2 
The classification adopted is that of the Genera Plantarum as 
far as the end of the 2nd Part of the 2nd Volume, after which 
the orders are given in accordance with the English Edition of 
Le Maout et Decaisne. 
With the Aroids, I have followed the alphabetical order as 
given by Mr. Brown in Sir Joseph Hooker’s Report for 1877. 
The compilation of even a small Catalogue like the present 
one in a small Colony like Singapore is attended with a consi- 
derable amount of labour and difficulty, and I have been unable 
to add several particulars for want of the necessary books of 
reference, &c. 
Although I have taken very great care to render it as correct 
as possible, and in revising the proofs, errors have, doubtless, 
crept in, for which I must beg the indulgence of the Committee 
and Public generally. 
/ 
For the guidance of foreign contributors, a few general remarks 
about the climate of Singapore, and the object of this establish- 
ment may be useful. 
Our Motto may be said to be variety before quantity , conse- 
quently, except in the case of useful economic plants, two, or at 
most three of one species are enough, as the space at our command 
is not large enough to permit of everything being grown in 
quantity. 
The Island of Singapore produces at the present time but few 
plants of beauty or interest, as they have been nearly all exter- 
minated to make way for Nutmegs, Pepper, Tapioca and Gant-' 
bier, &c,, but the adjacent Peninsula is now in a fair way of 
being opened out from Johor to Keddah, and a new country 
will thus be open to the Botanist and Gardener, and the mere 
glimpses w T e have had of its vegetation favour the belief that 
many beautiful and interesting plants exist in the interior of this 
terra incog. Situated in Lat. 1 ° 17" Singapore possesses a 
fairly equable tropical temperature, and no distinct seasons can 
be said to exist, as very little, if any, difference exists in the mean 
average of the temperature of any two months in the year. 
