194 BRITTONIA [VOL. 21

NOTICEmBOGOR BOTANICAL GARDEN FLOWER TRANSPARENCIES AVAILABLE

As a service to American plant taxonomists who use color transparencies in their teaching, I am pleased to announce the availability of Kodachrome and Ektachrome 2 • 2 transparencies of tropical plants and their flowers or fruits made at the world famous Bogor Botanical Gardens in Indonesia. These photographs are mostly from the Garden itself, taken by members of the Garden staff, and the names are supplied by the Garden and the Herbarium Bogoriense. They are available through a special arrangement with Dr. Didin Sastrapradja, Director of the Bogor Botanical Gardens. All profits will be placed in an American bank account upon which the Bogor Botani- cal Garden can draw in the purchase of needed supplies, books, or other materials, depending upon the success of this enterprise.

At the present time the list includes about 200 items representing more than 40 families and 100 tropical species, primarily from the Indo-Malaysian region (although the Bogor Garden has significant African and American collections as well). More photographs are being taken periodically, and the list will continue to grow until it is more fully representative of the very rich tropical floras it purports to represent. The transparencies are offered for sale at $1.25 each (in cardboard mounts), with satisfaction guaranteed. A list of those available can be obtained by writing me at the address below.

While I hope the availability of good pictures of tropical plants will be useful to American botanists, I frankly admit a greater hope that this is one small way of helping the Bogor Garden to continue its work. The political and economic stress through which Indonesia is passing is understandably felt particularly strongly by scientific institutions such as this one, and the staff is working very hard to maintain the Garden, hoping soon to be able to engage again in the level of research for which it is famous. The Botanical Garden has a continuous history of over 100 years, having been maintained, along with the other important scientific institutes of Bogor, even during the Second World War, through the wisdom of the Japanese scientists associated with the occupation armies. The present staff is small but able and dedicated, and deserves the support of the entire American botanical community. In order to in- crease the potential for assisting in this work, I am adding to the list of available transparencies the small number of acceptable ones that I have taken myself, in Bogor and in Malaysia, as well as in South America. All proceeds from these photographs will also be added to the Bogor account. I invite any of you who may also have transparencies of tropical species (or at least non-U.S, species) that are of instruc- tional quality and accurately determined to join me by making them available to the profession for the benefit of this important Botanical Garden. I will agree to handle all the business aspects of the operation without profit to me in return for any photo- graphs you are able to donate.

Richard M. Straw Department of Botany California State College, Los Angeles 5151 State College Drive Los Angeles, California 90032