The Philippine Journal of Science, C. Botany. 
Vol. XI, No. 5, September, 1916. 
RELIQUIAE ROBINSONIANAE 
By E. D. Merrill 1 
(From the Botanical Section of the Biological Laboratory, Bureau of Science, 
Manila, P. /.) 
A critical investigation of Rumphius’s 2 “Herbarium Amboi- 
nense,” a pre-Linnean publication of preeminent importance 
and one of the classical works on Malayan botany, shows that 
about three hundred fifty binomials have been based wholly 
on its descriptions and figures since the establishment of the 
binomial system in 1753. As Rumphius’s descriptions, while 
often ample, are non-technical ; as the figures are not infrequently 
crude; as the arrangement of his material follows no definite 
system of classification; and as there is no extant botanical 
material representing the plants that he described and figured, 
the matter of properly interpreting numerous species that are 
typified by his descriptions and figures is a very complicated 
one, and is a subject that has not been given the attention that 
it warrants by modern botanists. 
In organizing the botanical work for the Philippine Govern- 
ment I was confronted with a similar problem in connection 
with the proper interpretation of the numerous species described 
by Blanco in his “Flora de Filipinas,” 3 species, like those based 
on Rumphius’s work, that are not represented by extant bo- 
tanical material. Field work in the Philippines with special 
reference to the data assigned by Blanco to the various species 
has enabled me definitely to determine the status of a very high 
percentage of them. 
In the Philippines, as in all other parts of the Indo-Malayan 
region, the systematic botanist is very frequently confronted 
with the problem of interpreting species based on forms figured 
and described by Rumphius. As the work on the Philippine 
1 Associate professor of botany, University of the Philippines. 
2 Rumpf, G. E. Herbarium Amboinense, plurimas complectens arbores, 
frutices, herbas, plantas terrestres et aquaticas, quae in Amboina et adjacen- 
tibus pereriuntur insulis, adcuratissime descriptas juxa earum formas cum 
diversis denominationibus, cultura, usu ac virtutibus, etc. Amsterdam, 
volumes 1 to 7 (Auctuarium) 1741-55. 
3 Blanco M. Flora de Filipinas (1837) LXXVIll-f 1-887; ed. 2 (1845) 
LXIX + 1-619; ed. 3, 1 - 4 (1876-83). 
243 
