PREFACE. 
oH 
Tren years have passed since the suggestion that the 
writer should prepare a guide to the plants of the provinces 
under his rule was first made by Sir Caantes Exuxiorr. 
The work could not, however, be undertaken till the Flora 
of British India was finished; since then it has occupied 
the scanty leisure of the writer, who has received much 
encouragement from Sir Josrpn Hooker, Sir Grorer Kine, 
and Sir Joan Woopzury to carry it to completion. 
Its many imperfections—due in some measure to the 
fact that dies fasti ac feriati have alone been available for 
its preparation, and that on these it could only receive 
divided attention—must have been more numerous had not — 
Sir Gzorce Kine, with a kindness which nothing can repay, 
read the final proofs. 
The key to the species of Polygonum was drawn up by 
the writer’s friend, Captain A. T. Gace. The need for an 
Appendix is mainly the result of a practical interest in 
the progress of this work on the part of Mr. J. H. Lace 
and H. H. Hares, who have communicated records of 
species unknown to the Lower Provinces when its prepara- 
tionhegan. The writer is also much indebted to Messrs. 
West, Nev:man & Co., of London, for the care they have 
exercised, at so great a distance, in printing its pages. 
“Cancurre> March, 1903. 
