374 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1952 



many expeditions which the Pacific Science Board is sponsoring. 

 Still another set will be laid aside for return eventually to the Uni- 

 versity of the Ryukyus on Shuri Hill, the site of the well-known ancient 

 Shuri Castle, traditional home of former Okinawa kings. Here it 

 will be available to foresters, agriculturists, teachers, and students 

 of Ryukyu plants engaged in further botanical study. The still re- 

 maining specimens will be be sent to various other institutions in 

 America or Europe on an exchange basis. Thus are herbarium col- 

 lections built up. 



There remains the task of critically identifying the specimens 

 gathered on the 1951 SIR! program along with reexamination of 

 other collections made by Okinawan botanists both before and after 

 this expedition, various servicemen's collections now in the United 

 States National Herbarium, and the collections by Charles Wright 

 made on the United States Exploring Expedition (the Ringgold and 

 Rodgers expedition), which immediately followed the Perry Expedi- 

 tion, and those gathered by E. H. Wilson in 1917 for the Arnold 

 Arboretum of Harvard University {15). In addition, and as a re- 

 sult of making the acquaintance of Japanese botanists and institu- 

 tions, duplicates of important collections which they have made in 

 earlier years in the Ryukyus have been received. Perhaps the Japa- 

 nese specialists will reexamine other collections in Japan while study- 

 ing the SIRI specimens sent to them. Thus all will aid in document- 

 ing the Flora of Okinawa. 



This critical examination of herbarium material may seem some- 

 what remote from the needs of administrators engaged in alleviating 

 distressing economic conditions. However, when perfected, this Flora 

 of Okinawa will give foresters knowledge of the native and intro- 

 duced trees that occur there. It has already been invaluable in pre- 

 paring a requested booklet, "Important Trees of the Ryukyu Islands" 

 {13). Agriculturists will know what weeds there are which may be- 

 come obnoxious among their crops or act as alternate hosts for crop- 

 destroying insects. Administrators will be better able to draw up 

 quarantine laws for the exclusion of harmful plants and animals, some 

 of which have already arrived unimpeded and are threatening this 

 over-burdened economy. Landscapers and soil conservationists will 

 know what plants are available for their use in covering and enriching 

 bared and sterile fields, or for shading buildings and roadsides. It 

 may help grazing projects or airfield construction in finding native 

 grasses for their varied needs or to know which ones are pests and 

 should be eradicated before they become too well established. Those 

 developing measures for control of insects carrying human diseases 

 must know the proper names of the plants that harbor these pests. 

 Indeed, many are the practical questions that can be answered through 

 the aid of a regional flora. 



