Dr BOTJAH PRIJANTO (1942 — 1969) R E I N W A R D T I A Published by Herbarium Bogoriense, Bogor, Indonesia Volume 8, Part 1. pp. 1 — 2 (1970) IN MEMORIAM DOCTOR BOTJAH PRIJANTO MIEN A. RIFAI Herbarium Bogoriense, Bogor, Indonesia With the premature death of Dr. Botjah Prijanto on 29 April 1969, Indonesian botany has lost one of its few potential cadres. That the progress of the development of botany in Indonesia will be seriously impeded by his untimely death will be evident from the fact that Dr. Prijanto was the first and only Indonesian palynologist. Moreover he was one of the very few Indonesian qualified taxonomic botanists to obtain and complete their academic training in well established botanical institutions abroad. Botjah Prijanto — Pri to his close friends — was born in Djombang (East Java) on 1 April 1942, the second son of a family of five. The economic situation of the family made it impossible for him to pursue his cherished ambition of entering the Bandung Institute of Technology and becoming an engineer. Therefore, after obtaining his B/Science certificate from the State Senior High School in Malang in 1959, he applied for admission and was accepted as a Government grant student at the College of Agricultural Sciences at Tjiawi, Bogor. He obtained his Bachelor degree from this College in 1962, chosing taxonomy of flowering plants as his major subject. It was in this College that his keenness for botany became apparent, and during his college days he discovered a new species of Lansium (Meliaceae). Later he described and published this as Lansium kostermansii Prijanto, in honour of Prof. A. J. G. H. Kostermans, D. Sc, who adopted him, and under whose most able supervision and guidance, both in the field and in the laboratory, Prijanto learned a great deal about taxonomic botany. Prijanto then joined the staff of the Botany Division of the Forestry Research Institute in Bogor as Assistant Botanist. In 1963, thanks to a grant from the British Council (The Colombo Plant Technical Assistance Co-operation Scheme), he was able to continue his study at the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of Dr. P. H. Davies and Mr. B. L. — 1 — 2 R E I N W A R D T I A [VOL. 8 Burtt. After submitting a thesis on taxonomic problems of the Scrophu- lariaceae, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of that University in 1966. Prof. Kostermans then assisted him to obtain a grant from the Swedish International Development Authority to enable him to spend one year in the Palynological Laboratory in Stockholm, where he studied basic palynology from the nestor of palynologists, Prof. G. Erdtman. On his way home to Indonesia he received a further grant from the Nether- lands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Scientific Research (ZWO) for working in Utrecht University for two months. In 1968 he was appointed Botanist at the Forest Research Institute in Bogor, and at the same time he regularly came to work in the Herba- rium Bogoriense where he started to build up a palynology section. He continued his old interest in the Meliaceae and was contemplating mono- graphing the genus Aglaia of that family. His hard working habits, his frequent presence at odd hours in the Herbarium Bogoriense, his readiness to do something for other people — often at his own expense — as well as his pleasant personality and ever smiling countenance, have become familiar to all those who knew him. He maintained a keen interest in field work, and this took him to many places in Indonesia such as Udjung Kulon in West Java, Sumbawa (with Prof. Kostermans) and South Sumatra (with Dr. M. Jacobs). In -1969 he took part in a collecting trip in South Celebes designed to pave the way for a subsequent and bigger botanical expedition sponsored by the British Museum (Natural History) of London and the Indonesian Insti- tute of Sciences, and it was during this collecting trip that he met his tragic death in a car accident. In connection with his field activities it is worth noting that Prijanto was an accomplished photographer; he pursued this hobby both artistically and very seriously. Our deepest and most sincere sympathy goes to his widow and his son in their tragic loss. SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS OF DR. B. PRIJANTO A new species of Lansium Correa (Meliaceae), In Reinwardtia 7: 63—66. 1965. Taxonomic studies in the Scrophulariaceae. Ph. D. Thesis, Edinburgh University, 1966. The Asiatic species of Lindenbergia Lehm. (Scrophulariaceae). In Reinwardtia 7: 543—560. 1969. Pollen morphology of Gyrostemonaceae. In Erdtman, World Pollen Flora (in press). •Pollen morphology of Batidaceae. In Erdtman, World Pollen Flora (in press). hal 1-2_Page_1 hal 1-2_Page_2 hal 1-2_Page_3