meer hE 
337 
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1899. 
FLORAS FROM THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 
Flora Capensis : being a Systematic Description of the 
Plants of the Cape Colony, Caffraria, and Port Natal 
(and Neighbouring Territories), by various Botanists. 
Edited by W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, C.M.G., C.LE., 
LL.D., F.R.S., &c., Director, Royal Gardens, Kew. 
Published under the authority of the Governments of the 
Cape of Good Hope and Natal. Vol. VI. Hzemodor- 
acee to Liliacez. Vol. VII., Parts I. and II. Ponte- 
deriaceze to Graminez. (London: Lovell Reeve and 
Co.,; 1896-97.) 
Flora of Tropical Africa. Edited by W. T. Thiselton- 
Dyer, C.M.G., C.L.E., LL.D.; F.R.S., &c., Director, 
Royal Gardens, Kew. Vol. VII. Hydrocharidez to 
Liliaceze. Published under the authority of the First 
Commissioner of Her Majesty's Works and Public 
Buildings. (London: Lovell Reeve and Co., Ltd., 1898.) 
T should not be necessary at this time of day to 
emphasise the fact of the imperial character of the 
Royal Gardens, Kew, still it would appear there are 
many inhabitants of Great Britain whose notion of the 
value of this establishment is limited by their desire for 
a local public park suited to the recreation of dwellers in 
and about London. Seyeral incidents have of late shown 
this—witness the recent preposterous proposal brought 
forward in the House of Commons to throw the gardens 
open to cyclists! Suggestions of this kind are on the 
face of them, to those aware of the true character of the 
gardens, too absurd for discussion, yet there is an element 
of danger in this appeal to the selfish instincts of that 
large body of pleasure-seekers who are veritable Gallios 
in their contempt for science, especially when its just 
claims place an obstacle to the gratification of their 
pleasure whims. It is hardly conceivable that any First 
Commissioner of Works—and he is the Minister re- 
sponsible for the gardens—would ever assent to such 
modification of the traditional character of the gardens 
as concession to the demand above referred to, which 
may be taken as symptomatic of a craze, would mean ; 
yet in these days of political opportunism, and with a 
prospect of its even greater development, the preserv- 
ation of the noble heritage the nation possesses in the 
Kew of the present becomes a question not altogether 
free from anxiety in the minds of those who know the 
services Kew renders and is capable of yet rendering to 
the Empire. Perhaps the surest way of avoiding disaster 
in the future is by making known far and wide what are 
its real. functions and how they are discharged, for 
through the education of public opinion alone can an 
effective checkmate be given to any movement destined 
to sacrifice the scientific features of Kew at the altar of 
popular pleasure. 
It is not the intention to discuss here the whole of the 
functions that belong to and are discharged by Kew— 
its value as an unrivalled microcosm of the vegetation 
of the world, its example as a school of horticultural 
practice, its position as a training ground for young 
gardeners, its use as an index of the products of the 
NO. 1554, VOL. 60] 
vegetable kingdom and as a nursery and centre of dis- 
tribution of economic plants for the benefit of our 
Colonies—but to direct attention to the continued pro- 
gress, indicated by the titles of the volumes cited above, 
of the large undertaking to which the energy and fore- 
sight of its first Director, Sir William Hooker, committed 
Kew—namely, the issue of a “Series of Floras” under 
the authority of the Home or Colonial Governments. 
Botanists are familiar with what has been already done 
by Kew towards the carrying out of this programme. 
The Australian Flora by Bentham and Von Mueller, 
that of Hong Kong by Bentham, of New Zealand by Dr. 
Hooker, of Mauritius and the Seychelles by Baker, of 
the West Indies by Griesbach, and the recently com- 
pleted British Indian Flora by Sir Joseph Hooker are a 
tribute alike to the industry and talent of the botanists 
who have taken part in their production and to the im- 
portance of Kew in focussing botanical knowledge, as 
well as to the labours of our countrymen in the explor- 
ation of regions opened up to our occupation. The ap- 
pearance of the volumes mentioned above has been 
particularly welcome, inasmuch as they denote a renewal 
of progress after a pause. The Flora Capensis was 
arrested after the publication of the third volume in 
1865 by the death of Harvey, who, with Dr. Sonder, 
was its principal author; and of the Flora of Tropical 
Africa, the last of the three volumes brought out by 
Prof. Oliver appeared in 1877. The Director of Kew is 
to be congratulated upon having surmounted the hin- 
drances which have contributed to the delay in continuing 
these Floras, and he will, it may be hoped, be encouraged 
to contend with and overcome all obstacles that may 
as it seems, threaten a steady advance to the conclusion 
of the works. 
The volumes and parts before us are not in sequence 
with the volumes that have already appeared. As Sir 
William Thiselton-Dyer points out, once the plan of a 
work of the kind is settled it is immaterial what part 
first appears, and he has exercised a wise discretion in 
giving early attention to those groups of plants which 
are abundantly represented in our gardens, and which 
have consequently compelled special attention on the 
part of members of the Kew staff. The Monocotyledons 
have been therefore selected for first treatment in the 
resumed work upon the Floras, and we have the benefit 
of the ripe experience of Mr. Baker in the elucidation of 
the Liliacez, Irideze, Amaryllidee and allied orders, 
which are so popular in horticulture and form so large 
an element of the plant-life of South Africa, and to a less 
extent in the area embraced within the scope of the 
Tropical African Flora; Mr. Rolfe brings to the 
enumeration and description of the Tropical African 
Orchidex a rare knowledge of the order; and Mr. N. 
E. Brown describes the Tropical African species of Disa 
as an expert. Tropical African Hydrocharidez have 
fallen to the share of Mr. C. H. Wright, and the 
Cyperacez of South Africa find a sound critical ex- 
ponent in Mr. C. B. Clarke; the account of the 
Graminez of the same area is in the able hands of Dr. 
Stapf, and should be completed in the next part of the 
Flora, for which we trust we shall not have long to 
wait. 
Q 
