In 1743, Georg Rumphius described a tree from the island of Seram in Herbarium Amboinense as Arbor Versicolor (now known as Eucalyptus deglupta Blume). Thus, the first European name for a species in the iconic Australian genus of Eucalyptus was coined decades before the British collected specimens in Australia, and before it was given its current name by a French botanist in 1789. The English translation of Rumphius’ description (see Supplementary Material) also includes vernacular names for Eucalyptus deglupta—some of many names applied to this species as it occurs from New Britain to Mindanao in the Philippines. While neither Rumphius’ name nor vernacular names for E. deglupta are recognised in current Western botanical nomenclature, the naming of Eucalyptus and other genera now recognised as Acacia, Casuarina and Melaleuca confirm the role of the eminent naturalist Rumphius in the history of Australian botany.

1743 年，Georg Rumphius 将来自Herbarium Amboinense的 Seram 岛的一棵树描述为Arbor Versicolor（现在称为Eucalyptus deglupta Blume）。因此，标志性的澳大利亚桉树属物种的第一个欧洲名称是在英国人在澳大利亚收集标本之前几十年创造的，在 1789 年法国植物学家给它现在的名字之前。Rumphius 描述的英文翻译（见补充材料）还包括Eucalyptus deglupta的本地名称——从新不列颠到菲律宾棉兰老岛的许多名称中的一些适用于该物种。虽然既不是 Rumphius 的名字，也不是E. deglupta的白话名称在当前的西方植物命名法中得到认可，桉树和其他现在被认为是金合欢、木麻黄和千层的属的命名证实了著名博物学家 Rumphius 在澳大利亚植物学史上的作用。