INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. O 



subject there treated of up to the present state of our know- 

 ledge : the difficulties have increased fourfold, from scientific 

 botany not having advanced pari passu with the economic 

 branch; and so long as the plants themselves remain unde- 

 seribed, it is obviously impossible to recognize what are useful, 

 or so to define them that they shall be known by characters 

 that contrast with those of the useless. Our principal aim 

 however being purely botanical, the most insignificant and 

 useless weed is as much the object of our attention as the 

 Teak, Sal, and Tea : in the vegetable kingdom, and in the 

 great scheme of nature, all have equal claims on our notice, 

 and no one can predicate of any, its uselessness in an eco- 

 nomic point of view. 



Every one who has studied Indian plants, whether for eco- 

 nomic purposes or for those of abstract science, must have 

 felt the want of a general work which should include the 

 labours of all Indian botanists, to be a very serious incon- 

 venience. Our own experience in India has convinced us of 

 this; for we found it impossible to determine the names of 

 many of the most ordinary, and, in an economic point of view, 

 often most valuable forms ; and every day's additional expe- 

 rience in the preparation of this volume has served to show 

 more and more clearly, that whilst such a work is wanting sa- 

 tisfactory progress is impossible. At present the student has 

 to search in general systematic works, for the descriptions 

 of species; and as all of these are imperfect, a multitude of 

 scattered papers must be consulted for the additions which 

 have from time to time been made. These too have unfor- 

 tunately so often been published without reference to preced- 

 ing works of a similar nature, that the same plant has been 

 described as new by many successive botanists, ignorant or 

 neglectful of the labours of their predecessors. 



A general flora of India must comprise a careful study of 

 all previously published materials, so as to blend them into an 

 harmonious whole, and to establish Indian botany on a secure 

 basis of observation and accurate description. Such a task is, 



