Contributions to the history of botany and exploration in Malaysia. 8—9

When Dr. F. G. Meyer, in a letter to Dr. Ding Hou, inquired after biographical particulars of “Heinrich Bürger”, the name of this naturalist meant nothing to me. This is not astonishing, as nearly all of his activities took place in Japan, a country outside our range of study. It took Dr. van Steenis some efforts to warm me up and in the meantime he gathered some information, mostly provided by Prof. Dr. H. Boschma at Leyden and by Prof. Dr. F. Verdoorn at Utrecht. When Verdoorn inter alia referred to Flora Malesiana vol. 1 (Cyclopaedia of Collectors) I was baffled and got intrigued, though at the time it seemed dubious whether “Burger”, who was cited there to have sent plants to Blume (1), was identical with Heinrich Bürger.