TORREYA 



November, 1915. 

 Vol. 15 No. II 



BOTANICAL SKETCHES FROM THE ASIATIC 

 TROPICS 



LI 



By Henry Allan Gleason 



III. JAVA ♦^*i 



{Continued from September Torreya) 



Of the several thousand tourists who annually visit Java 

 probably ninety-five per cent make a pilgrimage to Buitenzorg 

 to see the famous botanical gardens. They give it a hasty in- 

 spection of one or two hours, probably never deviating from the 

 main travelled paths, and depart, carrying with them the idea 

 that the garden is a curiosity or a tropical park, but having no 

 idea whatever of its botanical importance. And they can be 

 forgiven for this, for some preliminary knowledge of botany is 

 really requisite to the proper appreciation of this immense 

 collection of plants. 



By the average tourist, the time in Buitenzorg could be far 

 better spent by a visit, not to the Botanical Garden, but to the 

 Culturtuin, or Economic Garden, located about as far north of 

 the railway station as the Botanical Garden is south of it. Here 

 there is a remarkable collection of the economic plants of the 

 tropics, including all the important species, and scores of culti- 

 vated forms and varieties, growing under virtually the same 

 conditions as exist on the plantations. 



A botanist from the temperate zone will recognize many of the 

 species at sight, and a glance at the scientific name on the label 

 will give him all necessary information about most of the others. 

 The non-botanical tourist would appreciate the plants more if 

 the labels bore also the vernacular names in English or German. 



[No. 10, Vol. IS, of Torreya, comprising pp. 213-232, issued November 4, 1915] 



233 



