46 
WILLIS AND GARDINER : BOTANY 
Short papers were published in the Trans. Bombay Geog. 
Soc., 1836-38, first by Capt Moresby, then by Mr. Christo- 
pher and Lieut, Young. Bell, in the Ceylon Sessional Papers 
(XLIII. of 1881, not published till 1883), has compiled an 
account of the islands, chiefly from the authors already cited 
and information obtained at Malé, but even at this late 
period practically nothing was known about the vegetation. 
In 1888 Capt. Christopher made 'a small collection of plants 
on Malé island, and a few more were collected there in 1892 
by Haly. These collections were determined and described 
by Dr. Trimen, whose “ Preliminary List of Maidive 
Plants ” in the Journal of Botany, 1896, p. 3, contains all that 
was up to that time certainly known about the vegetation. 
All the plants in this list are from Malé, the island on which 
stands the capital, and to which converges most of the com- 
merce with the outer world. In 1896 a considerable collec- 
tion of plants (174 numbers) was made in the islands by 
Ibrahim Didi, late Prime Minister to the Sultan. These he 
kindly presented to the Peradeniya herbarium through 
Mr. Bell. The late Dr. Trimen, we believe, made a cursory 
examination of this collection, but has left no notes nor 
determinations. Unfortunately no definite localities are 
given with these specimens ; probably all of them are from 
Malé, or from Funadu, where Ibrahim Didi has a herb 
garden."' During the north-east monsoon of 1899-1900 one of 
us (J. S. G.) has made several large collections on different 
islands of the group, in the course of an expedition under- 
taken for the study of the formation and fauna of the reefs. 
Copious notes were at the same time made on the occurrence 
of the plants, their special habitats, order of appearance, &c. 
I made inquiries about these specimens, and find the above to be sub- 
stantially accurate. Male island has no waste land which may be sup- 
posed to have retained an indigenous flora. Funadu is within a mile of 
Malé, and has a very famous herb garden, where Ibrahim Didi has intro- 
duced a large number of cultivated plants. Many of the names given with 
his specimens are undoubtedly inventions. I did not attempt to make a 
full collection of the introduced plants, but the natural flora is fairly 
complete. — J. S. G. 
