PEEFACE TO VOL. VII. 



THE length of time, upwards of a quarter of a century, occupied in the 

 publication of the Flora of British India, has resulted in the later 

 volumes containing a far more complete account of the families of 

 plants to which they are devoted than do the earlier volumes of theirs. 



For this there are two reasons, the extension of the area of British 

 India in the interval, and the many collections that have been trans- 

 mitted to Kew from wholly or imperfectly explored regions of India 

 during the same interval. 



The extension of area has been : on the East, Munnepore, and by far 

 the greater part of Burma, adding many Indo-Chinese genera and species 

 to the flora ; on the West, British Beluchistan and other trans-Indus 

 hills and valleys, adding Oriental genera and species. Neither of these 

 extensions have, however, added so much to the Indian flora as might 

 have been expected ; for, as regards Burma, extensive materials were 

 already available from Pegu, Martaban, Tenasserim, and the upper and 

 lower Irawaddy valleys ; and as regards the West, the low country 

 Oriental flora is represented in the plains of Sind and the Panjab, and 

 the upland and alpine in the trans-Indus valleys, Western Tibet, and 

 the Kashmir Himalaya, 



On the other hand, the collections received from previously unex- 

 plored and partially explored regions of India proper have been 

 numerous and full of novelty and interest. Of these the first in 

 importance are Mr. C. B. Clarke's, whether for their extent, the know- 

 ledge and judgment with which the specimens were selected, ticketed, 

 and preserved, or for the valuable observations which accompany 

 them. They were obtained over a greater extent of India than had 

 been traversed by any other Indian botanist, and at all elevations, up to 

 18,500 ft., from the bend of the Indus at Gilgit, Kashmir, and Western 



9G197 



