570 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII. 



of over 250 years. What is now the result with regard to our botanical 

 knowledge of Bombay ? We know, in the first place, what plants are 

 growing in this country and, though the present flora is not an exhaustive 

 one, there is " every reason," says Cooke, " that the plants which still 

 remain undiscovered are few." This fact of our knowledge gives us a 

 clue for ascertaining whether our flora is poor or rich, whether it is 

 poorer or richer than those of other parts of India, of other countries 

 in Asia, etc. ; it shows us what plants prevail, whether the woody or 

 herbaceous, perennial or annual, evergreen or deciduous ones ; we know 

 what orders there occur, and how the occurring orders are represented 

 with regard to the number of genera and species ; we have greater 

 facility to find out, which plants are endemic and which are not, and 

 where the latter ones occur beyond the boundaries of our area, and are, 

 thus, able to make conjectures as to the possible centre from which the 

 non-endemic plants began to migrate, till, finally, they settled down also 

 in our country. 



We have, besides, full descriptions of each plant, which provide us 

 with plenty of information as to the peculiarities of the outer morpho- 

 logical form of the tropical plant. These, again, are extremely suggestive 

 for the botanist, to trace the various relations existing between a certain 

 plant-form and its special surroundings, viz., soil, humidity, rainfall, 

 moisture, clouds, temperature, etc., especially if he knows from other 

 sources, that the same plant strives as well in another geographical 

 position, though under entirely different conditions. 



The flowering time is mentioned by Cooke in most cases, and the 

 notes on the occurrence of the single plants allow us to form a rough 

 idea of their distribution in the Presidency. It is not the author's fault, 

 that so much information is not met with in his " Flora " which is so 

 eagerly looked for in floristic volumes by the botanist, and especially 

 in floras on tropical countries, e.g. about sprouting, defoliation, fruiting, 

 habit, etc. But to write a flora is not to write a novel ; imagination is 

 of no value where definite notes on a scientific subject are not available 

 to the compiler. 



Some time ago I spoke to a gentleman who is not a professional 

 botanist, but has a fair knowledge of our flora. He was so grieved 

 because all the plants had been already named, and as he was not 

 capable of working in plant physiology, and, besides, found cryptogamic 

 botany too difficult, he told me, that he did not know how to find 



