Intraspecific variation in Licuala glabra Griff. (Palmae) in Peninsular Malaysia– a morphometric analysis

We studied vegetative and reproductive characters of 74 herbarium specimens of Licuala glabra Griff. (Palmae) collected from 22 localities throughout Peninsular Malaysia. To test the null hypothesis that there are no distinct groups within the species, cluster analysis (nearest neighbour), principal coordinates and principal components analyses were performed on the set of 43 qualitative and quantitative characters. The results obtained suggested that: (1) there are three infraspeciflc groups within the species, viz., the two published varieties glabra and selangorensis as well as a possible third novel taxon; (2) there is clustering of individuals corresponding to their geographic localities; (3) clusters generated using only reproductive characters indicate a biogeographic distribution of populations correlated with the mountain ranges in the peninsula.