84 fLOKA INDICA. 



of the Botany of the British Possessions in India, we cannot 

 restrict ourselves to these limits without omitting many im- 

 portant additions made by English naturalists to our know- 

 ledge of the Indian Flora; and we have hence, in assigning 

 geographical limits to our labours, been guided as well by cir- 

 cumstances of botanical importance, as by natural and poli- 

 tical boundaries. We shall therefore include, — to the north, 

 the whole Himalaya, and as much of Tibet as is known, — to 

 the west, Afghanistan and Beluchistan, — to the east, all the 

 countries to the west of the chain which divides Ava from 

 Siam, and the whole of the Malayan peninsula, — and to the 

 south, the island of Ceylon. It is obviously impossible, even 

 were it necessary, to define these boundaries more rigidly. 

 By including them, we gain a point of the greatest importance 

 botanically, in illustrating the Indian Flora, namely, a very 

 fair representation of the Floras of Egypt, Persia, and Eu- 

 rope, to the west, — of Siberia to the north, — of China to the 

 east, — and of the Malayan Archipelago to the south-east; of 

 the union of the species, genera, or orders of which floras, 

 that of India is mairdy composed. 



Lest, however, we should be thought too arbitrary in push- 

 ing our boundaries so far, we may appropriately introduce 

 here a few remarks on the subject, which will explain our mo- 

 tives more fully. Till very recently, no part of the Himalaya 

 belonged to the British Grovernment, the province of Ku- 

 niaon (between the Ganges and Kali) alone excepted; but 

 later events have added the whole mountain region between 

 the Eavi and Satlej, and placed the remainder of the North- 

 west Himalaya, including Kashmir, so much under British 

 influence, that an account of its Flora is as essential to bo- 

 tanists in India and Em-ope, as is that of any of the Bri- 

 tish possessions. The Tibetan provinces of Ladak and Balti, 

 which continue, as formciiy, appanages of Kashmir, have re- 

 cently been very completely explored botanically by several 

 travellers, v/hose lab(.urs cannot be overlooked, because their 

 hcilmria contain many plants which will hereafter be found 



