Sunday, September 30, 2012

[Botany • 2012] พรรณพฤกษชาติ สกุล ประทัดดอย Agapetes ในประเทศไทย • The Genus Agapetes D. Don ex G. Don (Ericaceae) in Thailand



พรรณพฤกษชาติ สกุล ประทัดดอย (สะเภาลม, เหง้าน้ำทิพย์) Agapetes ในประเทศไทย 
The Genus Agapetes D. Don ex G. Don (Ericaceae) in Thailand


Abstract
A taxonomic revision of the genus Agapetes D. Don ex G. Don in Thailand is presented. Twelve species are recognized. A key to the species, descriptions, ecological data and geographical distributions are provided.
Keywords: Taxonomy, Ericaceae, Agapetes D. Don ex G. Don, Thailand

Agapetes D. Don ex G. Don is distributed from the Himalayan region to south China and mainland southeastern Asia and comprises ca. 80 species. It belongs to the tribe Vaccinieae Rchb. (Stevens et al., 2004) but the generic delimitation has not been solved satisfactorily due to the very closely related polyphyletic genus Vaccinium L. (Stevens, 1985; Stevens  et al., 2004; Ruizheng & Stevens, 2005)

In Thailand, Agapetes may be distinguished from Vaccinium chiefly because of its larger corollas, usually more than 1 cm long (only A. inopinata Airy Shaw is sometimes shorter while Vaccinium in Thailand generally has much smaller fl owers). Generally there is no diffi culty in separating the two genera in Thailand and it is practical to keep them separate. The last revisions of this genus were those of Airy Shaw (1939, 1948, 1959), but he did not himself give a description to all species. Historically the study of Agapetes in Thailand was begun by Fletcher (1938). He listed four species of Agapetes in the Florae Siamensis Enumeratio, namely A. hosseana Diels, A. loranthiflora D. Don ex G. Don var. glabrata C.B. Clarke, A. parishii C.B. Clarke and A. saxicola Craib. Sleumer (1966) reported two additonal species: A. lobbii C.B. Clarke and A. bracteata Hook.f. ex C.B. Clarke. Recently, another new species, A. thailandica Watthana, has been described from Doi Suthep, a well known botanical exploration area (Watthana, 2001). This present work is a part of the revision of the Ericaceae for the Flora of Thailand








Watthana, S. 2001. A new species of Agapetes (Ericaceae) from Thailand. Edinburgh J. Bot. 58(3): 423 http://www.aseanbiodiversity.info/Abstract/53005865.pdf
Watthana, S. 2012. The genus Agapetes D. Don ex G. Don (Ericaceae) in Thailand. Thai Journal of Botany. 4 (1): 99-116. 2012.



Watthana, S. and C. Trisonthi. 1999. Agapetes inopinnata Airy Shaw, a New Record for Thailand. Thai Forest Bulltin. 27: 19-23.

http://www.tistr.or.th/tistr/code/tistrorg/ecological_note/en_200801.pdf