Note on Houttuyn’s herbarium

In the Cyclopaedia of Malaysian Collectors and Collections, Mrs. M. J. van Steenis-Kruseman (Flora Malesiana I, I, 1950, 248a, 527b) stated that plants of Herb. Houttuyn, which Houttuyn had acquired from various collectors, were subsequently incorporated in other herbaria, that of Burman in particular. Merrill had questioned this in his work on Houttuyn (J. Arn. Arb. 19, 1938, 291—375, reviewed in Fl. Mal. Bull. no. 17, 1962, 906), as he could not locate a single sheet of Houttuyn’s collection. He only mentioned (l.c.p. 310) that in the Copenhagen Herbarium, in Herb. Vahl, there would be a fragmentary specimen of Myristica fragrans on the back of which was noted ‘ded. Houttuyn’. We could not find this photographed in the IDC microcards of Herb. Vahl.