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From the GARDENERS' CHRONICLE, October 19, 1901, p. 288. 



The Flora of the Presidency of Bombay *. 



A comprehensive account of the botany of the whole Empire of India 

 is provided by Sir Joseph Hooker's Flora. The immense scope of that 

 admirable work, while making it eminently suitable for the botanical expert, 

 renders it difficult of use by anyone whose education has not been specialised 

 in the direction of systematic botany. For the preparation of provincial 

 floras, the great work of Hooker forms an admirable basis ; and, on this 

 basis, it is intended to issue floras dealing with the plants of each of the 

 provinces comprised in the Indian Empire, of a sort which shall be fitted 

 for the use alike of the educated native inhabitants and of the European 

 officials and settlers. By the publication of the first part of Dr. Cooke's 

 Flora of Bombay the initial step has been taken towards the fulfilment of 

 this admirable scheme. 



Dr. Cooke, who w^as for many years Principal of the College of Science 

 at Poona, retired from service in India some years ago ; and, since his 

 retirement, he has been devoting his energies to the preparation of a Flora 

 of the Presidency of which he was for so long a distinguished ornament, 

 and in which he amassed, at first as a private individual, and latterly as 

 Director of its Botanical Survey, an extensive herbarium of beautifully 

 preserved specimens. 



The first part of Dr. Cooke's work has now been issued. In form it 

 resembles Sir Joseph Hooker's Flora of British India, and, like that work, 

 it is being issued in parts. The natural families are treated in the sequence 

 of Bentham and Hooker's Genera Planfarmn, just as in Hooker's work. 

 The indigenous species described in this first part nimiber about 335, and 

 they range from Rammculacece to Rutacece. Notices are also given of the 

 most noteworthy naturalised plants which belong to these families. Some 

 idea of the progress which has been made in acquiring a knowledge of the 

 vegetation of the Presidency may be gained from the fact that this number 

 exceeds by 130 the species of the same families described in the last 

 published Flora of Bombay (that of DalzeU), which was issued in the year 

 1861. 



Dr. Cooke, in this his first part, has struck a high level of excellence 

 which it is sincerely to be hoped may be maintained in the floras of the 

 other provinces which are understood to be now in preparation. His 

 descriptions are terse and graphic, and they are drawn up on the principle 

 of comparing the same organ in the same sequence in each species. 

 Excellent keys to the species are given, and also good keys to the genera, 



* By Theodore Cooke, C.I.E., M.A., LL.D., F.L.S., F.G.S., M.Inst.C.E.L, 

 formerly Principal of the College of Science at Poona, and Director of the 

 Botanical Survey of Western India. Part I. (Taylor & Francis. Pp. 192. 

 Price 8s.) 



