The Philippine Journal of Science, G. Botany. 
Vol. X, No. 3, May, 1915. 
GENERA AND SPECIES ERRONEOUSLY CREDITED TO THE 
PHILIPPINE FLORA 
By E. D. Merrill 1 
( From the Botanical Section of the Biological Laboratory, Bureau of 
Science, Manila, P. I.) 
The species of flowering plants and vascular cryptogams 
definitely known from the Philippines to-day number somewhat 
over 7,000. As botanical exploration progresses, it is found that 
entirely new forms, or species previously described from extra- 
Philippine material, are constantly appearing in current collec- 
tions, often in surprisingly large numbers. In spite of the great 
amount of work that has been accomplished on the flora of the 
Philippines, collections from little known parts of the Archipelago 
frequently present from 15 to 20 per cent of species as yet un- 
described or at least of forms new to the Philippines. It is 
confidently expected that the flora of the Archipelago, when fairly 
completly known, will exceed 10,000 species. 
While new forms are still common in current collections, our 
exploration of the Archipelago has now progressed to such a 
point that we have a practically complete representation of those 
forms that are of wide distribution at low altitudes in the Phil- 
ippines; and we are now in a position to consider numerous 
species that have, from one cause or another, been erroneously 
credited to the Philippines by various authors. 
It is very doubtful if any single area of similar size anywhere 
has had erroneously accredited to it so many species of plants 
as have been enumerated as Philippine, but which do not occur 
in the Archipelago. The sources of error in crediting extra- 
Philippine species to the Archipelago are several; and it is 
practically impossible to-day absolutely to eliminate all such 
sources of error in our current investigations. As our modern 
work is carried on with access to a fairly complete botanical 
library and a large collection of both Philippine and extra-Phil- 
ippine botanical specimens, the chief source of error — that is, 
inaccurate identifications due to the misinterpretation of descrip- 
tions — has to a large degree been eliminated. Some species un- 
1 Associate professor of botany, University of the Philippines. 
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