INTRODUCTION. Ill 



characters and affinities, Works Avhich contain full descriptions and illus- 

 trations of plants of the regions in question, should present important 

 materials for students of phytogeography and of systematic botany. Works 

 wliich deal only with the names of plants, perhaps erroneously classified, 

 as would probably be the case in circumstances like ours, would be 

 likely to lead students of phytogeography to erroneous results, and would 

 puzzle students of systematic botany with an endless confusion of nomen- 

 clature of plants. 



In this work, plants, the identification of which has been satisfactorily 

 made, are referred to known species. In this case, I usually have made it 

 clear how I have identified them with the species to winch they have been 

 referred, by means of a comparison of herbarium specimens, of figures or of 

 descriptions found in literature. But in cases in which identification has 

 not been satisfactorily made, plants have been described as new with affinities. 

 In some cases, my species may be the same as those which I have given 

 as their aUies under descriptions of plants in question. Therefore, though 

 many of my new species should be reduced to synonyms, still I have little 

 doubt that my work will present important material to students of the flora 

 of Eastern countries. No one is more conscious than I that errors may 

 have crept into my work ; but the errors in most cases are of a nature 

 inevitable in work of this kind done in the East, far from Western herbaria, 

 and will doubtless easily detected by those who are familiar with the species, 

 when they see merely my descriptions and figures without troubling them- 

 selves to look at my original types. 



As stated above, nothing is more difficult than to identify plants by 

 short descriptions unaccompanied with figures. Original descriptions ought, 

 therefore, to be very clear, accurate and exhaustive, and if possible, ought 

 to be supplemented with figures, so that one can identify one's plants easily 

 and satisfactorily. For one to whom original types are easily accessible, it 

 is not difficult to work with short descriptions, as one may go to see the 

 types themselves, if one finds original descriptions unavailable for identifica- 

 tion. But, for one to whom original types are not accessible, when descrip- 

 tions are too short for use, the work cannot but be very difficult and 



