Preface. iii 



belong to it, but such only as are shown by the species found 

 in Ceylon.' Had the Flora of Ceylon been exhaustively 

 explored, this curtailment of the characters of the Orders 

 and Genera would not interfere with the value of the work 

 for its limited purpose, but such, I feel satisfied, is not the 

 case. There are still large areas of the Forest region which 

 await the visits of keen collectors, and there are not a few 

 common (some amongst the very commonest*) plants of 

 the plains of India that have not as yet been collected in 

 Ceylon. 



J. D. Hooker. 

 September^ 1898, 



* Of this a conspicuous example is Polygonum plebejuui, Br., a weed 

 extending from Africa to Australia ; the tropical representative of the 

 European P. aviciilare, and perhaps the commonest of Indian dicotyledo- 

 nous plants. Especially abundant in the Madras Peninsula. 



