T. Heilbron 2012.Botanical relics of the plantations - osodresie

2 Methodology
The direct motive for this study was the request of a Dutch tourist operator who recently started a
project for eco-tourism development on part of a plantation (Reijnsdorp, Commewijne district).
He encountered rows of cacti and a date palm species in the forest and was interested in the
origin and history of those plants.
From literature on plantation crops (e.g Van Andel et al., 2012; Rolander, 2008; Ostendorf,
1962; Stahel, 1944), a list was made of plant species that might be expected as relics on former
plantations. The list included most prominent former cash crops, such as Theobroma cacao and
Coffea liberica and plants that supported them, for example Erythrina spp. as a shade tree. Some
species described in historical literature as being planted in slave or slave owners’ gardens, such
as Cleome gynandra and Croton tiglium (Rolander, 2008), Furcraea foetida, and plants which,
according to local inhabitants, might have some historical connection to the plantations, such
as the columnar cactus Cereus spp., were also included. Color images of these species were
provided to local inhabitants to ask whether they knew these species and their locality.
Fieldwork was performed between March 6 th and May 19 th , 2012. After spending 13
days at plantation Reijnsdorp, new locations were chosen according to information gained from
open-ended interviews with local guides, hunters, fishermen and elderly people. Information
regarding the whereabouts of possible relic individuals was also obtained, and vernacular names
and stories of the origin of these plants were documented. Figure 3 shows the location of the
plantations where fieldwork was conducted. Generally, the plantations are distributed over five
areas, namely Warappa creek (#1-12), the mouth of Commewijne river (#13-18), Orleane creek
(#19-21), the mouth of the Suriname river (#22-25) and the lower Suriname river (#26-27) area.
For each of the relics, a botanical voucher was made using standard botanical techniques. The
plants’ locations were logged in a GPS device. Observations on growth form, reproduction,
abundance and specific patterns on site were made, and pictures were taken of the locality. For
species encountered various times at different localities, only GPS data were collected. For
cacti collected, the alcohol method described by De Groot (2011) was used prior to drying.
Duplicates of all collected species were deposited at the National Herbarium Suriname (BBS)
and the National Herbarium of the Netherlands (NHN). Collection and export permits were
obtained from the Nature Conservation Division of the Suriname Forest Service (L.B.B.). For
the cacti specimens collected, a separate CITES permit was obtained (permit nr. 12189).
After the fieldwork, the collected specimens were identified using the Flora of Suriname,
the Flora of the Guianas and the Checklist of the Plants of the Guianas (Boggan et al., 1997). For
some specimens, specialist botanists were consulted to identify the plants to a (sub)species level,
namely P. Maas (NHN) and M. Hakkinen (H) for Musaceae, D. HilleRisLambers for an Oryza
cultivar and M. Nee (NYBG) for Solanaceae. After identification, the plants were added to the
NHN collection. A sample of seeds of a black Oryza cultivar was sent to the Anne van Dijk
Rijst Onderzoekscentrum Nickerie (ADRON) in Suriname for documenting and maintaining
this cultivar. It is currently being grown in Nickerie for comparative research.
Maps were made using ArcGIS 10.0, GPS locations collected during fieldwork, the digitized
map of Bakhuis et al. (1930), and exported satellite imagery from Google Earth (http:
//earth.google.com). For Phoenix reclinata a distribution map was made with the ear-
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