Pleuranthodium pterocarpum

The area where this species was recorded is considered to be a major wilderness. The collection site falls within what is now the Lorentz National Park and, as such, should be protected from any major threats. However, little is known about this species and it remains uncertain whether the population is very small and subject to stochastic events, or if any intrinsic factors may contribute to population decline. The taxon, and other species of the family, may be used in folk medicine or cooking, but no use of the taxon has, as yet, been reported (Riswan and Setyowati 1996, Bau and Poulsen 2006).

This species was collected within the area that is now covered by Lorentz National Park, which at 2.35 million ha is the largest protected area in Southeast Asia. The taxon is not known to be grown ex situ and is not in the available lists of seed bank species. The region remains largely botanically unexplored and undercollected (Morrison 2001). Additionally, the family Zingibericeae has often not been well explored in the field as collections were avoided by conventional workers due to their large herbaceous size, having fleshy rhizomes which pose inconvenience in preparation of herbarium specimens. Also their occurrence as undergrowth in sometimes inaccessible forest areas and the often short period of flowering, hinders collection of materials with adequate character details (Prakash and Mehrotra 1996). Surveys and censuses should be conducted in the historical site of collection, and in potentially suitable habitats, to determine the current range and size of the population. Specific conservation measures should be taken according to the findings of these surveys. Seeds, if possible, should be collected for germplasm conservation.