Revision of the Genus Polycarpaea (Caryoph.) in Malaysia

The genus is extremely poorly represented in the Malaysian area as compared with the wealth of species described from the African flora and with the relatively large number of species described from Asia and Australia. Most of the specimens collected in Malaysia belong to the widely distributed P. corymbosa (L.) Lamk, which is still of very limited occurrence in Malaysia. A Queensland species, P. spirostylis F. v. M., has once been reported from islands in Torres Straits. The three other species are apparently local-endemics from the climatically dry Lesser Sunda Islands and I have been unable to match them with any of the described species from the Asiatic and Australian floras.