The Rijksherbarium and its contribution to the knowledge of the tropical Asiatic flora

The role played by the Rijksherbarium in the progress of Asian botany is of course closely interwoven with the history of exploration and phytography, and its evaluation needs, therefore, a background setting in the development of scientific botany in the East. The Rijksherbarium was founded after a decade in which, for the second time, the knowledge of the Malesian flora made a big jump forward, this time on a large scale, and on a professional level, by many persons, in a definite and successful way.