Lythraceae, podostemaceae

Brigitta Duyfjes and Willem de Wilde are botanists whose contributions have shaped the scientific understanding of a series of plant families in Southeast Asia. Together, they have participated in many field expeditions, gathering around 25,000 herbarium specimens throughout their careers. Most of their studies were published in Flora Malesiana and Flora of Thailand, including 600 new taxa and combinations. Since Willem de Wilde passed away in 2021, Brigitta Duyfjes is continuing her botanical research at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden.

Pauline Dy Phon was trained in France and then taught botany in Cambodia. Back in Paris in 1980, she worked at MNHN and published the revision of several plant families for the Flora of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. She also contributed to ethnobotany in her country, with her Dictionary of plants used in Cambodia. She died in 2010.

Youleang Peou is Professor of Botany at the Royal University of Phnom Penh since 1999, and Curator at the National Herbarium of Cambodia (RUPP) since 2011. She is a specialist in the taxonomy of several important families in her country. In addition to her publications in taxonomy, she contributes to enhancing botanical activity in Cambodia, identifying the collections at the Herbarium and studying useful plants and their local (khmer) names.

Sovanmoly Hul is a botanist focusing on plant taxonomy in Southeast Asia. She contributed to the revision of key plant families and published extensively on Cambodia's flora. Even after her retirement in 2014, she continued her research as an honorary MNHN associate professor, making significant taxonomic contributions.

Satoshi Koi is associate professor at Botanical Gardens, Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan. He studies the taxonomy, phylogeny, morphology and evolution of Podostemaceae. Now, he has succeeded in cultivating several species of this family in the botanical gardens.

Masahiro Kato is professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo and researcher emeritus of the National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan. Combining field and experimental approaches, he studies the taxonomy, ecology, morphology and evolution of Podostemaceae and rheophytes. He has published « Podostemaceae » for the Flora of Thailand in 2018 and separate papers.