THE PHILIPPINE 



Journal of Science 



Vo, <- r AUGUST 15, 1900 



Supplement III 



NEW OR NOTEWORTHY PHILIPPINE PLANTS, V. 



By Elmer D. Merrill. 

 [From the botanical section of the Biological Laboratory. Bureau of Science.) 



INTRODUCTION. 



I he present article lias been prepared as material and data became 

 available, as was the case with the previous papers published under the 

 above title. 1 Our receipts of Philippine botanical material from various 

 sources approximate 5,000 numbers annually and the percentage of un- 

 deserved species and interesting forms is very large, as is to be expected 

 m a region botanically so little known as is this Archipelago. In making 

 the preliminary identifications, immediately after the receipt of the 

 material in the herbarium, many of the interesting forms are detected 

 and described, but in this paper, as in the preceding ones of the series, 

 only a portion of these forms are considered. Practical ly no work in some 

 groups can at present be done in Manila, owing to a lack of literature; 

 in certain ones, all material is submitted to specialists for identification' 

 and report. Frequently, specific identifications can not be made at once, 

 because of a lack of complete material, so that several hundred sheets,' 

 apparently representing undescribed species, remain in the herbarium of 

 this Bureau and for one reason or another these will need to be considered 

 at a later date. In general, it is not considered good policy to describe 

 species based on a single specimen and many of the apparently un- 

 described plants at present in our herbarium have no corresponding 

 duplicate material. 



1 Publications of the Bureau of Government Laboratories (1904-5) 6 17 29 

 35. ' ' ' ' 



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169 



