INTRODUCTION 



25 



his final departure from Amboina, a plan that was never carried 

 out on account of his sudden and unexpected death. Many of the 

 very common species, such as the coconut, the betle nut palm, the 

 papaya, and numerous cultivated ornamentals, are lacking in 

 the collection chiefly for the reason that the actual preparation 

 of specimens of these common and well-known plants was pur- 

 posely deferred until the more important and critical species 

 had been secured. 



In the prosecution of his field work in Amboina, Doctor Rob- 

 inson was handicapped by the same factors that have hindered 

 our attempts to secure material in the Philippines to clear up 

 the status of Blanco's species. With the increase of population in 

 Amboina, as in the Philippines, the original vegetation has been 

 totally destroyed over large areas, the virgin forest being replaced 

 by grasslands, thickets, and second-growth forests of a type 

 entirely different from the original vegetation. Many species 

 definitely mentioned by Rumphius as occurring in specific local- 

 ities can no longer be found in the indicated places. It is by 

 no means improbable that many species, common in Amboina in 

 the seventeenth century, have now become extinct there, or at 

 least are very rare and local, even as various Philippine species 

 mentioned by Blanco as occurring in definite localities can no 

 longer be found within many miles of the respective places 

 mentioned by him. Native names given by Rumphius have in 

 many cases become obsolete or are so altered as to be hardly 

 recognizable, although in many cases the name cited by 

 Rumphius is still in use and for the same species under which it 

 was cited by him. Rumphius, like Blanco, secured most of his 

 material from the settled areas and from the forests at low 

 altitudes, and it is unfortunately true that, in the Malayan region, 

 the forest vegetation at low altitudes is the vegetation most 

 rapidly destroyed by the encroachment of man. 



The practical extermination of the original vegetation of those 

 regions best adapted to agricultural pursuits is a subject that 

 deserves more consideration than it has received.* Unquestion- 

 ably, many species of plants have been exterminated in various 

 parts of the Malayan region within the past century as the 

 population has increased. The areas devoted to agriculture are 

 rapidly being enlarged in many parts of this vast region, and the 

 consequent destruction of primeval forests over large areas is 

 a strong argument in favor of a vigorous and intensive botanical 



* Merrill, E. D. Notes on the flora of Manila with special reference to 

 the introduced element. Philip. Journ. Sci. 7 (1912) Bot. 145-208. 



