A Brief History of Botanical Exploration of Papua and New Guinea

Abstract

New Guinea, one of the largest islands in the world is, together with Borneo, probably the least known country botanically. Situated as it is between Australia and the Philippines and between Indonesia and Polynesia, the flora shows distinct affinities with that of these neighbours. The study of such affinities and dissimilarity between the flora of different countries is known as phytogeography. Various authors have included New Guinea in the phytogeo- graphic unit known as Malaysia. This unit includes Indonesia, Borneo, the Philippines and New Guinea, but not the Bismark Archipelago.