A PRELIMINARY REVISION OF PHILIPPINE MYRTACETL 
By C. B. Kobinson. 
( From the Botanical Section of the Biological Laboratory r Bureau of Science, 
Manila, P. I.) 
Although the Philippine species of this family are distributed over 
several genera, these as elsewhere in the Indo-Malay region have but 
few representatives, with the exception of Eugenia. That genus, as 
here interpreted, includes both Jambosa and Syzygium , besides Eugenia 
proper, so that the number of genera credited to the Archipelago is less 
by two than if the limits ascribed to it in the Pflanzenfamilien were here 
adopted. Moreover, while certain species in other genera have presented 
puzzling problems, the great bulk of the work has consisted in attempting 
to solve the questions relating to that genus. In it, alone of our larger 
genera, the collections made by Cuming, about 70 years ago, have never 
been worked up by European specialists, and only two supposed novelties 
were worked out by Vidal, one of these pi’oving identical with a species 
of very wide distribution. In recent years, most of those found within 
the limits of the Lamao -Forest Reserve were worked out by Merrill, 1 and 
several others of the more striking species have also been described by him. 
A smaller number has been described by Elmer. Apart from this genus, 
the family has been so accurately treated by preceding workers, that no 
additions have here been credited to the Philippines, although there are 
several cases of exclusion, due principally to the original incorrect 
localization of some of Cuming’s collections. These also, will be found 
in previous articles on our flora by Merrill and Rolfe. Blanco’s species 
were in all cases imperfectly characterized, though many of them can be 
identified with some degree of plausibility. 
In the meantime, a large quantity of material has been accumulated, 
and recent additions have been considerable and often of great interest. 
Many of the species are of very considerable importance, primarily for 
their wood, although the larger timber-cutting firms utilize them, as yet, 
in but few localities, the best-known native wood yielded by a tree 
belonging to this family being Mancono, ( Xantliostemon verdugonianus) . 
The necessity for a revision of the family was evident, and while many 
1 This Journal 1 (1906) Suppl. 104-107. 
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