XIV 
INTRODUCTION. 
Kampong, campong 
Padang 
Rimbah 
Hutan 
Belukar 
Village 
Field, flat place 
Forest 
Woods 
Secondary jungle 
Native Names and Uses. — Where they have been obtained, the 
Malay names of plants as used in the peninsula have been given, 
as these are often useful to local botanists, for many of them are 
thoroughly well known to all Malays and strictly used for definite 
plants. To every name as given here the affix Poko (tree or shrub) 
or Akar (climber) is to be added, according to the habit of the plants. 
Grasses and small herbaceous plants are usually known as Rumput . 
Pakis signifies a fern, and is supposed to be a variant of Paku, 
also used for ferns, which literally means a nail, and refers to the 
circulate vernation of a fern, and as a cycad has a similar vernation 
it is also called Pakis. Lnmut (moss) is sometimes applied to moss¬ 
like plants, as the aquatic Utricularias. Sakat signifies an epiphyte, 
but the Javanese word Angrek is now generally used for epiphytic 
orchids. Buah (fruit), Daun (leaf), Bunga (flower), Akar (root as 
well as climber), are commonly used when referring to these parts 
of a plant. The special uses of the plants described are added when 
of interest, but fuller accounts will be found in papers on the timbers, 
the fruits, poisons and materia medica of the Malays, published in 
the Straits Agricultural Bulletin and other local works. 
Botanists and Plant Collectors in the Malay Peninsula.—I have 
given the names of the collectors of various species, partly on 
account of the interest that attaches to the older ones, and partly 
because the types of species are so frequently based on specimens 
collected in this country by certain collectors. Where no collector’s 
name is given, it is to be understood that the plant was collected by 
the author. 
The earliest voyagers to mention the plants of Malacca are 
Linschoten (“ Voyages to the East Indies,” 1583) and Garcia da 
Orta (“ Historia Aromatum,” 1593), who mention in these works 
a number of useful plants chiefly fruits and spices that they met 
with in their travels. 
The first regular collector of herbarium specimens was William 
Roxburgh, jun., son of the well-known W. Roxburgh; he collected 
plants in Penang in 1802. 
Nathaniel Wallich, Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic 
Gardens, visited Singapore and Penang in 1822, and made extensive 
collections there which were largely distributed and the study-set 
was incorporated in the Indian collections belonging to the Hon. 
East India Company. A lithographed catalogue (quoted Wall. 
Cat.) of these plants was published, and the study-set is now in the 
Kew Herbarium. He was assisted in this collection by several 
botanists, including W. Jack and G. Porter. 
