The Aroids of Borneo. 



By H. N. Ridley. 



The island of Borneo is very rich in aroids, and the pre- 

 sent list represents doubtless but a small portion of those which 

 will eventually be found by collectors. I have attempted however 

 to make it as complete as I could, and to record all species 

 previously described together with a number collected by my- 

 self in a short trip to B. Sarawak, in 1903 and others obtained 

 by Dr. Haviland some years previously. Dr. Engler in Malesia 

 described a number collected by Dr. Beccari chiefly in Sarawak, 

 but though I was working over Dr. Beccari's old collecting 

 ground, I obtained a considerable number which appear to have 

 escaped him. 



The chief difficulty in the study of aroids lies in the very 

 bad habit of some botanists and gardeners of describing species 

 from leaves only. Aroids vary very much in the form and 

 venation of their leaves, and leaf descriptions are quite worth- 

 less, and have led to great confusion. This is especially the 

 case in Borneo aroids for many species possess very ornamental 

 leaves and have been introduced as cultivated plants, and in- 

 adequately described and named. 



Cryptogoeyne. 



This genus of aquatic aroids seems to obtain its maximum 

 development in Borneo though several species occur in India 

 and the Malay peninsula and in islands of the archipelago. 

 All the species in Borneo inhabit the jungle streams and rivers 

 except the tidal river species G. ciliata. 



C. ciliata, Fischer. Tidal Mud, Sarawak, (Beccari) Bishop Hose. 



Common in most of the tidal rivers in mud in the 

 Malay peninsula and islands. 



K. A. Soc.No.'^.lQOS 



