4 
18. Mr. Burkill has begun a collection of the Malayan seaweeds, a 
group of plants which had received little attention here in the past. He col¬ 
lected 12 species at Pangkor, all of which were new records for Perak and in¬ 
clude Viva reticulata, Amphiroa fragilissima, Turbinaria conoides and 
Colpomenia sinuosa. 
(ii) EXCHANGE AND LOAN OF HERBARIUM SPECIMENS 
19. The routine work of drying, poisoning and mounting specimens went 
on during the year. Some 2,351 sheets were mounted, but many of these could 
not be laid in their proper place in the cabinets, since these are now full and 
new cabinets are urgently wanted. We received 2,451 specimens in exchange 
from other herbaria or donated by individual collectors. The donors were the 
herbaria of the British Museum, Kepong Forest Research Institute, Hong 
Kong, Leiden and the Morris Arboretum; the Forest Departments of Bangkok, 
Lae, North Borneo and Sarawak; Lord Talbot de Malahide, British Ambas¬ 
sador to Laos, Mr. J. E. Seal of the Department of Civil Aviation. Sarawak, 
Mr. J. A. le Doux of Kota Tinggi and Mrs. B. E. G. Allen. Our grateful thanks 
are due to them for these valuable specimens. The Agricultural Department. 
Kuala Lumpur, kindly donated a number of sheets of Wray’s specimens col¬ 
lected in the 1880’s. 
20. 2,167 duplicate specimens were distributed to the herbaria of Bogor. 
British Museum, Delhi, Edinburgh, Kepong Forest Research Institute, Kew, 
Leiden and Paris, compared with 3.321 in 1954. This decrease is due to lack 
of funds for postage and the fact that many of the collections made in 1955 
were not ready for distribution at the end of the year. 
21. The number of specimens sent out on loan to botanists working on 
the Flora Malesiana at Bogor, Cambridge, Kew. Leiden and to other specialists 
increased from 3,097 to 4,903. The families sent on loan were Flacourtiaceae. 
Malvaceae, Restionaceae and Bambusae, some Dipterocarpaceae and Erica¬ 
ceae and the genera Calophylliun, Kavea, Ochrocarpus and some Ficus spp. 
Tt adds greatly to the usefulness and value of our herbarium when these 
specimens are returned correctly annotated. 
22. In addition to providing herbarium material on loan or exchange for 
study by research workers in other countries, many requests were received for 
living plants, seeds and spirit material for study by specialists elsewhere, and 
wherever possible the material required was provided. The Gardens co-operated 
fully with the Botany Department of the University of Malaya and provided 
material for class work and research. 
(iii) TAXONOMIC RESEARCH 
23. Mr. Sinclair continued his revision of the Malayan species of 
Myristicaceae (nutmeg family) and his manuscript was nearly completed by 
the end of the year. Dr. Furtado completed his long paper on Calamus , the 
rattan genus of palms, and it has now gone to press. In the revision there are 
72 species of Calamus in Malaya compared with 46 in Ridley’s Flora , while 
two of the latter have been transferred to the new genus Cornera. In addition 
to their research, the Keeper of Herbarium and the Assistant Botanist have 
carried out routine determinations of the in-coming specimens, while the 
Director and Assistant Director have named their own collections. Certain 
species collected have been sent to experts in various parts of the world work¬ 
ing on individual groups or families for critical determination. 
