ability to understand and synthesise a vast amount of information, which of cour

se
includes consideration of not only the new species but also those found to be al
ready
known. It seems that Balfour developed 2 rules of thumb to help him get through
the
vast amount of material: 1) no species occurred in both India (specifically the
Himalaya)
and China, and 2) if a specimen seemed different enough from the others it shoul
d be
described as a new species so that attention could be drawn to it (if eventually
it turned
out not to be new, at least it wouldn t be overlooked).
The grouping of the species occupied Balfour from an early stage, and notes on
groupings occur in various places in his long first paper, published in 1916. He
began to
group the species into series. These were defined by choosing well-known and clear
ly
defined species as the centres of each series, and then grouping around them the
species
that seemed most similar. Each series was named after the central species (for e
xample,
Thomsonii series), adding around this the species that seemed most similar. Amon
g the
first fruits of this process was Balfour s publication of a review of the species
in what he
then called the Irroratum series (1917), to be followed shortly by a revision of t
he Maddenii series by J. B. Hutchinson (1919) of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. L
ater some of
the series were divided into 2 or more subseries.
The subsequent development of the series classification, which was acknowledged by
its author as a temporary expedient to cope with the vast numbers of new
species, can be followed in the pages of the Rhododendron Society Notes, of whic
h the first
issue was published in 1917, the last in 1931.
This system was brought to a position of stability in 1930 with the publication
by
the Rhododendron Society of The Species of Rhododendron (a 2nd edition was produce
d
almost immediately by the publication of individual pages which could easily be
placed
in the original publication in the correct place in the alphabetical sequence).
The book
was edited by J. B. Stevenson of Tower Court, a notable rhododendron grower and
a
founding member of the Rhododendron Society. The actual writing was done by H. F
.
Tagg, who dealt with the elepidote species; J. B. Hutchinson, who handled the le
pidote
species; and Alfred Rehder of the Arnold Arboretum, near Boston, Massachusetts,
who
contributed the text of the Azalea series, following the publication, 9 years ea
rlier, of his
and E. H. Wilson s monograph of the group (1921). Leaving aside the subtropical sp
ecies
of section Vireya (the names of the species of this group were merely listed) an
d including the additions which formed the 2nd edition, the book includes descri
ptions of 685
species arranged in 42 series, some of them subdivided into subseries, making a
total of
75 supraspecific units. Within each series or subseries, the species are alphabe
tically
arranged, the subseries are alphabetically ordered within the series, and the se
ries themselves form a single alphabetical sequence. One page is dedicated to ea
ch species, hence
18 Introductionthe ease of production and inclusion of additional pages. Under e
ach series and subseries is a key to the species included within it, though ther
e is no key to the series themselves. The objectives of the book were cogently s
et out by the editor:
The aim of those responsible for the issue of the present handbook has been to p
rovide a single-page description of each species and to attempt to group the spe
cies
into series so as to facilitate understanding and recognition. The first half of
this
task, though extensive, has been accomplished with a degree of completeness, but
the second part is admittedly tentative and will no doubt require adjustment. Th
ere
are many difficulties. The number of species is in itself somewhat overwhelming;
many are inadequately known; sometimes only imperfect dried specimens are
available; lines of demarcation between one series and another are sometimes def
inite, but in other cases very difficult to draw; observations on living materia
l are
often not forthcoming, as many species are not yet in cultivation; the original
specimens on which the descriptions are based what are known as types are to be
found some in one herbarium and some in another, scattered throughout the
botanical institutions of the world.
It is therefore with no idea of finality that the present book appears. Though
one may assume that the majority of the species of the genus are known, there ar
e
many still to be found, for the geographical area of the genus is as yet inadequ
ately
explored.
Though much has changed and improved, these views still have force.
Work along lines deriving from the publication of The Species of Rhododendron co
ntinued at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh by J. M. Cowan and H. H. Davidian,
involving the publications of revisions of various series (mainly in the Royal
Horticultural
Society s Rhododendron Yearbook). This process led ultimately to the publication o
f Davidian s Rhododendron Species in 4 volumes (1982 1995).
Meanwhile, other taxonomists were working on the subtropical species of section
Vireya. This work culminated in the publication of the account of the genus in t
he Dutchorganised Flora Malesiana (1968), written over a long period by Herman S
leumer, a very
experienced Berlin-trained taxonomist. Sleumer was well aware of the series classi
fication developed at Edinburgh and knew it did not conform to the way supraspec
ific
classification was dealt with in the rest of the flowering plants under the Inte
rnational
Code of Botanical Nomenclature. In Ein System der Gattung Rhododendron (1949), Sle
umer
made a first attempt at correcting this situation, bringing the series and subse
ries into the
standard taxonomic hierarchy (subgenera, sections, subsections); most of the ser
ies
reappear in Sleumer s classification, mainly at the level of subsection, though so
me are