Evaluation of vegetative characters and distribution of artocarpus in Perak province for field guide development

The aim of this study is to evaluate vegetative characters for development of a workable vegetative field guide and to map Artocarpus in Perak Province. Morphological characters of Artocarpus were examined based on modified Hickey and Berg et al. methods, and then evaluated using numerical analysis. Thirty-nine morphological characters were evaluated using Multi-Variate Statistical Package (MVSP) and Phylogeny Analysis Using Parsimony (PAUP) showing that these characters are of taxonomic significance at genus, tribe and species level. Bole lenticel and bark colour prove to be of taxonomic significance at subgenus level whilst leaves shapes, leaves texture, latex, and venation can lead to species identification. A total of 14 species of Artocarpus were successfully collected (n>350) from specified regions within Perak Province. The distribution shows that Batang Padang, has the highest number of A. nitidus whilst southern part of Perak Province shows the most diverse of Artocarpus members. It is concluded that the finding of this research partly supported useful morphological characters made by Berg et al. (2006). It also shows that vegetative characters are useful as field guide to determine Artocarpus genus and subgenus. Keywords: Artocarpus, Moraceae, Vegetative morphology, Field guide