OXFOKT) EOTAXrr.Vr. MKMOTTJS 89 



The Tntrnilucflon to ilie Hij^lcmaty of ImJian Trrrsi consists in 

 liki' manner of notes arninged for t lie use of a class in Indian lioiany 

 for Indian Forest Probationers. The whole of a laj-ge subject has 

 to be gone through in sixteen lectures, so that condensation of a 

 ruthless kind has had to be ])ractised. 



The Introductory Lecture begins by ex])laining how India is a 

 v.ist l)otanical region " ranging froiu prinuuy evergreen i-ain-forest to 

 the hmit of alpine plant-life, including sub-equatoi-ial swamps, moun- 

 tain rain-forest, deciduous monsoon-forest of drier central tracts, the 

 vegetation of grassy plains, estuarine mangrove formation, sandy sea- 

 coast, savannah and park-lands, as well as tracts of dry arid sandy or 

 stony desert." It is pointed out that the area contains about 4 RK) 

 plants of permanent woody habit, of which about IJoO give ajipre- 

 ciable timber, Init only about 200 to JiOO of economic impoi-tance. 



It is then explained how the "cataloguing and book-keeping'' of 

 the large Flora has led to Systems of ClassiKcation, of which theiu; 

 are several, differing only "as they reflect more modern outlooks for 

 regarding the grouping and terminology of the larger sections.'" 

 The general scheme which Dr. Church has himself advocated in his 

 Notes on the Systematt/ of Anyioxpcrms has, however, not been 

 adopted, as he has recognized that the Genera Flantariim of Kew, 

 '• though obsolete botanically " is best adhered to generally, as it is 

 still largely official in India and is the basis of the arrangement of 

 most works on Indian Forest Botany. 



The remaining lifteen lectures are devoted to notes on the families 

 that chiefly afford im])ortant Indian trews, whereof the chief are 

 indicated, with the characters of their flowers and fruits which it is 

 necessary to recognize. Thus among Apocarj^ous families, the most 

 important are the M(i(/iiotiace(Je and Anonacece, and among Cistitlone 

 the GuttifercP and Dipleromrpacece. As an example of the method 

 used in the notes, that on Shorea rohn>^ta (the Sal tree), the most 

 important tree of the deciduous forests of N. India, may be taken : 

 " Inflorescence as terminal and axillary ])anicles, ultimate monochasia 

 with flowers sessile, sepals with soft grey hairs, petals convolute dull 

 orange-yellow with soft pubescence, andrcecium of about JjO free 

 stamens, gyncjecium of 3 carpels, ovary subglobular, 2 anatropous 

 ovules in each loculus ; in fruit the 5 sepals increase in size, 1, 2, and 

 8 much more than the others, to 2-3 in. long with 10-15 pai-allel 

 main veins, as ])hotosynthetic and protective to green fruit, utilized 

 later for dispersal mechanism, by strong winds." One lecture eacli is 

 devoted to the Malvales, the Disciflorte, and the Sapindales. and then 

 comes the great famil}'' of the Legiimiuoaa', which in India affords 

 such very important forest trees as the species of Dalherrjia, Ftero- 

 carpiis, Hardwiclila, Casnia, Acacia, and Alhizzia. Then come the 

 Calyciflora^ followed by the Gamopetahc, among which appears the 

 Teak tree, Tectona grandis, the most important of those Indian trees 

 which afford export timber. Under the Apetalaj the chief families 

 are the Lauracece and EuphorhiacecB, grouped as such as there is 

 " some suggestive evidence that the petaloid condition has been lost " ; 

 while a further group is made of Monochlamydea' in which " the 

 tloi-al Mrgani/.alion is appai'ciitly 'apclaloiis* in the sense that the 



