The Bornean species of Eugenia, Scheffleria, and Saurauia represented in the Singapore herbarium
E.D. Merrill published this taxonomic revision of three Myrtaceae and Saurauiaceae genera in 1918, working from specimens held in the Singapore Herbarium to document and describe the Bornean flora of Eugenia, Schefflera, and Saurauia. The paper establishes the known species lists for each genus in Borneo and introduces fourteen new species, drawing heavily on the extensive Sarawak collections of Haviland and Ridley.
Summary
Merrill’s treatment proceeds genus by genus, first cataloguing the Bornean species of Eugenia represented in the Singapore Herbarium with their localities and collector data, then describing six new species in that genus. The Eugenia section is the most extensive, covering both previously described taxa (such as E. kuchingensis, E. javanica, and E. saligna) and new combinations or names. Among the new species, E. kingii is noted as allied to E. plumbea but distinguished by smaller leaves with fewer lateral nerves, while E. monantha is characterised by its large solitary terminal flowers and lanceolate caudate-acuminate leaves resembling E. jambos. E. subracemosa is distinguished by its short, fascicled, few-flowered inflorescences on older branches, and E. rhynchophylla is placed in the section Sysygium based on its connate petals forming a deciduous calyptra.
The Schefflera section notes that six species were previously known from Borneo, and Merrill’s examination increases the Singapore Herbarium representation to ten, with four new species described. S. borneensis is characterised by its unusually long petioles (up to 43 cm), 8- to 10-foliolate leaves, and conspicuously brown-furfuraceous inflorescences with greatly elongated primary branches. S. burkillii is a smaller shrub with 5- to 3-foliolate leaves and 6-merous flowers, allied to S. polita but distinguished by its reduced stipules. S. havilandii resembles S. borneensis at first glance but is separated by its smooth leaflets with obsolete reticulations and glabrous inflorescences. S. racemosa is notable for its cinereous-puberulent inflorescences and flowers arranged in distant fascicles rather than umbels.
The Saurauia section is the shortest, listing five known species and describing four new ones. S. glabra is distinguished from the similar S. nudiflora of the Malay Peninsula and Java by having three rather than five styles. S. spinuloso-setosa is striking for its prominent ferrugineous curved setae covering all vegetative parts. S. ridleyi is characterised by its densely incurved-setose branchlets and tomentose styles, while S. havilandii is allied to S. planchonii but separated by its glabrous leaf undersides.
Key Findings
- Fourteen new species are described in total: six in Eugenia (E. kingii, E. monantha, E. subracemosa, E. subsessilifolia, E. lunduensis, E. rhynchophylla), four in Schefflera (S. borneensis, S. burkillii, S. havilandii, S. racemosa), and four in Saurauia (S. glabra, S. spinuloso-setosa, S. ridleyi, S. havilandii) (pp. 22–35).
- The Bornean Schefflera flora is increased from six to ten species in the Singapore Herbarium, with a further five species in the Bureau of Science herbarium bringing the total known Bornean count to nineteen, though the additional nine are considered too poorly represented for specific determination (p. 27).
- Eugenia ugoensis, C.B. Rob. (1917) is synonymised with E. myrtillus, Stapf (1894), on the basis that the Kinabalu material previously assigned to the former is a fruiting specimen of the latter (p. 21).
- Saurauia oblancifolia is proposed as a replacement name for S. oblanceolata, Merr. (1918), to avoid confusion with a homonym of Ridley, 1916 (p. 31).
- The majority of type specimens and localities are from Sarawak, with Haviland’s collections (1888–1893) forming the backbone of the material; British North Borneo (Mount Kinabalu, Sandakan) and Labuan are also represented (pp. 20–35).
- Saurauia planchonii is noted as a characteristic endemic of Borneo, represented by multiple localities including Tegora, Kuching, Matang, Bau, and Tambusan (p. 31).
Conclusion
Merrill’s paper serves as a foundational inventory of these three genera in Borneo, establishing the species lists as known at the turn of the twentieth century and providing the first formal descriptions for a substantial proportion of them. The work underscores the richness of the Sarawak flora as documented through Haviland’s and Ridley’s fieldwork, and it sets the taxonomic baseline against which later revisions of these groups in the region would be measured.
Context
- Merrill was an American botanist serving in the colonial scientific establishment (Director of the Bureau of Science, Philippines, with active involvement in Singapore herbarium work); this paper is a product of the institutional botanical infrastructure of the Straits Settlements and British North Borneo.
- The primary source material consists almost entirely of pressed herbarium specimens, with Haviland’s Sarawak collections (1888–1893) and Ridley’s material forming the evidential core; no field observations by Merrill himself are recorded.