217 



LISTE 



PLANTES CONNUES DU SIAM 



Frédéric i\. WILLIAMS 



The area comprised in the following enumeration of Siamese plants is 

 that of Ihe political boundaries of the kingdom of Siam at the présent 

 date. Wilhin Ihe last few raonlhs the area of Siamese territory has been 

 still further modified, and its diminished extent, as compared with what 

 it was some years ago is carefully taken inlo account in estimating the 

 constituent éléments of the présent flora, and in duly recording the num- 

 ber of plants which may be righlly considered as occurring within its poli- 

 tico-geographical limits. By the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 7 Oct. 1902, 

 which was ratified in July 1903, a triangulär wedge of Siam, situated 

 between Cambodia and the River Mekong was abandoned and incorpora- 

 ted in the Lao Province of French Indo-China. In this way the easlern 

 boundary of Siam was « rectified ». A few weeks afterwards, the two sou- 

 Ihernmost districts of Lower Siam, Kelantan and Tringganu, Were trans- 

 ferred from Siamese control to the administration of British Malaya. This 

 gives the counlry a more natural fronlieron its southern borders. 



A preliminary note on the Botany of Siam was published recently in 

 the Journal of Botany (Sept. 1903, p. 306). It is not necessary to repeat 

 hère the information therein given. The carliest available material for 

 the Flora of Siam is to be found in Retz's Observationes Botanicœ. In a 

 special appendix to the third fasciculus, dated 1783, is a paper by König, 

 consisting of a description of 21 plants. Of thèse, nine are from Siam, 

 BULLETIN DE l'herbier boissier, u« 3, 29 février 1904. 15 



