The Rijksherbarium, in past and present

As is explained in other papers in this jubilee volume (v. Steenis – Kruseman, Smit) it was not on purpose, but by coincidence that the Rijksherbarium came to Leiden. However, Leiden will have been the obvious alternative after Brussels, for Fischer as well as for Von Siebold. There Reinwardt, founder of the Botanical Garden of Buitenzorg (now Bogor, Indonesia), was professor since 1821. There the State Museum of Natural History had been founded in 1820. There was also situated the old and famous Hortus Academicus with which also Von Siebold had his contacts while in Japan and which was the destination of a large shipment of live plants he had brought with him. Actually, shipping the collections to Leiden meant the return to an earlier plan, discussed at the Ministry in 1827. Possibly at Reinwardt’s suggestion the plan had been put forward to merge Blume’s collection with those in the possession of Leiden University, then still called the Hogeschool (= High School). The main components of the University herbarium were the Reinwardt collection and the herbarium Van Royen, other important collections (De Vriese, Teysmann, Junghuhn, Splitgerber) only later coming into the possession of the university. Although the Rijksherbarium came to Leiden after all, the combination was not completed before the last year of Miquel’s directorate (see the paper by Mrs. Van Steenis in this jubilee volume, p. 29).