Article

Herbs

From Munshipedia, the MBRAS digital historical encyclopedia

Herbs

The archival record on “herbs” in the Society’s literature is limited to a single floristic treatment of the Araceae of Borneo by H. N. Ridley (1905), which documents the family’s distribution, endemism, and horticultural significance in the region, alongside two further papers on the Gesneraceae of the Malay Peninsula and a catalogue of new or rare Malayan plants that touch upon herbaceous taxa in passing. No dedicated ethnobotanical or pharmacological study of medicinal or culinary herbs appears in the records provided; the term “herb” in these sources is used in its strict botanical sense of a non-woody plant, and the articles are taxonomic rather than economic or cultural in orientation.

Taxonomic Scope and Regional Distribution

Ridley’s 1905 treatment of the aroids of Borneo, published in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, represents the most substantial single contribution to the subject in the Society’s literature. The paper is a comprehensive checklist of the family Araceae as known from the island at that time, drawing on Ridley’s own 1903 collecting trip to Sarawak alongside earlier material from Beccari, Haviland, Korthals, Motley, Grabowski, and Hallier [1, p. 169]. Ridley describes eighteen new species across seven genera, including Cryptocoryne grandis, Arisaema umbrina, Homalomena sarawakensis, H. borneensis, H. havilandi, H. fasciata, H. paucinervia, H. intermedium, H. crassinervia, H. lancea, Schismatoglottis multiflora, S. caulescens, Scindapsus rupestris, S. havilandi, Rhaphidophora migrescens, R. elliptica, R. fluminea, and Pothos longus [1, pp. 169–188].

The genus Cryptocoryne is identified by Ridley as attaining its “maximum development” in Borneo, with at least nine species recorded, most of them endemic to Sarawak jungle streams [1, pp. 169–171]. All species in Borneo inhabit jungle streams and rivers except the tidal river species C. ciliata, which is common in the tidal mud of the Malay Peninsula and the islands [1, p. 169]. The genus Typhonium, described as “small aroids usually weeds of cultivation,” is represented by two species, T. trilobatum and T. motleyanum [1, p. 170]. Amorphophallus giganteus is recorded from Sarawak, though Ridley notes that the genus is “seldom met with in flower” and that he found only two plants in leaf [1, p. 170].

Among the herbaceous aroids, Homalomena is the most extensively treated genus, with Ridley describing seven new species from Sarawak alone, including H. sarawakensis from Bidi, H. borneensis from Kuching, H. havilandi from the Bongo range near Penkalan Ampat, H. fasciata from the Bidi Woods, H. paucinervia from Matang, H. intermedium from Matang, and H. crassinervia from Matang [1, pp. 172–176]. Several of these are noted as endemic to Borneo. H. fasciata, collected in flower in October 1903, was brought alive to Singapore and flowered in the Botanic Gardens, confirming its identity [1, p. 174]. The genus Schismatoglottis is represented by numerous species, many of them variable and difficult to determine; Ridley describes S. multiflora from Matang as “abundant” in stream rocks and “remarkable for its long spadix and very numerous flowers” [1, p. 181], and S. caulescens from Bidi, noted for its unusual elongate stem [1, p. 182].

The genus Pothos includes P. longus, described by Ridley from a specimen collected by Haviland four miles from Kuching, which is “remarkable not only for its very long spathe and spadix, but for the curious narrow long tips of the perianth lobes which are almost linear” [1, p. 188]. The spathe measures nine inches in length and the spadix six inches, dimensions that distinguish it markedly from other members of the genus [1, p. 188].

Habitat, Endemism, and Horticultural Significance

A recurring theme in Ridley’s treatment is the extraordinary endemism of Bornean aroids. Of the species he records, a substantial proportion are endemic to the island, and many of those are known from a single locality or a very restricted range. Cryptocoryne striolata, C. grandis, C. pallidinervia, C. longicauda, C. bullosa, C. lingua, and C. auriculata are all designated as endemic [1, pp. 169–171]. Among the Homalomena species, H. sarawakensis, H. borneensis, H. havilandi, H. fasciata, H. paucinervia, H. intermedium, H. crassinervia, and H. lancea are all endemic [1, pp. 172–176]. Scindapsus rupestris and S. havilandi are likewise endemic, the former creeping on limestone rocks at Bau and the latter from Saribas [1, pp. 184–185]. Rhaphidophora fluminea is endemic to British North Borneo, creeping on rocks overhanging the Labuk river at Bongaya [1, p. 186].

Ridley identifies a significant taxonomic problem in the study of aroids: “the very bad habit of some botanists and gardeners of describing species from leaves only” [1, p. 169]. He argues that aroids vary considerably in the form and venation of their leaves, and that leaf descriptions are “quite worthless” and have led to “great confusion,” particularly in Borneo where many species possess ornamental leaves and have been introduced as cultivated plants and inadequately described and named [1, p. 169]. This practice is illustrated by Alocasia Korthalsi, described only from leaf specimens, and Alocasia scabriuscula and A. cuprea, both introduced into cultivation from Borneo without full floral data [1, p. 179].

The horticultural significance of Bornean aroids is evident throughout the paper. Homalomena insignis is recorded as “introduced from Borneo” and illustrated in the Illustrated Horticultural Record of 1885 [1, p. 172]. Alocasia scabriuscula was introduced into cultivation from Borneo and described in the Gardeners’ Chronicle in 1879 [1, p. 179]. Schismatoglottis variegata of gardens, identified as a variety of S. calyptrata, was introduced from Borneo [1, p. 180]. Schismatoglottis longispatha, obtained by Ridley in the Bidi Woods, flowered in the Singapore Botanic Gardens in March and April 1904 [1, p. 180]. Cyrtosperma ferox was introduced from Borneo and figured in the Illustrations Horticoles [1, p. 187]. Podolasia stipitata was first introduced from Borneo by Mr. Curtis and described in the Gardeners’ Chronicle in 1892 [1, p. 187].

The cultivated aroids Colocasia antiquorum and Alocasia indica and A. macrorrhiza are recorded as common cultivated plants, the first “probably not native in this part of the world” [1, p. 178]. Alocasia Lawii is noted as “common on limestone rocks” in both Borneo and the Malay Peninsula, with Ridley observing that Beccari “could hardly have failed to find it” despite its absence from Beccari’s published list [1, p. 178].

Broader Context in the Society’s Floristic Literature

The treatment of herbaceous plants in the Society’s literature extends beyond the Araceae. Ridley’s 1905 paper on the Gesneraceae of the Malay Peninsula documents 121 species across 18 genera, of which 95 (78.5 per cent) are endemic to the Peninsula [2, p. 7]. The family includes numerous herbaceous and sub-shrubby taxa, and Ridley identifies limestone rocks as “exceptionally prolific,” supporting several entirely lithophytic genera including Boea, Monophyllaea, Epithema, and Phyllobœa [2, p. 7]. The Lankawi limestone islands, explored extensively by Curtis, yielded a disproportionate number of new endemic species across at least eight genera [2, pp. 1]. The section Speciosæ of Didissandra, comprising 71 species of small shrublets with showy blue, white, or yellow flowers, is identified as a very distinct group apparently confined to the Peninsula, with no representatives even from Sumatra or Borneo [2, p. 2].

In his 1915 paper “New or Rare Malayan Plants,” Ridley describes six new species, five of them from Pahang, reflecting the productive collecting work of Burn Murdoch in the Temerloh and Pahang river areas [3, p. 11]. Among these, Thismia racemosa (Burmanniaceae) is a herbaceous species, and Cordia premnifolia (Boraginaceae) is recorded from three localities in Pahang with the native name “Sekundai” [3, p. 12]. The paper also includes a brief note on Dinebra arabica, an introduced grass collected by Burkill at Port Swettenham in 1913, identified as a native of Africa and India that had been accidentally introduced to the region [3, p. 14].

Research and Documentation

The Society’s literature on herbaceous plants is characterised by a taxonomic rather than an ethnobotanical or pharmacological orientation. The records provided contain no dedicated study of medicinal herbs, culinary plants, or indigenous knowledge of herb use. The term “herb” appears in these sources exclusively in its botanical sense, and the articles are floristic checklists and species descriptions rather than economic or cultural surveys.

The dominant figure in this literature is H. N. Ridley, Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens from 1887 to 1918, whose work established the baseline for the botanical survey of the region during the colonial period. His 1905 paper on the aroids of Borneo represents a comprehensive synthesis of the family’s distribution in the island, drawing on the herbarium collections of the Singapore Botanic Gardens and the Kew herbarium, with Engler’s Malesia (1896–1911) serving as the principal comparative reference [1, p. 169]. The paper reflects the collaborative infrastructure of late-Victorian botanical collecting, relying on the fieldwork of multiple collectors across Sarawak, British North Borneo, and the Malay Peninsula.

Ridley’s 1905 paper on the Gesneraceae of the Malay Peninsula represents a dramatic expansion over earlier treatments, more than doubling the 72 species listed in his own 1895 paper in the Journal of the Linnean Society and far exceeding the 22 species recorded in the Flora of British India of 1884 [2, p. 1]. This growth reflects both intensified fieldwork and the processing of previously unexamined herbarium material, including collections loaned by Dr. Prain of the Calcutta Gardens [2, p. 1]. The 1915 paper on new or rare Malayan plants is part of an ongoing series that systematically documented the region’s flora for the colonial scientific establishment, relying on a network of collectors including Burn Murdoch in Pahang, Beccari in Borneo, Burkill in Selangor, and local collectors such as Mohammed Haniff [3, p. 11].

The records indicate that the study of herbaceous plants in the region during this period was driven primarily by taxonomic curiosity and the practical needs of the Botanic Gardens, with horticultural introduction serving as a secondary but significant motivation. The widespread practice of describing aroids from leaves alone, which Ridley criticises, reflects the influence of the ornamental plant trade on botanical nomenclature [1, p. 169]. No debate on the economic or medicinal value of specific herbs is recorded in the sources provided, and the limits of the archival record on this subject should be noted.

MBRAS Sources

References

  1. H.N. Ridley (1905). The aroids of Borneo JSBRAS 44: 169–188.
  2. H.N. Ridley (1905). The Gesneraceae of the Malay Peninsula JSBRAS 44: 1–92. Read on JSTOR
  3. H.N. Ridley (1915). New or rare Malayan plants JSBRAS 68: 11–14. Read on JSTOR