Rumphius and Eucalyptus
Roderick Fensham AA Queensland Herbarium, Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong, Qld 4066, Australia, and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia. Email: rod.fensham@qld.gov.au
Historical Records of Australian Science 33(1) 23-27 https://doi.org/10.1071/HR21009
Published: 21 January 2022
Abstract
In 1743, Georg Rumphius described a tree from the island of Seram in Herbarium Amboinense as Arbor Versicolor (now known as Eucalyptus deglupta Blume). Thus, the first European name for a species in the iconic Australian genus of Eucalyptus was coined decades before the British collected specimens in Australia, and before it was given its current name by a French botanist in 1789. The English translation of Rumphius’ description (see Supplementary Material) also includes vernacular names for Eucalyptus deglupta—some of many names applied to this species as it occurs from New Britain to Mindanao in the Philippines. While neither Rumphius’ name nor vernacular names for E. deglupta are recognised in current Western botanical nomenclature, the naming of Eucalyptus and other genera now recognised as Acacia, Casuarina and Melaleuca confirm the role of the eminent naturalist Rumphius in the history of Australian botany.
Keywords: Australia, botanical history, Dutch East Indies, Eucalyptus deglupta, Indonesia Linnaeus, Malesia, Rumphius.
References
Anonymous (1747) Kaartje van het Eiland Ceram, Deventer.Barker, R. M., and Barker, W. R. (1990) ‘Botanical contributions overlooked: the role and recognition of collectors, horticulturists, explorers and others in the early documentation of the Australian flora’ in: P. S. Short (ed.), History of Systematic Botany in Australasia, South Yarra, pp. 37–85.
Bauhin, C. (1623) Pinax Theatrici Botanici, Basel.
Beekman, E. M. (1999) The Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet: Georgius Everhardus Rumphius, New Haven.
Blume, C. L. (1849) Museum botanicum Lugduno-Batavum No. 6, Leiden.
Brooker, M. I. H., and Kleinig, D. A. (2006) Field Guide to Eucalypts, vol. 1, Southeastern Australia, edn 3, Melbourne.
Cossalter, C. (1977) Location and ecological data of some provenances of Eucalyptus deglupta Blume in the Celebes and Ceram Islands—characteristics of the natural stands, Forest Genetic Resources Information, no. 6.
Eldridge, K., Davidson, J., Harwood, C., and van Wyk, G. (1993) Eucalypt Domestication and Breeding, Oxford.
Fensham, R. J., Laffineur, B., Collingwood, T. D., Beech, E., Bell, S., Hopper, S. D., Phillips, G. N., Rivers, M. C., Walsh, N., and White, M. (2020) Rarity or decline: key concepts for the Red List of Australian eucalypts., Biological Conservation, 243, 108455.
| Rarity or decline: key concepts for the Red List of Australian eucalypts.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Heather, W. A. (1955) The kamarere forests of New Britain, Empire Forestry Review, 34, 255–278.
Merrill, E. D. (1917) An Interpretation of Rumphius’s Herbarium Amboinense, publication no. 9, Manila.
Rumphius, G. E. (1741–1750) Herbarium Amboinense, Amsterdam.
Rumphius, G. E. (1755) Herbarii Amboinensis Auctuarium, Amsterdam.
Soerianegara, I., and Lemmens, R. H. M. J. (1993) Timber Trees: Major Commercial Timbers, PROSEA, vol. 5, no. 1, Wageningen.
Turnbull, J. (1974) Kamarere Eucalyptus deglupta Blume, Forest Tree Series, no. 175, Canberra.
Veldkamp, J. F. (2002) II. 15th June 2002, 300th anniversary of Rumphius’ death., Flora Malesiana Bulletin, 13, 7–21.
Westphal, E., and Jansen, P. C. M. (1989) Plant Resources of South-east Asia: a Selection, PROSEA, Wageningen.
