1835.] Observations on the Flora of Courtaltum. 39f 



projecting from the south west face of those I had 

 hitherto traversed, and on that day I found many more 

 new plants than on any former occasion, proving that 

 far the most interesting portion of the hills is still un- 

 touched, and I feel assured never has been explored by 

 any naturalist. Notwithstanding this comparative limi- 

 tation of my range, T collected I believe nearly 600 spe- 

 cies of plants, exclusive of many which were rejected as 

 common and easily procurable elsewhere, exclusive also, 

 of nearly all the large trees of which I could not get 

 specimens. Calculating from such data, and bearing 

 in mind that all the collections were made in July and 

 August, when a vast number of plants havenot come into 

 flower, fnone were taken that were not either in flower 

 orfruit), T infer that I have not yet above ^d of the whole 

 jPlora of the ground examined. If this estimate is near 

 the truth, it follows, that a few miles of these hills pro- 

 duces a greater number of flowering plants than the 

 whole of the British Islands by nearly 300, (1,500 is the 

 amount of indigenous British flowering plants), or in 

 the proportion of Hie ferns are perhaps nearly equal, 

 but my collection of them is very incomplete. From 

 this calculation, added to the con taction, that the part 

 of the hills most abounding in distinct vegetable forms 

 is still unexplored, I feel quite assured, that I do not 

 exceed, in estimating the number of flowering plants, on 

 an area of 20 square miles of these hills at 2,000 species, 

 or in the proportion of ^ of the British flora. The 

 cryptogamece, or non-flowering plants,would of course be 

 found to fall greatly short of that standard, but exclud- 

 ing the aquatic cryptogamese, if equally well examined, 

 perhaps not so much as we might a priori be led to 

 expect. 



The fact of so vast a number of distinct vegetable 

 forms being congregated within so small a space, speaks 

 volumes for the riches of the Indian Flora^ and show3 



