16* PREFACE. 



whatever may have been their origin, they have now acquired the right 

 to be included in the native Flora, which will thus consist of about 1000 

 species and 550 genera of phjcnogamic plants and ferns. ""' 



In the following table I have distributed these into the seven follow- 

 ing geographical classes or Floras, viz. : — 



1. The Tropical Asiatic Elora. Plants generally distributed over 

 India and the Archipelago, excepting the dry parched regions of western 

 India. Many of them extend over the South Pacific islands to North 

 Australia in the south-east. Most of them have the coast of south 

 China for their northern limits. A few extend to the isles of Loochoo 

 or Poniu, or even to Japan. A considerable number cross the moister 

 regions of tropical Africa to the west, and not a few, especially amongst 

 the roadside herbs and weeds of cultivation, are common also in many 

 parts of tropical America. 



2. The North-east Indian Plora. Plants of the hot, wet, hilly 

 regions of Khasia and Assam, many of them extending westward along 

 the Himalaya and even to some mountains of the Indian Peninsula, but 

 not found in Lower India, nor for the most part in the Malayan Penin- 

 sula. Their northern limits will be found somewhere in the unknown 

 regions of east-central Asia and China, a very few extending to Man- 

 tchuria and Japan, and perhaps a still smaller number to the Philippines. 



3. The South-east Indian Plora. Plants of the Malayan Penin- 

 sula and the Archipelago, many of them extending westward to Chitta- 

 gong and eastern Bengal, several to Ceylon, and a few to tropical Africa, 

 but not known in Central India or the Peninsula. To the eastward 

 many range over the South Pacific islands to North Australia, and reacli 

 Hongkong to the northward, probably over the little-known regions of 

 Cochin China and South China. 



4. The Archipelago and Pacific Plora. Nearly the same as 

 the last, but with a more eastern range, and not hitherto found within 

 our Indian limits, and probably more nearly connected with Hongkong 

 through the Philippine Islands. 



5. The Chinese Plora. Plants hitherto not known to the west- 

 ward or southward of China, and most of them only from South China. 

 A few however extend northward to Shanghai, Chusan, and Japan, and 

 a very few to Pekin. 



6. The Endemic Flora. Plants hitherto only known from the 

 island of Hongkong. Although most if not all of them may be found 

 also in the hilly ranges of the opposite mainland, it is probable that even 

 there they extend only over a limited area. 



