The Philippine Journal of Science, C. Botany. 

 Vol. XI, No. 5, September, 1916. 



RELIQUIAE ROBINSONIANAE 



By E. D. Merrill ' 

 (From the Botanical Section of the Biological Laboratory, Bureau of Science, 



Manilu, P. I.) 



A critical investigation of Rumphius's 2 "Herbarium Amboi- 

 nense," a pre-Linnean publication of preeminent importance 

 and one of the classical works on Malayan botany, shows that 

 about three hundred fifty binomials have been based wholly 

 on its descriptions and figures since the establishment of the 

 binomial system in 1753. As Rumphius's descriptions, while 

 often ample, are non-technical ; as the figures are not infrequently 

 crude; as the arrangement of his material follows no definite 

 system of classification; and as there is no extant botanical 

 material representing the plants that he described and figured, 

 the matter of properly interpreting numerous species that are 

 typified by his descriptions and figures is a very complicated 

 one, and is a subject that has not been given the attention that 

 it warrants by modern botanists. 



In organizing the botanical work for the Philippine Govern- 

 ment I was confronted with a similar problem in connection 

 with the proper interpretation of the numerous species described 

 by Blanco in his "Flora de Filipinas," 3 species, like those based 

 on Rumphius's work, that are not represented by extant bo- 

 tanical material. Field work in the Philippines with special 

 reference to the data assigned by Blanco to the various species 

 has enabled me definitely to determine the status of a very high 

 percentage of them. 



In the Philippines, as in all other parts of the Indo-Malayan 

 region, the systematic botanist is very frequently confronted 

 with the problem of interpreting species based on forms figured 

 and described by Rumphius. As the work on the Philippine 



1 Associate professor of botany, University of the Philippines. 



2 Rumpf , G. E. Herbarium Amboinense, plurimas complectens arbores, 

 frutices, herbas, plantas terrestres et aquaticas, quae in Amboina et adjacen- 

 tibus pereriuntur insulis, adcuratissime descriptas juxa earum formas cum 

 diversis denominationibus, cultura, usu ac virtutibus, etc. Amsterdam, 

 volumes 1 to 7 (Auctuarium) 1741-55. 



'Blanco M. Flora de Filipinas (1837) LXXVI1I + 1-887; ed. 2 (1845) 

 LXIX + 1-619; ed. 3, 1 - 4 (1876-83). 



243 



