[Crown Copyright Reserved. 
2 ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW. 
BULLETIN 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION, 
Nos. 7 & 8] [1917 
XXVII.—A LIST OF ECONOMIC PLANTS NATIVE 
OR SUITABLE FOR CULTIVATION IN THE 
BRITISH EMPIRE. | 
The editor of the Kew Bulletin has very kindly asked me to 
write a few words of intruduction to the List of Economic Plants, 
which comprises the present double number of the Bulletin, 
with a view to explaining its origin and object. 
in response to the invitation of the Council of the British 
Association the Sectional Committees met early in last year to 
consider what could be done in their respective Sections to meet 
problems which would arise after the war. Among the sugges- 
to their uses was a desideratum. Sir David Prain, who 
part in the discussion, kindly undertook to have such a list pre- 
pared, from the sources available at Kew, ‘for the information 
of the members of the Committee. The list having been pre- 
pared, its great value and importance at once indicated that it 
‘Should be made widely available for botanists and others in- 
terested in economic botany. The Director of the Royal Botanic 
Gardens was asked, and agreed, to publish it as a number of the 
Kew Bulletin, and it was suggested that an additional number 
of copies might be supplied to the British Association for dis- 
tribution by the Botanical Committee. The Committee of 
ection K welcomed this suggestion, and its recommendation was 
accepted by the Council and General Committee. Owing to the 
temporary suspension of the Bulletin the publication of the List 
has been deferred until now. 
The List is of great interest. It not only indicates the large 
number of plants which are already recognised as of practical 
economic use and capable of being grown or cultivated in 
(5070.) Wt. 152—699. 1,125. 11/17. J.T. &S., Ltd. G14. Sch. 12. 
