114 JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. 13, No. 6 
mentioning various plants. The greatest of the friar botanists was Padre 
Manuel Blanco, also an Augustinian. His work in Spanish, entitled Blanco’s 
Flora de Filipinas, was first published in 1837. It is a work of 965 pages; the 
second and third editions were written after his death. Copies of all three 
editions, which are in the Department of Agriculture, were shown at the 
meeting. Most of the older herbaria in Manila were destroyed during or 
before the Insurrection; however two now remain, that formed by Regino 
Garcia in 1894, another collected by Dr. Leon Ma. Guerrero. The botanical ’ 
libraries were also destroyed by fire about 1898. 
Since the American occupation, real botanical work has progressed rapidly. 
With Prof. E. D. Merrill in 1903 were three other botanists, Dr. E. B. 
Copeland, Dr. H. N. Whitford, and Mr. A. D. E. Elmer, all of whom were 
attached to the Bureau of Government Laboratories. In 1905 this Bureau 
became the Bureau of Science. The herbarium of the Bureau of Science 
contains upwards of 200,000 specimens. The Philippine Journal of Science 
is the medium for publishing botanical articles. Quite a number of Filipino 
botanists received their training in the College of Agriculture, which was 
established in 1909, with Dr. Copeland as its founder and dean. 
Mr. Teodoro began a classification of the genus Musa for the Philippine 
Government in 1915. He found the species not well defined, and in order to 
make a beginning in classifying them, he worked up the varieties. There are 
now about 600 varieties of bananas growing in cultivation at the College of 
Agriculture at Los Bafios. The results of the classification of varieties have 
been published in A preliminary study of Philippine bananas, which ap- 
peared in the Philippine Journal of Science, Botany Section, Vol. 10, 
May 1916. 
L. H. Dewry, discussed Misleading names of plant fibers. 
There is more confusion in the common trade names of commercial fibers 
used in twine and cordage than there has been in recent years in the botanical 
names of plants. This results in errors in Government statistics, misunder- 
standings among dealers and manufacturers, and frequent monetary losses. 
The most serious trouble is due to the ambiguous use of the term hemp. This 
name was first used to designate the true hemp plant, Cannabis sativa, and 
the bast fiber obtained from that plant. It still has this specific meaning, 
but unfortunately it is also used in a generic sense as a substitute for the 
word fiber to designate nearly all long fibers, as manila hemp for abacaé from 
the Philippines; sisal hemp for henequén from Yucatdn, and sisal from East 
Africa;. New Zealand hemp for phormium from New Zealand, and sunn 
hemp for sunn from India. The name of the country or definitive adjective 
is often omitted, leaving only the term hemp, which may mean any one of a 
dozen fibers. 
Similar trouble is threatened by the use of the name sisal to designate not 
only the true sisal from Agave sisalana, but all other fibers from Agaves and 
Furcraeas, and the name jute to designate true jute and also all fibers similar 
to jute. 
It is suggested that an authoritative list of fibers be published to correct 
these misleading and costly errors. 
Mr. P. L. Ricker spoke of The proposed Mt. Hamilton Botanical Garden, 
which was still before Congress for consideration. 
The regular meeting than adjourned and the annual meeting was held. 
The report of the Executive Committee showed the following facts concerning 
the activities of the preceding year: average attendance of the 8 regular 
meetings was 66; at a special meeting there were 110 present. Eighteen new 
