South-East Asia may profit in many ways from its natural heritage, now and in the future. A strict condition for the survival of the many millions inhabitants is the maintenance of a thriving plant cover. Extensive in­ formation on the plants growing in the region is needed to allow access to the plant resources of each country. Thorough knowledge of plant resources is es­ sential for human life and plays a key role in ecologically balanced land use. The information needed includes botany, ecology, agronomy or silviculture, plant breeding, technology and economics. Vast amounts of printed and manuscript data on South-East Asian plants ex­ ist, making the available knowledge overwhelmingly large. However these data are scattered over countless books, articles and reports, written in many different languages over a period of almost two centuries, and often not accessi­ ble. In daily practice, thousands of workers in agriculture, forestry, research, education, extension, trade and industry have access to only a small part of this reservoir of knowledge. Handbooks on plant resources dealing with different parts of South-East Asia, leading publications in the past, were written half a century ago and are now obsolescent. Since then, research in tropical agronomy, forestry and economic botany has continued, rapidly expanding, aided by new techniques, checking and correcting, discovering new properties, food values, medicinal efficacies or dangers, ecological relations between cultivated and wild plants (environ­ ment), studying the prevention of erosion, weed invasion and many other relat­ ed subjects. The time has come for review of all the facts, old and new, to eliminate errone­ ous notions, to point out the most profitable way of handling plants and to avoid losses through ignorance, in short to make available a comprehensive easily consulted reference work. The Agricultural University at Wageningen has taken the necessary initiative with the Prosea Project, short for 'Plant Resources of South-East Asia'. Other institutions in the Netherlands have expressed their interest and are prepared to cooperate, in particular the National Herbarium at the University of Ley- den, the Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation (Pudoc) at Wageningen and the Royal Tropical Institute at Amsterdam. 10 PROSEA PROPOSAL The Minister of Education and Science has granted a subsidy to start the Prosea Project. A Board of Trustees for the coordination and supervision of the project within the Netherlands was appointed, under the presidency of Dr W.M. Otto, former­ ly Director-General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The survey and compilation of existing knowledge of about five thousand plants in South-East Asia is an extensive, complicated and unique enterprise, which can succeed only with international support and scientific, organization­ al and financial cooperation. Consultation and discussion is needed on the scope and implementation ofth e Prosea Project with institutions in South-East Asia, international agencies and private firms. To facilitate these discussions, the Proposal for a handbook presented here includes a description ofth e project and examples of how information on certain plants could be compiled. The sample includes some familiar and some less familiar plants. Contributions were written by specialists from various institutions in the Netherlands. Suggestions and criticisms are invited on scientific, educational and other aspects of the Prosea Project; the scope, planning, priorities, and the textual and pictorial layout of the forthcoming handbook may require adjustment. An active supportive interest from agencies, research and institutions, and in­ dividual scientists would be most welcome, and should benefit the forthcoming work and its users. There is every reason to expect that a long desired and adequate general source of essential and up-to-date information will come within the reach of agronomists, horticulturists, silviculturists, ecologists, economic botanists, plant breeders, experts on medicinal plants, teachers, students, advisory work­ ers and scientists in industry. The planned handbook is intended to be a survey, guide and directory to an in­ exhaustible resource for human welfare: the evergreen treasury of South-East Asia. Wageningen, July 1986 C.C. Oosterlee Rector Magnificus, Agricultural University, Wageningen, the Netherlands 1 The Project on 'Plant Resources of South-East Asia' (Prosea) South-East Asia for the purposes of Prosea includes Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and parts of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Burma. Strict definitions of the region include only the area from Malaysia to Papua New Guinea. However from a floristic, agricultural and forestry point of view, all these countries and even Sri Lanka and part of India (Kerala) show some similarity. The last pages ofthi s book con­ tain a map of the area of South-East Asia that Prosea covers. A great majority of the population in this region, a total of 300-400 million people, largely depends on the plant cover, the useful plants in particular, for its survival and well-being. A modern handbook giving information about pos­ sible uses of plants, both cultivated and growing wild, the plant resources, is lacking for South-East Asia. As for the uncultivated flora, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea are in the favourable position that a cur­ rent taxonomie work provides excellent basic information.