Page:The Flora of British India Vol 7.djvu/10

Vi PREFACE. Tibet, in the extreme West ; from Sikkim, Bengal, Assam, and Munnepore in the East ; from Behar, Central India, and Chota Nagpur in the centre ; and from the Nilghiri Hills in the South. Next in importance are the Malay Peninsula collections made by Father Scortechini, the Messrs. Curtis, Wray, Hervey, Hullett, Merton, and Ridley, and by collectors sent by Dr. King from the Botanic Gardens of Calcutta. These latter have added several hundred species to the genera described in the first volume alone of this Flora, and have been published by Dr. King in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Thirdly rank Mr. Duthie's copious and excellently preserved collections made in Kashmir, Western Tibet, Garwhal, Kumaon, Rohilkund, Rajmahal, and Central India, and Dr. Aitchison's from the Kurrum and other valleys west of the Indus.

Of the works upon Indian Botany that have appeared during the pub- lication of Flora of the British India, the more important are Mr. C. B. Clarke's *' Composite Indict" (1876) ; Mr. Kurz's "Forest Flora of Burma" (1876); Dr. Brandis' "Forest Flora of N.-W. and Central India " (1874) ; Col. Beddome's " Flora Sylvatica of Southern India," vols. i. and ii. (1869-73), and his " Icones Plantarum India3 Orientalis," vol. i. (1874); Dr. Trimen's "Handbook of the Ceylon Flora," Parts i. — iii. (1893-5) ; and Dr. King's "Annals of the Botanic Gardens, Calcutta," vols. i. — vii. (1888-1897), which include illustrated monographs by himself and other Indian botanists of the Indian species of Ficus, Quercus, Pedicularis, MagnoUacece, Anonacece, Bamhusce, &c.

In the Preface to the first volume of this work I have stated that it was proposed to include in it the Ferns and their allies. This intention has been abandoned, owing to the appearance of excellent available works describing the Indian species, especially Hooker and Baker's " Synopsis Filicum" (1874) ; Col. Beddome's " Review of the Ferns of N.-W. India" (1880), and his " Handbook of the Ferns of British India" (1883), with Supplement (1892).

Having regard to this " Flora of British India," I must remind those who may use it that it has no pretensions to give fuU characters of the genera and species contained in it. It aims at no more than being an attempt to sweep together and systematize within a reasonable time and compass, a century of hitherto undigested materials scattered through a library of botanical books and monographs, and preserved in vast collections, many of which latter had lain unexamined for half a