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SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 1985
THERE ARE NOW MORE THAN 34 500 DRIED PLANT SPECIMENS, SOME NEARLY AS OLD AS THE HERBARIUM ITSELF, RESULTING FROM THE CONTINUOUS SEARCH FOR PLANTS IN HONG KONG, AS WELL AS SOME OTHERS OBTAINED FROM OTHER ASIAN COUNTRIES.
LAST YEAR, ABOUT 200 SPECIMENS WERE ADDED TO THE HERBARIUM'S COLLECTION, SAID MR LEUNG HIN-MING, ECOLOGIST WITH THE AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES DEPARTMENT.
THE HERBARIUM'S COLLECTION INCLUDES SOME 2 600 SPECIES
AND VARIETIES RECORDED IN HONG KONG, BOTH NATIVE AND INTRODUCED, AND SOME 2 500 OTHER SPECIES FROM ASIAN COUNTRIES.
THE MOST VALUABLE SPECIMENS, MR LEUNG POINTED OUT, ARE TYPE SPECIMENS. THESE ARE THE FIRST SPECIMENS WHICH ARE GIVEN THE PERMANENT NAMES OF PLANT SPECIES THAT HAVE NOT BEEN PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED IN LATIN IN TAXONOMIC PAPERS.
THE HERBARIUM, HE SAID, HAS A COLLECTION OF SOME 110 TYPE SPECIMENS.
+TO CONFIRM WHETHER A PLANT IS A NEW SPECIES, THE HERBARIUM SENDS THE SPECIMEN WITH FLOWERS AND FRUITS AND RELEVANT INFORMATION TO A RECOGNISED AUTHORITY - SUCH AS THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS AT KEW IN THE UNITED KINGDOM MR LEUNG SAID.
FOR IDENTIFICATION, +
NEW DISCOVERIES OF PLANT SPECIES WERE USUALLY NAMED AFTER GOVERNORS, BOTANISTS OR PLANT COLLECTORS. THE +BAUHINIA BLAKEANA, FLOWER OF HONG KONG+, WAS DISCOVERED IN 1908 BY FATHERS OF THE FRENCH MISSION AND NAMED AFTER SIR HENRY BLAKE, GOVERNOR FROM 1898 TO 1904.
OTHER NEW SPECIES MIGHT BE NAMED AFTER HONG KONG ITSELF, SUCH AS THE +CAMELLIA HONGKONGENSIS+ AND +RHODODENDRON HONGKONGENSE+.
THE HONG KONG HERBARIUM ALSO DISSEMINATES INFORMATION BY MAINTAINING AN INDEX OF SCIENTIFIC NAMES AND ANOTHER INDEX OF CHINESE AND ENGLISH COMMON NAMES OF PLANTS OF HONG KONG.
IT IS ALSO THE ONLY HERBARIUM WHICH HAS AN ENGLISH CATALOGUE OF FLORA THAT IS TO A CERTAIN EXTENT REPRESENTATIVE OF CHINA, ESPECIALLY THAT OF GUANGDONG PROVINCE, MR LEUNG SAID.
WITH ITS VAST COLLECTION OF SPECIMENS. ASSOCIATED FIELD NOTES, PHOTOGRAPHS, COLOUR SLIDES AND BOTANICAL LITERATURE THE HERBARIUM PROVIDES AN IDEAL RESEARCH PLACE FOR BOTANISTS, TEACHERS AND OTHERS INTERESTED IN LOCAL FLORA.
/IT ALSO