PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 483 



a ba«is for further work. Its study will indicate botanical areas and their 

 characteristics, and suggest what areas are likely to prove of greater or less 

 economic value, and on what sisecial lines. It will alsa indicate the lines on 

 which areas may be mapped out for more detailed botanical exploration. That 

 this is necessary is obvious to any botanist who has used such a work. A large 

 proportion of the species, some of which may, on further investigation, prove 

 to be of economic value, are known only from a single incomplete fragment. 

 Others, for instance, which may be of known economic value, doubtless exist 

 over much larger areas and in much greater quantity than would appear from 

 the 'Flora.' The reason of these shortcomings is equally obvious. The 

 collections on which the work is based are largely the result of voluntary effort 

 employed more or less spasmodically. The explorer working out some new 

 route, who brings what he can conveniently carry to illustrate the plant pro- 

 ducts of the new country ; the Government official or his wife, working during 

 their brief leisuVe or collecting on the track between their different stations ; 

 the missionary or soldier, with a penchant for natural history ; to these and 

 similar persons we are largely indebted for additions to our knowledge of the 

 plant-life. Advantage has sometimes been taken of a Government expedition 

 to which a medical 'man with a knowledge of or ta.ste for natural history, or, 

 in rare cases, a trained botanist, has been attached. 



The specimens brought home by the amateur collector often leave much to 

 be desired, and little or no information is given as to precise locality or the 

 nature of the locality, the habit of the plant, or other items of importance or 

 interest. There may be indications that the plant is of economic value, but 

 no information as to whether it is rare or plentiful, local or occurring over a 

 wide area. 



Samples of wood are often brought, but generally without any means of 

 identification except a native name ; and it must be borne in mind that native 

 names are apt to be misleading ; they may be invented on the spur of the moment 

 to satisfy the white man's craving for information or when genuine are often 

 applied to more than one species. 



A largei proportion of the more extensive collections are due to German 

 enterprise, and the best representation of this work is naturally to be found 

 in Germany, though it is only fair to state that the German botanists have 

 been generous in lemding material for work or comparison. The botanical 

 investigation of German East Africa and the Cameroons has been carried out 

 by well-trained botanists and collectors, and the results of their work published 

 both from botanical and economic points of view. I may refer to the large 

 volume on German East Africa, which contains not only a general account of 

 the vegetation and a .systematic list of the genera and species comprising the 

 flora, but also an account of the plants of economic value classified according 

 to their uses. The exploration of the Belgian Congo has been seriously under- 

 taken by the Belgian Government, and a number of large and extensively illus- 

 trated botanical memoirs have been issued. Some of us may be familiar with 

 the fine Congo Museum near Brussels. 



It is time that pioneer work gave place to systematic botanical exploration 

 of our tropical possessions and the preparation of handy working floras and 

 economic handbooks. Work of botanical exploration should be full of interest 

 to the young botanist. But if he is to make the best use of time and opportunity 

 he must have had a proper course of training. After completing his general 

 botanical course, which should naturally include an introduction to the principles 

 of classification, he should work for a time in a large Herbarium and thus acquire 

 a knowledge of the details of systematic work and also of the general outlines of 

 the flora of the area which he is to visit later. He should then be given a 

 definite piece of work in the botanical survey of the area. From the collated 

 results of such work convenient handbooks on the botanical resources of regions 

 open to British enterprise could be compiled. There will be plenty of work for 

 the systematist who cannot leave home. The ultimate elaboration of the floristic 

 work must be done in the Herbarium with its associated library. There is also 

 need of a careful monographic study of genera of economic value which would 

 be best done by the experienced systematist at home, given a plentiful supply of 

 carefully collected and annotated material. An example of such is the systematic 



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