VI PREFACE. 



t^- 



- y 



■fcv" 



museums ; and yet of which so little of the Natural History, and espe- 

 cially the Botany, has been systematically brought tog'ether. Under 

 these circumstances an exhaustive Flora would be a work of many 

 years and many volumes ; and it is as a hand-book to what is already 



known, and a pioneer to more complete works, that the present is put 

 forward. 



For an account of the materials upon which it is founded, the reader 



is referred to the Introductory Essay to the Flora Indica alluded to 



above, which contains a history of Indian Botany up to 1855, together 



with an essay on the climates and physical features of India, and on its 



divisions into Botanico-Geographical provinces. Since the date of its' 



publication, no great systematically arranged collections of Indian 



plants, such as those of Wallich, Wight, Stocks, Strachey and Win- 



terbottom, &c. &c., have been added to these ; though many very 



valuable local collections have been made ; amongst which the Malac- 



can Herbarium of the late Dr. Maingay, and the South Indian of 



Major Beddome, present the most novelty and interest. Since that 



period, too, the vast Herbaria of Griffith and Falconer have been 



made over to Kew by the late East Indian Government, and though 



in a ruinous condition from damp and vermin, have been arranged and 

 distributed: Wi 



that of Kew, by private gift from that veteran botanist, and its dupli- 

 cates also distributed from this establishment ; and Bottler's own Her- 

 barium has been transferred from the Museum of King's College, ' 

 London, and liberally presented to Kew by order of the Council of that - 

 Institution. The value of these last two collections, as containing 

 the type specimens of plants described in so many old and modern ' 

 works, cannot be over-estimated. ' - iWij^; 



The plan apj)roved by his Grace the Secretary of State for India, for 

 bringing out this Flora, viz., of associating with myself a number of 

 competent botanists, whose names will appear in tlie headings of the 

 pages they (wholly or in part) sliall contribute, will, it is hoped, enable 

 me to bring it out with reasonable celerity ; whilst the adoption of as 

 concise a style and phraseology* as is consistent with clearness, and the 



."..'J 



* -r 



* In these matters my Flora of the British Islands Las heen followed ; the style there 

 adopted having been suggested hy the requirements of the Professors of Botany in the 

 Scotch Universities, and approved by them, seemed to me to be equally applicable to a 

 more extended. 



■*- ■ 



1 



* 



. ■^. -^ i 





J 



1. 



.. ■ ' - -: -': 



^-'<. 



, F I 



