Scitamineae of Borneo* 



By H. N. Ridley. 



The order of Scitamineae is as well represented in Borneo 

 as in the Malay Peninsula, but it is probable that at 

 present a very large number are yet uncollected or if collect- 

 ed not yet described. The Zingiberaceae and Mar- 

 antaceae of Beccari's and Korthas' collections were described 

 by Schumann in the Pflanzenreich. Some of these however, I 

 have quite failed to identify with plants collected on the same 

 ground, viz., Kuching and Matang in Sarawak, the scene of 

 Beccari's researches. Dr. Haviland's collection contains but 

 few of the or ler, but Mr. J. Hewitt, the curator of the museum, 

 has added a good many species to the flora. The genera of 

 Bornean Scitamineae are very much the same as those of 

 the Malay Peninsula. I have not however seen any repre- 

 sentatives of the genera Geostachys or conamomun or Hecly- 

 chiuvi. 



The genera Haplochorema and Burbidgea are peculiar to 

 Borneo. 



Comparatively few of the Bornean species are actually 

 the same as those of the peninsula, but closely allied forms 

 appear, such as Hor listed tia retictdava, closely allied to H. scy- 

 phifera and H. brachycheilus closely allied to H. metriochilus . 

 It is rather curious to note that while yellow Globbas are com- 

 mon in the Malay Peninsula and white ones comparatively 

 rare, the reverse is the case in Borneo, where yellow flowered 

 species are scanty. The number of species Globba is also 

 comparatively small. 



There must be very many more species of this order in 

 Borneo. The Marantaceae especially want working up. I 

 have several which are not in a good enough state to be des- 

 cribed. The flowers are so fugacious that they want very 



R. A. Soc, No. 46, 1906. 



