Lauraceae are a large tropical family of trees and shrubs with small and inconspicuous flowers, which has rendered the family inaccessible for the nonspecialist. Over the past three years, Prof. Li Jie and his research team have conducted studies on the genus Litsea (Lauraceae) and made much progress.

Litsea szemaois is a critically endangered species endemic to southernYunnan，China. By using ISSR PCR (10 primers), the team assessed the genetic variability within and among eight extant populations of this species. The influence of human activity and forest fragmentation may play a prominent role in creating this species’ current endangered status. The research result entitled “Genetic diversity of Litsea szemaois, an endangered species endemic to China, detected by inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR)”has been published in Biodiversity Science.

 Work in progress for the Lauraceae volume of the Flora of China has yielded one undescribed species and several new synonms. A new species, Actinodaphne menghaiensis J. Li, is described from Yunnan, Southwest China, and its affinities are discussed.

 Related research observations have been published as follows:

1. Sinopora, A New Genus of Lauraceae from South China

2. Phylogenetic relationships within the ‘core’ Laureae (Litsea complex, Lauraceae) inferred from sequences of the chloroplast gene matK and nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS regions

3. Notes on the Plants of the Genus Litsea (Lauraceae) from China

4. A New Species of the Genus Actinodaphne with Four New Synonyms of the Genus Litsea (Lauraceae)