o_19ko2dt161ng2j4e1tgnoqv1s45a.pdf

LEE SU SEE & ROY WATLING (2007)
Some collections of specific groups are also housed in Zurich, Switzerland (ZT) and Innsbruck,
Austria resulting from collections made by Swiss and Austrian mycologists who visited
Malaysia and South-East Asia in the 1970s and 1980s and exchange of specimens with Corner.
None of these materials is supported by voucher cultures. Recent collections made by R.
Watling & E. Turnbull of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh under the auspices of
collaborative projects with FRIM and featured in their papers noted above are deposited in the
Edinburgh herbarium.
Several institutions in Malaysia maintain culture collections of macrofungi for research,
teaching and commercial purposes. Apart from those at FRIM, most of the cultures are of
non-indigenous species, comprising macrofungi cultivated in the country for food or medicinal
purposes and whose original sources are largely undetermined (Tan & Lee 1999). However,
specimen collections of macrofungi are rarer. Some universities such as Universiti Malaya
(UM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), hold
some macrofungal collections, but information on the status and condition of the collections
is not available. FRIM has a small collection of macrofungal specimens, mainly focused on
the ectomycorrhizal and wood-inhabiting taxa. In order to obtain up-to-date information on
the fungi of Malaysia, a survey of fungal collections, both of cultures and herbarium specimens
held by both local and overseas institutions, needs to be carried out.
Early drawings of Malaysian macrofungi collected in Singapore made by C. de Alwis and
Mrs. Burkill have been transferred from Edinburgh, where they formed part of the Corner
bequest, to Singapore while Corner’s field notes, commentaries and keys, line-drawings and
numerous water colours accompany his material in Edinburgh.
SPECIALISTS/RESEARCHERS
In the early 1900s, specific scientists were assigned to study or specialize in particular fungal
groups, for example, ascomycetes were under the purview of C.F. Baker who was a staff
member of the Singapore Botanic Gardens in 1917, while the myxomycetes were the specialty
of A.R. Sanderson (Chipp 1921). Corner’s brief when he was appointed Assistant Director in
Singapore included overseeing mycology and this led to him becoming involved in the study
of butt-rot fungi of rubber, which in its turn led to the development of the mitic hyphal system
for the classification of polypores. This tradition of specialization was upheld until very recently
in most institutions dealing with fungal taxonomy, e.g., the International Mycological Institute
in the U.K., the Rijksherbarium, Leiden, but unfortunately this practice ceased in the 1990s
due to budget constraints. Several British experts well versed with the Malaysian mycota such
as D.N. Pegler and R. Watling have retired and as a result of changing priorities in parallel
with many countries in the western world, have not been replaced. However, there is hope yet
in Japan and China where there are several young mycologists including fungal taxonomists
who are interested in tropical fungal diversity. There has also been an upsurge of interest in
the study of mycodiversity in neighbouring Thailand where many young researchers are being
trained both locally and abroad in mycology and fungal taxonomy. Locally, researchers who
work with Malaysian macrofungi are usually not trained as mycologists or taxonomists, their
knowledge of macrofungal taxonomy being acquired through personal interest or necessity
while working on plant pathology or other disciplines involving fungi. As in the west, mycology
and fungal taxonomy are given little attention if any, in local university curricula as attention
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