THE PHILIPPINE SPECIES OF PANDANUS. 
By Count Ugolino Martelli. 
( Florence, I taly . ) 
Father Manuel Blanco, in the first edition of his “Flora de Filipinas” 
(1837), describes only five species of Pandanus, P. spiralis, P. gracilis, 
P. exaltatus, P. Sabotan, and P. radicansj and in the second edition 
(1845) he adds two others, P. malatensis and P. inermis. No further 
contribution to the genus appeared in the edition of 1871), published by 
Naves and Fernandez- Villar. 1 
Vidal in his “Flora forestal de Filipinas, Sinopsis de familias y 
generos” (atlas) (1883) tab. 95, represented as Pandanus odoratissimus 
L. (= P. tectorius Sol.) a quite different species, which I have named 
Pandanus Vidalii. Another Pandanus mentioned by Vidal in his “lie- 
vision de Plantas vasculares de Filipinas” (1886), 280, Vidal 19J/.0, 
collected at “S. Mateo, Provincia de Manila,” I have not been able to 
identify. Warburg 2 in his recent monograph of the family credits to the 
Archipelago but one definitely known species of the genus, P. tectorius 
Sol., reducing to it P. spiralis Blanco, and considering Blanco’s other 
species as doubtful or imperfectly known. These were the few species 
of Pandanus known from the Philippines up to the year 1904, and 
from the above enumeration one might suppose that the genus was not 
richly represented in the Archipelago. However in 1902 botanical in- 
vestigations were commenced under the auspices of the American Govern- 
ment, and since that time very many new plants have been discovered, 
among them a considerable number of previously described Pandanacea < 
not before known to exist in the Archipelago, and others completely new 
to science. Mr. A. Loher and Mr. A. D. E. Elmer have also contributed 
materially to our knowledge of the Philippine flora and have given 
especial attention to the representatives of the genus Pandanus. Since 
1 In the “Novissima Appendix” to Blanco’s “Flora de Filipinas,” on page 284, 
Naves enumerates, as Philippine, seventeen species of Pandanus, but I am very 
sceptical regarding their correct determination, as well as regarding their 
occurrence in the Philippines. As the names of these species are not accompanied 
by any description, and no herbarium specimens are extant, I do not consider it 
worth while to consider them here. 
"Das Pflansenreich 3 (1900) 1-97. 
59 
