X PREFACE. 



formation of public estates, to be managed so as to secure large benefits 

 to the country of an indirect nature, as well as a continuous and increasing 

 yield of all descriptions of forest produce necessary to supply the require- 

 ments of the people and their export trade. Foresters in India -will gradu- 

 ally understand that they are expected to make the utmost of the estates 

 intrusted to their charge for the benefit of the present generation, while 

 steadily improving the capital value and productiveness of their estates ; 

 and this will lead them eagerly to seek information regarding the various 

 trees and shrubs which may be turned to account. It is not possible to 

 predict in what respect any particular plants may not eventually be found 

 useful, either by their produce, or because they further the growth of the 

 more useful kinds by their shade and shelter, or in other ways. The only 

 safe plan, therefore, is at the outset to take a comprehensive view of the 

 whole forest vegetation, instead of confining our attention to those trees 

 which we are accustomed, often erroneously, to regard as most important. 

 Again, such study, to be profitable, must be conducted upon true scientific 

 principles. Unless the identification of species and their systematic names 

 are established, so as to command the assent of botanists, there can be no 

 certainty as to what plant is meant, and the result of studies in the field 

 wiU. be confusion and waste of time. It may be well to st&te that the 

 fault of this book is not that it is too scientific, but that it is not scien- 

 tific enough. When the material here collected has been sifted by the 

 criticisms of botanists in Europe, and tested by the studies in the field of 

 Indian foresters and botanists, it may then be useful to prepare popular 

 books of a smaller size for the use of those who have not the leisure or 

 the inclination to study this handbook. 



The botanical terms employed are explained in a small volume on Indian 

 botany by Professor Oliver,* which should be in the hands of all who u«e 

 this work without having had the advantage of previous botanical instruc- 

 tion. A list of terms not explained in that book is appended. Bentham's 

 Outlines of Botany, reprinted in the commencement of Bed dome's Manual, 

 will also be found a most useful guide in this respect. 



To the end of Eubiacese the systematic arrangement followed is that of 

 Hooker's and Bentham's Genera Plantarum, and that standard work has 

 been quoted under each Natural Order, in addition to Eoyle's and Wight's 

 Illustrations. The remaining Orders have been arranged mainly in 

 accordance with Bentham's Flora Australiensis. Standard works on 

 Indian botany have invariably been quoted under each species, including 

 Hooker's Flora of British India up to p. 306 of the first volume. 

 Boissier's Flora Orientalis has also, as a rule, been referred to, as far as the 

 end of the second volume. Under species common to Iforth India and 



'First Book of Indian Botany. By Daniel Oliver, F.E.S. London, Macniillan 

 and Co., 1869. 



