240 ^^^ Philippine Journal of Science 1919 



in Atjeh and in central Sumatra, about 30 were described as 

 new. A high percentage of the others enumerated had already 

 been recorded from Sumatra by Miquel. 



The most important recent publication on the Sumatran flora 

 as such is that by Ridley and others on the botany of Mount 

 Korinchi, based on the collections of Messrs. H. C. Robinson 

 and C. Boden Kloss.^ In this publication 813 species are enu- 

 merated, of which 1 genus and 143 species are described as new. 

 The percentage of novelties in this collection is certainly no less 

 than can reasonably be expected from general collections made 

 in any unexplored part of Sumatra where botanizing is largely 

 confined to the forested areas. Among the previously described 

 species enumerated by Ridley are naturally many that were 

 already known from Sumatra, but there is also a considerable 

 number originally described from other regions that had not 

 previously been recorded from that island. 



Sumatran species have been published from time to time in 

 the extensive botanical periodical literature and in monographs 

 of various natural groups. Including such species and those 

 listed in the few publications wholly based on the Sumatran 

 flora that have been issued since 1862, it is very doubtful if the 

 list of species definitely known from Sumatra has been in- 

 creased by more than 500 in all groups since the publication 

 of Miquel's work. The list of Sumatran species known to-day 

 would probably approximate about 3,000 in the spermatophytes 

 alone, an indication of our lack of knowledge of the Sumatran 

 flora as compared with other areas in the Malayan region, such 

 as Java, with about 5,000 know^n species, Borneo with about 

 4,900 known species, and the Philippines with about 8,000 

 known species. On account of its large size, its varied cli- 

 matic conditions, and its numerous high mountains, Sumatra can 

 scarcely be less rich and varied in its flora than are the Malay 

 Peninsula, Borneo, Java, and the Philippines; and from my 

 present knowledge of the floras of these regions I should consider 

 it very doubtful if we know more than one-third of the species 

 that actually occur in Sumatra at the present time. 



I have recently received for identification Sumatran collections 

 aggregating about 500 numbers, made under the direction of 

 Messrs. H. H. Bartlett and C. D. La Rue, chiefly in the vicinity 

 of Asahan, East Coast. While the material represented in this 

 collection for the most part represents rather common and widely 



* Results of an expedition to Korinchi Peak, Sumatra, Botany, Journ. 

 Fed. Malay States Musewns 8 * (1917) 1-145, t. i-4. 



