GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE 

 FLORA 



THE Presidency of Madras presents, probably, a more varied 

 flora than any other tract of equal area in India, possibly in the 

 world. 



This phenomenon is due to the combined effects of its geographical 

 situation and its topography. 



A double coast line with the Indian Ocean on the West and the 

 Bay of Bengal on the East, yet the two sufficiently distant from 

 each other to allow of continental conditions in the interspace ; 

 two main hill ranges of the Eastern and Western Ghats within the 

 direct influence of these expanses of water and numerous other 

 lesser connected and isolated hill masses ; considerable tracts of 

 open plain or plateau land within the said heights ; elevations 

 ranging from sea-level to almost 9,000 ft ; the proximity of the 

 southernmost part to the Equator ; all these, with the climatic 

 features they connote, are the factors which contribute to this 

 variation. 



The most interesting feature, and one that distinguishes it from 

 that of the rest of the Indian Peninsula, is found in the dense, 

 evergreen forests of the West and South with their wealth of sub- 

 tropical species. 



The flora falls into the 4th (Malabar) and 5th (Deccan) Provinces 

 described by Sir Joseph Hooker in 1904 in his ' Sketch of the Flora 

 of British India'. As there stated, the flora comprised upwards 

 of 4,000 species of flowering plants. Since then a number of new 

 species have been described, so that the total in the present work 

 amounts to 4,516. This figure must not be accepted as final ; 

 further botanical exploration is bound to yield more species new 

 to botanical science, as indeed is indicated by the results of Professor 

 E. Barnes's collections made during the past three years, as well as 

 discoveries by others. This is particularly marked in the genus 



