﻿1874.] 39 



Contributions towards a knowledge of the Burmese Flora. — 



Fart I.—By S. KuRZ. 



[Received May 25tli, read August 5tli, 1874.] 



In the present paper I purpose giving an abridged enumeration of Bur- 

 mese plants, phanerogamic and cryptogamic, as far as they have come to 

 my knowledge. The Burmese Empire is as yet too incompletely explored 

 for the present communication to be looked upon otherwise than in the light 

 of an attempt at collating the scattered material either published or deposit- 

 ed in Herbaria. An exploration of Ava, the Arracan Yomah and the Chit- 

 tagong hills, will furnish large additions of Khasya hill plants, while the 

 Tenasserim and Martaban hills abound in Malayan forms. 



A bare list would have been of little use to the Indian botanist and 

 still less so to the resident in Burma ; I have, therefore, given short outlines 

 of the distinctive characters of the genera as well as of the species. Such 

 conspectuses are not always based upon sound characters, which in many 

 cases can only be ascertained by a close examination of all the species 

 composing the several genera ; but still they will be found serviceable for 

 handy identification of the plants of the better explored provinces of Burma. 

 In the framing of the generic tables, I have chiefly followed the authors of 

 the ' Genera Plantarum.' Of citations I have given only a selection, giving 

 preference to illustrations. The remaining synonyms or references to 

 synonyms may be found in Hooker's Flora of British India so far as that 

 work has been published. 



I have avoided as much as possible critical discussions, and have taken 

 in hand only essential matters : to have done otherwise would only have 

 increased the bulk of my contributions without materially assisting in the 

 encouragement of the exploration of the Burmese Flora ; for which purpose 

 this enumeration is written. 



I have also given further particulars about the habitats of the species 

 and notices about frequency. Such are necessarily understood to refer only 

 to provinces wherein I have mj^self travelled (Andamans, Pegu, Prome, 

 Martaban and partially Arracan and Chittagong) : information regarding 

 the rest had to be compiled from herbarium-material. Flowering and 

 fruiting time are given, but cannot always be relied upon, for the reason 

 that contradictory dates are sometimes given by collectors. 



I wished to have introduced here the soil question from an Indian 

 point of view, but defer doing so until my experiences in this direction are 

 more matured and have been verified by future explorations. In Burma 

 my attention was directed more towards the woody vegetation, and the 

 necessary information as regards this will be given elsewhere. Herbaceous 



