INTRODUCTION 



21 



general problems not only in reference to the Herbarium 

 Amboinense, but also to other pre-Linnean works of similar 

 importance. 



Certain post-Linnean works are susceptible of the same general 

 treatment, especially those, like Blanco's Flora de Filipinas, 

 in which the various species described are not represented by 

 extant botanical material or types, but must be interpreted solely 

 by the descriptions and data given by the author. In this con- 

 nection I have in the past four years made an intensive study 

 of all the Philippine species described by Blanco and have 

 prepared for distribution to the larger botanical institutions of 

 the world an extensive exsiccata which I have called "Species 

 Blancoanae." The specimens selected for this exsiccata are 

 those which I have determined to represent the Blancoan species, 

 and to a large degree these specimens will take the place of 

 Blanco's types, none of which were preserved by him. My 

 Philippine experience in attempting to interpret Blancoan species 

 logically lead to the application of the same general methods in 

 reference to those figured and described by Rumphius. 



In 1902, on commencing botanical work in the Philippines, 

 I was immediately confronted with the problem of interpreting 

 the numerous forms described by Blanco in his Flora de Fili- 

 pinas,* totaling about 1,130 species and varieties, of which not 

 a single one is represented by type material, for Blanco preserved 

 no herbarium specimens. Blanco's species, often very imper- 

 fectly described and frequently placed in the wrong genus, have 

 for the most part not been clearly understood by subsequent 

 authors and as a result very many of them appear in botanical 

 literature as doubtful or imperfectly known ones. The average 

 botanist, working in Europe or America from dried specimens 

 alone, with few or no field notes and with no personal knowledge 

 of the Philippines and its vegetation, has found it impossible 

 properly to interpret very many of Blanco's species. The 

 clue to the identity of a Blancoan species is frequently found, 

 not in the description itself, but in the appended economic data, 

 native names, and other information given by Blanco. 



My experience in the interpretation of Blanco's species con- 

 vinced me that the same methods, if applied to Amboina in 

 connection with all the data given by Rumphius in the Herbarium 

 Amboinense, would certainly yield material by which a high 

 percentage of the several hundred species proposed by various 



* Blanco, M. Flora de Filipinas (1837) LXXVIII + 1-887 ; ed. 2 (1845) 

 LXIX + 1-619. 



