The Burmanniaceae of the Malay Peninsula
H.N. Ridley, then a young botanist attached to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, published this floristic treatment of the Burmanniaceae in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1890. Working from field collections in Singapore, Selangor, Malacca, and Kedah, Ridley provides the first systematic account of the family in the Malay Peninsula, describing two new species and resolving taxonomic confusion surrounding the saprophytic genera. The article situates the Burmanniaceae within the broader context of Malayan plant geography, arguing for their closest affinity with the Liliaceae and Taccaceae rather than the Orchidaceae with which they had previously been grouped.
Summary
Ridley’s treatment covers three genera—Burmannia, Gymnosiphon, and Thismia—and addresses a fundamental taxonomic question: the correct placement of the Burmanniaceae within the plant orders. He notes that the family had been associated with orchids owing to a “misconception as to the structure of the seed,” and argues instead for a close relationship with the Liliaceae, particularly the Taccaceae, citing the common Atacca cristata (the “black Chendrian Lily”) as a familiar point of comparison (p. 332). This taxonomic repositioning frames the entire account, as the family’s members range from ordinary green-leaved annuals to the most bizarre saprophytic herbs in the Malayan flora.
The Burmannia section distinguishes three non-saprophytic species from two saprophytic ones. The alpine species (B. longifolia and B. disticha) are confined to high mountains, while B. caelestis is a ubiquitous annual of grassy ground. The saprophytic B. tuberosa, previously known only from Beccari’s Bornean and Papuan collections, is recorded for the first time from the Peninsula at Chan Chu Kang and Pataling, where Ridley found it growing alongside Thismia fumida and Sciaphila tenella in damp jungle (p. 334). The new species B. gracilis, discovered by Curtis at Tintow in Kedah in 1889, is described in full morphological detail, with particular attention to the anther structure and seed shape that distinguish it from B. tuberosa (p. 335).
The Thismia section is where Ridley’s account becomes most vivid. He describes these as “perhaps the most remarkable plants in the order, and indeed some of the most curious of the Malayan region,” noting that they would be mistaken for fungi by an ordinary observer (p. 336). His field observations of Thismia aseroe at Bukit Timah in September 1890—where the ground was “dotted all over with the little yellow stars” that disappeared within a week—illustrate the fugacious, spasmodic life cycle of these saprophytes. His attempt to cultivate the plants under glass shade, and the failure of the flowers to set fruit without insect pollination, provides an early observation on the reproductive biology of the group (p. 337). The article closes with a concise diagnostic key separating all eight species on the basis of ovary cell number, stamen number, saprophytic habit, and flower colour (p. 339).
Key Findings
- Five species of Burmannia are recorded from the Peninsula: B. longifolia, B. disticha, B. caelestis (non-saprophytic), and B. tuberosa, B. gracilis (saprophytic) (p. 332).
- B. caelestis (Don.) bears the Malay vernacular name “sisik naga” (Dragon’s scales) and is recorded from Singapore (Pasir Panjang, Tanglin, Changi), Malacca (Merlimau, Pulau Besar), Pahang (Pekan, Kwala Pahang), and Penang (Telok Bahang) (p. 334).
- Burmannia gracilis is described as a new species from Tintow, Kedah, collected by C. Curtis in 1889; it is a saprophytic plant 6 inches to a foot tall with a branched cyme of seven or eight white flowers (p. 335).
- Thismia fumida is described as a new species, a slender succulent herb about four inches tall with flowers 3/8 inch long, found rarely at Chan Chu Kang (Singapore) and near Pataling (Selangor) (p. 338).
- Ridley examined Blume’s original type sketches at the Buitenzorg herbarium to confirm that the Straits Gymnosiphon is G. borneense (Becc.) rather than G. aphyllum (Blume), the latter being a Javan plant with two large basal bracts absent in the Straits species (p. 335).
- Thismia aseroe was first collected by Beccari at Woodlands near Kranji and subsequently found by Ridley on Bukit Timah in September 1890; the flowers require insect fertilization and fail to set fruit under cultivation (p. 337).
Conclusion
Ridley’s article establishes the complete flora of the Burmanniaceae for the Malay Peninsula as it stood in 1890, resolving the family’s taxonomic placement away from the Orchidaceae and toward the Liliaceae/Taccaceae. Its lasting contribution is the description of two new species and the first Peninsular records of B. tuberosa and G. borneense, together with the diagnostic key that remains the standard reference for separating the eight species. The piece also captures, in Ridley’s characteristic field-observational style, the ephemeral ecology of Malayan saprophytes—plants that appear and vanish with the rains, defying the collector’s expectation of permanence.
Context
- Ridley was in his early thirties and had held the position of Assistant Director at the Singapore Botanic Gardens since 1888; this article reflects the systematic survey work expected of colonial botanical stations in the Straits Settlements during the 1880s.
- The study draws on the herbarium and library at Buitenzorg (where Blume’s types were held) and on Beccari’s Malesia (1873–1878), situating it within the broader European botanical programme of describing the flora of the Dutch East Indies and British Malaya.