INTRODUCTION. Ill 



drawn during the score of years that I devoted to the study of the flora 

 of Formosa. My readers Avill, I hope, accept the latter paper as niy concluding 

 remarks on the flora of that island and also on systematic botany generally. 



Here I desire to add just a few lines of a more personal nature. In the 

 spring of this year, it was recognized by the Imperial Academy that, since 

 1900, I had been devoting myself to the study of the flora of Formosa, and 

 by the same Academy I was awarded the Prince KATSURA Commemoration 

 Prize, principally for the merit of the volumes on Icones Plantarum, then 

 published, being the first eight volumes of the series. In the Academy's 

 formal statement of the reasons for the award, a resume of my work was 

 given. I trust I may be pardoned if I take the liberty of quoting the 

 statement herein as my formal remarks upon the series. 



An abstract of the reasons submitted for the award of the Prince KATSURA Commemoration 

 Prize to BXJNZO HAYATA, D. Sc. for his studies on the flora of Formosa.* 



Many years have passed since Dr. HAYATA first undertook the stiuly of the flora of Formosa. 

 His first visit to the island was made in 11)09 and since then he has gone there many tinus 

 for the collection of materials and for the examination of vegetation. When he was still a student 

 in the College of rcience, he published several papers relating to the flora of that island. Later, 

 in the course of his studies in the University Hall, he wrote " Enumeratio Plantarum Formo- 

 sanarum " in conjunction with Prof. .1. MATSUMTJRA, and later " Flora Montana Formosre " and 

 " Materials for a flora of Formosa." During that period, he frequently contributed papers on tLe 

 same subject to various periodicals in England, France and Germany. All these '.articles may 

 -be regarded as publications preparatory to the present work on Icones Plantarum, the merit of 

 which is the principal reason for awarding him. the Prize. 



The first volume of the work appeared in 1911, and since then he has continued the publi- 

 cation, until now the eighth volume has been issued. In these volumes, he has mentioned u- 

 many as 3458 species, 74 varieties, 1174 genera and 169 families,t of which he has described 

 more than 1200 species and four genera that are new to science. Of many discoveries mentioned 

 in the work, his new genus Taiwania of the Coniferte is to be regarded as the most interesting ; 

 the plant standing as it does a relic of an ancient flora. Since his discovery, not a few western 

 botanists have come to the island to see this interesting Conifer. 



Now, the island of Formosa lying directly tinder the Tropic of Cancer, and possessing many 

 mountain ranges ciilminating in a peak more than ten thousand feet above the level of the sea, 

 presents almost every kind of climatal and topographical features. Consequently, it is not difficult 

 to imagine how extraordinarily rich must be its flora composed, as it is, of many tropical, 

 temperate and even alpine, elements. This has long since attracted the attention of western 

 botanists and has led them to undertake the exploration of the island. But, the climatic and 

 sanitary conditions were so very bad there and the head-hunters in the interior still so active 

 that it was impossible to make a thorough study of this interesting flora. Although Formosa 

 had been explored by English botanists, before the acquisition of the island by Japan, such 

 exploration was limited to its coastal regions. In his " List of Plants from Formosa," Dr. A. 

 HENRY, who is well-known for his travels through China, gives but 1446 species. As the result 

 of Dr. HAYATA'S indefatigable and successful efforts, more than 2000 species have been added to 

 that number. It may, therefore, be well said that Formosa, which was formerly regarded as 



* Published by the authority of the Imperial Academy, in the Official Gazette of 10th, May, 1920. 

 t Now (in 1920) 3,658 species, 79 varietess, 1197 genera, and 170 families. 



^(LIBRARY 



