PREFACE. 



Tbb Flora is based mainly on notes and collections made 

 during several years' residence in Chota Nagpur, as Divi- 

 sional Forest and Working- Plans Officer, chiefly in Singbhnm. 

 These notes were very largely augmented during six weeks' 

 leave (subsequently converted into special duty J devoted to a 

 botanical walking tour in Manbhum, Ranchi, Hazaribagh and 

 Palamau during the months of May and June 1905. A 

 subsequent tour during the cold season of 1907-08 extended 

 from the banks of the Sone through the districts of Palamau 

 and Hazaribagh. and through the whole length of the Santal 

 Parganahs. 1 



The last tour, and the actual writing of the Flora in its 

 present form, were undertaken during the writer's short 

 tenure of the office of Imperial Forest Botanist, and while 

 on furlough in England. 



It has been a source of regret that the notes and collections 

 made during the comparatively lengthy stay in Singbhum 

 were not compiled 'with any idea of subsequently writing a 

 flora ; had it been otherwise, not only would much of the 

 later work have been saved, but the present attempt more 

 satisfactory. 



The book being intended for the use of those residents in 

 Chota Nagpur 2 who may have no previous knowledge of 

 systematic botany, as well as for forest officers and students, 

 the writer has endeavoured to meet the requirements of all 

 three classes. For the first, a glossary and an artificial key 

 has been compiled, with which the approximate position of a 

 plant in the Flora may be quickly located. The descriptions 

 of the species usually starts with a fairly popular account of 



1 Spelt Scnthal Pargannahs on the map. 



1 Chota Nagpur in this, and in similar cases, where no confusion can 

 ariso, includes the Santal Parganahs. 



B 



