■^ The Liberian Flora 



In August, 1874, the German expedition on board the Gazelle 

 called at Monro\ia, when the naturalist of the expedition, Dr. 

 Nauman, made a small collection mainl)' in the marshes near the 

 town. The species of this collection were incorporated by Professor 

 Engler in his UbersicJit i'lber die botanischen Ergebnisse der 

 ForscJuDigsrcisc der " Gazcllel' published in 1889. His plants also are 

 at Berlin, ap.d I have not seen them. 



Much more successful than his predecessors was Mr. Max 

 Dinklage, late manager of the Woermann factory at Grand Basa, 

 who explored the coast region of Liberia in 1898. No account of 

 his journey was published ; but a considerable number of new genera 

 and species discovered b\' him were made known by the Berlin 

 botanists in various articles and monographs. A fair set of duplicates 

 from his collection was received at Kcw from Professor PLngler, the 

 Director of the Botanic Garden at Berlin. From Dinklage's labels, 

 it appears that he collected mainl\' in the neighbourhood of 

 Monrovia, Fishtown, Grand Basil, the mouth of the Cestos River, and 

 Cape Palmas. It seems that a great portion of his collection is not 

 yet worked out. His labels — and the same may be said of Vogel's — 

 contain many valuable notes on the growth and habitat of the plants 

 and other particulars which cannot be grasped from the dried 

 material. 



All the collectors so far mentioned confined themselves to the 

 coast region. When, however, at the end of 1903, Mr. Alexander 

 Whyte, late Superintendent of the Botanic Garden at Entebbe, 

 Uganda, and a very experienced collector, went to Liberia at Sir 

 H. H. Johnston's recommendation, he proceeded to the hinterland of 

 Monrovia, and explored the country within a radius of twenty miles 

 from a place called Kakatown. This was in December, 1903, and 

 January, 1904. In the following February Whyte collected near 

 Monrovia. Then he went to Sino, and from there travelled along the 

 Sino River as far as the rapids at Grant's Farm, and in the Kru 

 country, about eighty miles from the coast. Whyte's collection 

 contains about 350 species. The specimens are excellently preserved, 

 but with the exception of rubber plants, unfortunately not accom- 

 panied by special labels. They were presented by the Liberian 

 Chartered Company to Kcw at the request of Sir Harry Johnston. 



A small but interesting set of plants from the Sino region, col- 

 lected by Mr. D. Sim, an employe of the Monrovia Rubber Company, 



?7^ 



