The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies
New access to a wide array of previously unstudied plants allowed botanical research to flourish under colonial rule and became highly institutionalised.
[6] This was largely linked to the establishment of botanical gardens including greenhouses which allowed plants to be moved around globally.
[6][7] A high degree of attention was paid to indigenous uses of plants, and especially on their medical uses, known locally as jamu (also historically spelled djamoe), due to exposure to new diseases for which they knew no treatments.
[7] However, colonial botanical research was also broadly directed towards plants that were economically significant, that could be processed to yield marketable products.
[7][8] This followed M. Treub, who had been appointed director of the botanical gardens in 1880, successfully arguing for support for research regarding Indonesian flora of economic significance.
[8] It is in this context that Heyne began writing his book, which aimed to categorise and catalogue the plants of economic significance present in the botanical garden's reserves, both with their local and scientific names, thus addressing the lack of publications on the matter.
[9] While writing his book, Heyne, who had no formal training in taxonomy, collaborated a lot with other researchers posted at the botanical gardens, namely T. Valeton, C. A.
[8] Whilst the degree to which they collaborated varied, with van Rosenburgh looking mostly at ferns and Valeton mostly at "ginger allies", Backer, whose worked focused on Javanese trees, provided a large number of plant names.
He refers to many other sources for example the books: Zoocecedica of the Netherlands East Indies[8] for images and De Clercq’s plantkundig woordenboek[13] for more local names.
[8] Instead he refers to another book in is preface: Zoocecedica of the Netherlands East Indies,[15] which was released at a similar time (1926) and does contain images and illustrations that Heyne had originally planned for.
[8] The copies were located at the Forestry Department in Kuala Lumpur, the Botanic Gardens in Singapore and at the Forest Research Institute in Kepong.
[17] The translation was made by Badan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Kehutanan (Agency for Forestry Research and Development).
[8][17] The series was published under the name Tumbuhan berguna Indonesia; terdiri atas empat jilid in Jakarta.
[8][17] In 1983 Heyne's work was revised, completed, edited and translated into English for the project PROSEA (Plant Resources of South-East Asia).
[19][20] When De Nuttige Planten van Nederlandsch Indië was published in 1927 by Karel Heyne, it was received by academics in a unanimous manner of appreciation.
To illustrate this point, Cammerloher stated that this book should be read by people with an interest in botany, anywhere in the world, not just in the Netherlands.
[1] The aim of the author was to allow readers to identify the plant they see in front of them in a real-life situation; using the book as a quick guide manual.
[1] The book offers many sources used, which the reader may turn to if so desired, to find more detail and depth on the plants mentioned.
Two provisional teams were set up for an English and Indonesian copy, a detailed budget and programme were drafted and submitted.
