521 



Botany. — "S/n, men jnvanicn {Miquel) Ssci/szylowic:, a vemarhahle 

 tree yiviring mild in the jungle of Depok, tohicli is maintained 

 as a nature reserve!" . Contribution to the Flora of Java, 

 part V I II. ') By Dr. S. H. Koorders. (Communicated by 

 Frof. M. W. Bk.uerinck). 



(Communicated in the meeting of June 26, 1915). 



Original habitat. Between Batavia and Biutenzoi'g the jnngle of 

 Depok lias been constituted a permanent reserve since 1913 by tiie 

 Nederlandscli-Indische Vereeniging tot belioud van Natuurmonumen- 

 ten (Dutcii-Eastindian Society for the Protection of Natural Monu- 

 ments), and here I found on March 15''' last fruits, which I immedi- 

 ately recognized as those of Sloanea javanica (Miquel) 

 Sszy szy lo w icz. Tlie fruits were borne by two trees, which I 

 had "numbered" in 1914 (provided for botanical examination with 

 a number board and registered, as 23?j and 39/i). This observation 

 was especially interesting, since the original habitat of Sloanea 

 javanica has remained quite unknown to botanical literature 

 and to myself, although this Javanese forest tree had already been 

 carefully described and figured half a century ago by Miquel in 

 the Annales Musei l)()tanici I 18(35 — 186(i p. 6h, table 3. 



This fact, remaikable in itself, namely that an original habitat 

 of Sloanea javanica should remain unknown for almost half a cen- 

 tury, becomes all the more remarkable when considered in connect- 

 ion with the following fads: 



Firstly, that the original habitat discovered by me namely the 

 forest of Depok, is in the neighliourliood of a scientific centre like 

 Buitenzorg. 



Secondly, that especially in the last thirty years numerous per- 

 sons, including myself, have botanized in the above jnngle. 



Thirdly, that this forest tree, which had escaped notice for so 

 long, is found to be one of the Ijii'gest trees of the wood. 



Fourthly, that a herbarium s|)ecimen, collected by me in the forest 

 of Depok on August 27 1898 and provided with the correct native 

 name, has remained in the Buitenzorg Herbarium for 17 years, 

 without having its scientific name afïixed to It, although the sjjecimen 

 in question was within the immediate reach of anyone working in 

 the Buitenzorg Herbarium during these years. 



The material collected by me in 1898, consisting of a few dry 

 sterile leaf twigs (Kds. n. 31118,?), remained quite undetermined 



1) Compare Verslagen Kon. Acad. v. Wetenseliappen, Amsterdam, Sept. 25 1909, 

 p. 300 and Nov. 27 1909, p. 488. 



