K O T E 



During the 40 years that, have elapsed since the publication of the ' Flora of 

 Bombay' (1861) by Ualzell and Gibson, our knowledge of the botany of the 

 Presidency has largely increased, especially during the last 10 years, as a 

 consequence of the inauguration of the Botanical Survey of India under 

 Sir G. King. The present volume appears as the first of a series of regional 

 Floras of India which has been organized by the present Director of that 

 Survey; and as this, the first Part of the work (comprising 192 pages), contains 

 descriptions of more than 130 species which find no place in the corresponding 

 portion of Dalzell's ' P'lora,' the necessity for the undertaking is sufticiently 

 evident. 



A difficulty which occurs in the preparation of a local Flora such as the 

 present, embracing as it does a very wide area, is the want, in many cases, of 

 information as to the precise localities in which specimens have been collected. 

 The Older botanists Stocks, Dalzell, Law, &c., who collected in the Presidency, 

 rarely furnished more definite localities than Konkan, Deecan, Sind and the like; 

 and there are now in the Kew Herbarium hundreds of specimens supplied by 

 Dr. Stocks, one of the most indefatigable of Bombaj" collectors, which aflbrd no 

 further information on their labels than " Konkan, Stocks." As tlie Konkan i-. 

 a wide area, including Kanara geographically, and comprising within its limits 

 low-lying coast as well as elevated hilly districts, it is obvious that more 

 precise information as to locality would be very desirable. I have given all the 

 information in my power in this direction, and it is to be hoped that future 

 collectors will endeavour to further supply the need. It would also be a great 

 advantage if the color of the flowers and the habit of the plants were entered 

 on the labels, a kind of information which can rarely be obtained from dried 

 specimens. The Director of the Botanical Survey of India, Major D. Prain, 

 I.M.S., ' Memoirs and Memoranda ' (1894), pp. 392-406, has given excellent 

 instructions, especially designed for Indian collectors, as to the best mode 

 of preparing specimens for the Herbarium, a copy of which may be obtained 

 through the College of Science at Poona. 



I have adhered to the main divisions of the Presidency that Dalzell and Gibson 

 seem to have worked to, viz. Konkan, Deecan, Gujarat, Southern Mahratta 

 Country and Sind, as being the most convenient to follow. The S. M. Country, 

 which includes the CoUectorates of Belgaum and Dharwar, is net a geographical 

 division of the Presidency, but the term is well understood and is more 



