Pleuranthodium papilionaceum

Little undisturbed vegetation remains in the coastal lowlands of Papua New Guinea. Shifting cultivation with short fallow periods (less than three years) is an important form of land use in the humid lowlands of Papua New Guinea. Slash and burn agriculture (or swidden agriculture) has occurred for at least 5,000 years and is likely to remain the economic base of a large proportion of the country’s population. In the past, shifting cultivation had little environmental impact and much primary rainforest had survived as locals valued forests for the resources they provide but rapid population growth and involvement in cash crops economics has caused a shortening of rotation times, clearing of much greater areas of primary forests and in some cases unintended conversion of secondary forest to grasslands (Bowman et al. 1990). Additional threats to the native flora include the spread of invasive exotic species e.g., Piper aduncum which invade secondary fallow vegetation in the lowlands, logging, planned highway construction and annual bushfires (Rogers and Hartemink 2000, Morrisoon 2001). The taxon was collected in areas of medium human foot print (Sanderson et al. 2002). The ability of the taxon to persist and regenerate in disturbed and secondary vegetation is unknown. No ethnobotanical use of the taxon has been reported so far (Riswan and Setyowati 1996, Bau and Poulsen 2006).

This species was not collected within any conservation units. The taxon is not grown ex situ. Parts of the DNA have been sequenced for phylogenetic studies. The region remains largely botanically unexplored and undercollected (Morrison 2001). Additionally, the family Zingebericeae has often not been well explored in the field as collections were avoided by conventional workers due to the large herbaceous size, having fleshy rhizomes which pose inconvenience in preparation of herbarium specimens, their occurrence as undergrowth in sometimes inaccessible forest areas and the often short period of flowering, which hinders collection of materials with adequate character details (Prakash and Mehrotra 1996). Surveys and censuses should be conducted in the historical sites of collections and in potentially suitable habitats to determine the current range and size of the population and whether local extinction has occurred. Adequate conservation measures should be taken according to the findings of these surveys. Sample of seed should be collected for germplasm conservation.