INTRODUCTION 
THE FIRST EDITION OF BLANCO’S FLORA DE FILIPINAS 
The first edition of Blanco’s Flora de Filipinas * was printed 
in Manila in 1837. It is an octavo volume consisting of a pro- 
logue, a general introduction, and the systematic arrangement 
and description of about 903 species under binomial names. The 
work is written wholly in Spanish. The prologue briefly re- 
lates the circumstances under which the work was prepared 
and contains a review of the botanical work accomplished by 
Blanco’s predecessors in the Philippines; namely, Fathers Clain, 
Delgado, Mercado, and Santa Maria, but with no mention of 
the vastly more important work of Camel; and a brief mention 
of the work of Née and Pineda, of the Malaspina Expedition, 
but no mention of the more important explorations of Haenke, 
of the same expedition. The general introduction, occupying 
pages IX-LX XVIII, consists of an explanation of the terms used 
in descriptive botany and an explanation of the Linnean system 
of classification, with a list of the admitted genera arranged 
under their Linnean classes. 
The generic descriptions are greatly abbreviated, but the 
specific descriptions are usually long and detailed, although 
often general in nature; some of them are very short and im- 
perfect. To these are often added long or short discussions, 
giving data of economic importance, occurrence, time of flower- 
ing, native names, etc.; this supplementary data is often of more 
_ value in locating and interpreting Blanco’s species than are the 
descriptions themselves. The work is supplied with an alpha- 
_ betic index to generic names; one to native names, in which 
not all of the native names mentioned in the text are included; 
and a tabulation of the various genera screaming to the economic 
uses of the various species. 
In the text various species that Blanco was unable to refer 
to their proper generic positions are described under their native 
names. These are usually placed under the Linnean classes 
to which they pertain and cannot in any ‘sense of the word be 
* Flora de Filipinas. Segun el Sistema sexual de Linneo. Por el P. Fr. 
Manuel Blanco, Agustino Calzado (1837) LXXVIII +1-887. +* 
