Appendices (continue)

Appendix 10
Summaries on Recent Seed-collecting Expeditions (continue)

III. REPORT ON AN EXPEDITION TO MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA TO OBTAIN SEEDS OF TROPICAL PINES (continue)

E.A.A.F.R.O. 1969

LIST OF INTRODUCED PROVENANCES (continue)

IV. SOUTH EAST ASIA SEED COLLECTIONS 1969

J. W. Turnbull

1. Objective

To obtain seeds and botanical specimens of Eucalyptus deglupta, Pinus kesiya and Pinus merkusii from natural stands in the Philippines and Indonesia. The seed was to be collected in such a way as to be suitable for provenance research.

2. Organisation

Funds for the collecting were provided by FAO, salaries of the Australian officers by their own Departments. Overall coordination was the responsibility of the late E. Larsen. The collections were supervised by the following officers:

J. W. Turnbull (FRI, Australia) - Pinus kesive, Pinus merkusii

A. L. Cameron (Forests Dept, Papua/N. Guinea) - Philippines/Eucalyptus deglupta and Indonesia/Eucalyptus deglupta

E. Larsen (FRI, Australia) - Indonesia/Eucalyptus deglupta

T. E. Greathouse (FAO, Malaysia) - Indonesia/Pinus merkusii

Sheikh Ibrahim (FRI, Malaysia) - Indonesia/Pinus merkusii

Mr. I. Esteban of the Reforestation Administration and Mr. R. Valdez of the Bureau of Forestry acted as counterparts for the Philippine collections. The late Dr. Prijanto of the Forest Research Institute, Bogor, assisted in the Indonesian collections.

3. Collections

3.1 Philippines: Seed collections in the Philippines commenced on February 20th and were completed on May 17th. The Pinus kesiya had passed its peak seed shedding period by this time and considerable effort was required to collect 34 kg from 19 populations. 17 provenances are distributed from the entire natural range of the species in Luzon. Two “provenances” are samples from commercial collections and are typical of the material currently available from the Philippines.

Collections of four provenances of Pinus merkusii from the natural stands in Zambales and Mindoro yielded 8.8 kg of seed.

Seed of two provenances of E. deglupta from the island of Mindanao were obtained. Capsules were observed in all stages of ripening and arrangements were made for seed to be collected at five other sites during the period May – October 1969.

Botanical samples were collected from the majority of the seed collection areas.

3.2 Indonesia: Two samples of seed of E. deglupta were obtained from Celebes.

4. Seed testing

Pinus kesiya: germination ranged from 59 to 91 percent (average 79 percent). Pinus merkusii had a germination range of 8–40 percent (average 25 percent).

E. deglupta: germination ranged from 30 000 germinants per gramme to 11 000 per gramme (Philippine seed).

SOUTH EAST ASIAN SEED COLLECTIONS 1969

* Commercial type collection - coordinates are approximations
+ Accurate coordinate not yet available

V. REPORT ON A JOURNEY TO SUMATRA, THAILAND AND INDIA FOR THE DANISH/FAO FOREST TREE SEED CENTRE

H. Keiding     January – March 1970

1. Objectives

To collect seed for provenance trials of Pinus merkusii, Pinus kesiya and Tectona grandis in South East Asia.

To discuss the possibilities of future seed collection of Gmelina arborea, Pinus roxburghii and Pinus griffithii.

2. Work done

2.1 Sumatra: Seed of Pinus merkusii was collected in the Atjeh area (Kutatjane) and a survey of the stands at Tapanuli (Dolok Saut) was made.

2.1.1 The Atjeh area. The group consisted of Keiding and Greathouse, a forestry officer, an interpreter, four carriers and climbers plus a forest ranger. The four wheel drive jeep had to be left near Blangkedjeren and the pine area at Akol was reached on foot. The procedure for collecting seed for provenance research followed by I.U.F.R.O. teams in N.W. America was adapted, as far as possible, to the conditions in Sumatra. The main obstacles were the limited knowledge of flowering habit and of the seasonal and annual fluctuations in cone crop, the difficulty of access to most of the pine areas and the lack of proper maps. Exploration, collection and recording will have to be done simultaneously if seed samples are to be made available within the next few years.

In Indonesia seed is normally collected from June to November. In 1969 the collection period was vaguely said to have lasted from February to August (7 months). 50 kg of seed from the 1969 collection was purchased by the Pilot Plantation Project in Malaysia in October that year. The germination per cent was nil.

In 1970 only 80–180 cones per tree could be collected as opposed to the 200–300 aimed at. The cone crop was not very big that year and in addition the collecting should have been done one month later (in February). A proper provenance collection could therefore not be made. The cones were spread out for after-ripening. Germination tests showed a germination per cent of 10–15%. A separate sample extracted during the after-ripening gave 48% which seems to indicate that only a few cones were sufficiently mature.

The total weight of the seed collected in the Atjeh area amounted to 97 g. Collection was done from 14 trees.

2.1.2 The Tapanuli area. Observations on the variability of Pinus merkusii of this provenance raised the suspicion that crossing with introduced plant material of the Atjeh provenance has taken place. According to Mr. W. S. Depari, D.F.O., who has a long service in the Indonesian Forest Department behind him, all pine trees outside the native reserve at Dolok Saut are planted or are the result of natural regeneration of planted trees. Although it would be very interesting from the genetic point of view to study possible provenance hybrids it was decided not to collect seed on this trip.

2.1.3 The Kerintji area. This area could not be reached because of the extremely bad road conditions.

2.2 Thailand: An agreement had been made to collect seed for both Thailand and the Seed Centre.

2.2.1 Pinus kesiya and Pinus merkusii are usually collected in February and March in Thailand. Pinus kesiya seems to mature first (by the end of January in northern Thailand) and the cones mature more uniformly than those of Pinus merkusii. Extraction of seed is relatively easy.

As a result of the collections, six localities of P. kesiya and two of Pinus merkusii will be available for provenance testing (200–700 g of seed of the former and 1100–1600 g of the latter). The relatively high germination per cent of P. merkusii (84% and 50% for the two lots respectively) is remarkable taking into account the varying state of maturity of the cones. Not only did the state of maturity of the cones vary between trees, but also cones at all stages of maturity could be found on any one tree. The variation between localities is even more pronounced, indicating that collections should either be extended over a longer period of time or repeated in order to get cones at the right state of maturity.

2.2.2 Teak. Seed had been collected for provenance research in 1965 and 1968. Provenance trials were laid down in 1966 and 1967 from the 1965 collections in two different areas, in all a total of 49 samples. The 1968 collections comprising 15 provenances were placed in 4 trials almost evenly distributed from the latitude of Bangkok in the south to near Chieng Saen in the northern-most part of Thailand. The possibilities of coordinating provenance research were discussed in a positive atmosphere by the Forest Department and the Teak Centre. Attempts have been made before by the Teak Sub Commission to coordinate the research in southeast Asia, but the response by the participating countries has on the whole been rather disappointing.

2.3 India

2.3.1 Teak. The origin of the teak seed in India seems to reflect the availability of seed rather than its genetic implications. Thus a systematic provenance sampling covering indigenous and introduced teak stands would serve both India and countries importing seed (e.g. west Africa, Trinidad). It is therfore proposed that the individual State Forest Service under the administration of the State Silviculturist should carry out the location and demarcation of stands for provenance sampling. Seed may then be collected jointly by the Indian Forest Service and the seed centre in accordance with IUFRO standards. It is hoped that the preliminary selection of stands could be finished in time for the 1971 seedfall or that at least a start could then be made to collect seed.

2.3.2 Other species. Some preparatory work in selecting potential collecting areas of Gmelina arborea can be carried out in conjunction with collection of teak provenance samples, as the two species often grow together.

A provenance trial of 9 provenances of Pinus roxburghii was laid out in 1937. Further investigations on the geographic variation of the species are, however, needed.

Pinus griffithii is the only species from which it was not permitted to collect seed in India, because of political reasons.

VI. PROCUREMENT OF DOUGLAS FIR SEED FOR PROVENANCE RESEARCH

H. Barner

(Abstract of paper presented at the 15th IUFRO Congress, Gainesville, Florida, 1971)

1. Objective

Collection of seed of Pseudotsuga sp., Pinus contorta and Picea sitchensis from the North-western parts of the United States. The seed is to be used for scientific research on forest genetics and seed physiology, provenance research, and the preservation of gene resources.

2. Work done

Collections were started in 1966 and they have been repeated every year since. 15 dominant trees per stand (not plus-trees) were collected (space between collected trees was approximately 100 m in the case of Douglas fir). The trees were not marked and the seed was mixed after extraction into one single sample per seed source. On the basis of a questionnaire sent to 30 countries, 40–50 samples per state were collected (approximately 300 litres of cones per source, 1 – 2 kg seed).

The following collections have been made up to now:

By January 1970 the samples had been distributed to 49 institutions in 27 countries (1892 samples of Douglas fir and 1336 samples of contorta pine).

APPENDIX 11

INIF MEXICO.BOLETIN TECNICO No. 26

Agosto de 1969

Una nueva especie Mexicana de Pinus

by Xavièr Madrigal Sanchez and Miguel Caballero Deloya

(11 pages text, 1 table, 8 figures)

Includes an English summary which reads:-

“Vegetative samples of a non-classified species of Mexican pine were collected in “Cerro de Chiqueritos”, Municipio de Coalcomán, Kichoacán. Some other samples for herbarium were collected later in “Cerro Ocotoso” and “Puerto del Pinabete”. The latter was designated the typical locality.

“The pine under study is member of section Haploxylon. In contrast, the other pine species in the same area belong to section Diploxylon. The species of Pinus resembling most this new species are Pinus monticola, P. strobus and P. strobus var. chiapensis.

“The pine above is distinguished, however, mainly by the following characters: fewer number of needles (3 to 4); sheath length on young leaves 7–9 mm; dorsal umbo; articulated seed wing and resin canals in number of 2, 3 & 4, instead of 2 and 3 for the other species.

“It is found on lands covered by calcareous rocks and shallow soil. Elevations of 2 040 – 2 400 metres. The total annual rainfall is estimated to about 1 700 mm, absolute maxima and minima temperatures are about 30°C and -5°C respectively.

“In testimony of recognition to Dr. Jerzy Rzedowski for his work in taxonomy and ecology of Mexican plants, the authors agreed to designate the new species as Pinus rzedowskii Madrigal et Caballero.”