168 Journal, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. Xl]t, 



No. XIX.— EXTRACT FROM THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



DIRECTOR OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT, 



NORTHERN INDIA, FOR THE YEAR 1900-190J. 



Botanical Tours. 



Northern Oiidh and Nepal Terai. — My head plant collector, Inayat Khan, 

 was sent off early in April to collect botanical specimens in the northern dis- 

 tricts of Oudh and the adjacent portions of the Nepal Terai. I wish to 

 acknowledge the great assistance he received from the officers in charge of the 

 forests in the Gonda, Bahraich and Kheri divisions. Of the many interesting 

 plants found during this tour is a small tree called Piptadenia oudkensis, 

 Brandis For. Fl. 16S, belonging to the natural order Leguminosse, and allied 

 to Adenanthera. It was originally discovered in 1871 by Mr. Richard 

 Thompson, formerly in the Forest Department, in the northern portion of 

 the Gonda district. My plant collector saw it there, and also more abundant- 

 ly in ravines within the Nepal frontier, growing near water. He was fortu- 

 nate in finding the tree in flower as well as in fruit. The genus Piptadenia 

 contains about forty species, mostly natives of A.merica. Another interesting 

 plant discovered by him is Cephalantlms occidentalis, L,, a shrub belonging to 

 the natural order Rubiacese. It was found growing in jhils in the Kheri 

 district^ and specimens of the same plant were collected by Inayat Khan in a 

 similar locality in the Pilibhit district in 1898. Previously it was not known 

 to occur westward of Assam. It is also recorded from Burma, Central China 

 and North America where it is known under the names of " Button Bush " or 

 " Globe Flower." Two new species of Bracliystehna (Nat. Ord. Asclepiadacese) 

 were also discovered during this tour, and specimens of several interesting 

 orchids were collected. 



Kumaon Tour. — A very successful and extensive tour was undertaken by 

 my head plant collector, Inayat Khan, through a large portion of Kumaon 

 during the rainy season of last year. He started from Saharanpur on the 

 18th of July and returned on the 6th of October. His instructions were to 

 collect specimens of every kind of balsam ( Impatiens), as well as flowering 

 specimens of all the orchids he could find. As both balsams and orchids are 

 with difficulty determinable if collected and dried in the ordinary way, he 

 was ordered to put into a preservative solution some flowers of each kind, 

 also to dry very carefully the separated portions of the flowers. The balsams 

 were collected specially at the request of Sir Joseph Hooker, who is now 

 preparing a revised account of all the Indian species. The collection from 

 Kumaon, representing 110 gatherings, were despatched as soon as possible to 

 Sir Joseph Hooker, together with the glass tubes containing flowers in solu- 

 tion, and it was gratifying to hear from him how completely satisfied he was 

 with this collection and with the excellent condition of the specimens 

 prepared by my collector. The latter also was much pleased on hearing that 

 Sir Joseph Hooker had proposed to name one of the many novelties of this 



