The Philippine Journal of Science, C. Botany. 
Vol. VIII, No. 1, February, 1913. 
STUDIES ON PHILIPPINE RUBIACEAE, I 
By E. D. Merrill* 
{From the Botanical Section of the Biological Laboratory, Bureau of 
Science, Manila, P. I.) 
One plate. 
The present paper consists mainly of diagnoses and descrip- 
tions of presumably previously undescribed forms, thirty-five 
species in thirteen genera being characterized. One genus, 
Acranthet'a, is definitely recorded from the Archipelago, al- 
though its occurrence here has already been mentioned by Mr. 
Elmer. Some notes on nomenclature are included, and a few 
new combinations have been made in view of the provisions as 
to priority in the accepted code of botanical nomenclature. 
In the genus Nauclea the current conception of its limits has 
been accepted, but it is worthy of note that Nauclea of modern 
botanists is scarcely the Nauclea of Linnaeus. Depending en- 
tirely on an interpretation of just what is the type of the Lin- 
nean genus, it seems probable that those species now classified 
under Sarcocephalus will have to be transferred to Nauclea and 
that Bancahts 0. Kuntze will have to be accepted for Nauclea 
of all modern authors, not of Linnaeus. 
Notwithstanding the large amount of work that has been done 
on Philippine Ritbiaceae within the past ten years, especially by 
Mr. Elmer, and to a less degree by myself, a relatively large num- 
ber of forms, many of which are apparently undescribed, still 
remain to be studied in the herbarium of the Bureau of Science, 
while additional new ones are being constantly received as ex- 
ploration progresses. It seems to be apparent that in the total 
number of species the Ruhiaceae will rank second in the list of 
Philippine families, being exceeded only by the Orchidaceae. 
Many of the species are of common occurrence in the Archipel- 
ago, and are of very wide extra-Philippine distribution, but a 
very high percentage, especially the sylvan forms, are very local 
in occurrence, and the percentage of endemism, for the family 
as a whole, is rather high. 
* Associate Professor of Botany, University of the Philippines. 
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