Charles Baron Clarke. liii 



the flora of the North Bengal plain, and to make a holiday journey which 

 lasted three months and a half, his most sustained purely botanical 

 excursion, in Kashmir and on the Karakoram Range. The collections 

 accumulated during these various journeys amount to 25,000 numbers, 

 representing about 5000 species. The whole he made over to Kew when he 

 reached England in 1877. 



When Clarke returned to India in 1883 he made a second and more 

 extended tour in Chutia Nagpur, and in the protected native States to the 

 south-west, paid botanical visits to various portions of Central Bengal and 

 explored subtropical Sikkim and the submontane forests of the Terai and the 

 Duars. His transfer to Assam in 1885 enabled him to renew and extend his 

 acquaintance with the flora of the Khasia Hills, to explore the valleys of the 

 Brahmaputra from Dhubri to Sadiya, and of the Surma from Silhet to Silchar, 

 as well as to visit the Naga Hills and Manipur. The collections amassed 

 during Clarke's second period of service in India amount to some 10,000 

 numbers; a complete set of the specimens was presented to Kew after his 

 retirement in 1887. 



In the course of his Indian career Clarke was able to acquire, at first hand, 

 a knowledge of the Indian flora comparable in extent with that of Hamilton, 

 Wallich and Hooker, and only surpassed by that of Griffith. Clarke was an 

 admirable field botanist ; his commissariat and equipment when travelling 

 were Spartan in their simplicity ; his physique was such that he seemed to 

 regard the ascent of a Himalayan slope or the passage of a tropical rice- 

 swamp much as he regarded an English geological excursion. His 

 indifference to climate was such that his clothing did not vary from what he 

 wore in England, whether he was on a Himalayan pass in early spring or in 

 the Gangetic plain in the hot season. His specimens were always carefully 

 selected and prepared. The precise and often full field notes, frequently 

 accompanied by serviceable analyses, were always made in the field ; every 

 gathering received a separate serial number, so that misquotation of a plant 

 collected by Clarke is impossible ; energetic and tireless, he always dealt with 

 the specimens of a particular date before he retired to rest, no matter how 

 long or trying the day's march might have been. A feature of Clarke's work 

 as a collector was the especial attention given by him at particular times to 

 individual natural families. His notes show that from 1866 — 69 his interest 

 was great in Commelynacece, from 1869 — 71 in Cyrtandracece, from 1871 — 73 

 in Composite, in 1874 in Gentianacece, from 1874 onwards in Glumacece 

 generally, but after 1876 more particularly in Cyperacece, the family as to 

 which in later years he was to become the recognised authority. Another 

 characteristic of Clarke's work was the comparative indifference with which 

 he regarded trees : as a collector of herbaceous species he has, perhaps, never 

 been surpassed. These two peculiarities were more marked during the first 

 phase of his Indian career than they were during the second, which began 

 after he had spent six years continuously at work at the Herbarium at Kew. 



Clarke's contributions to botanical literature during his first ten years of 



