Page:The Flora of British India Vol 7.djvu/9

 {{C|{{xx-larger|PREFACE TO VOL. VII.}}

The length of time, upwards of a quarter of a century, occupied in the publication of the Flora of British India, has resulted in the later volumes containing a far more complete account of the families of plants to which they are devoted than do the earlier volumes of theirs.

For this there are two reasons, the extension of the area of British India in the interval, and the many collections that have been trans- mitted to Kew from wholly or imperfectly explored regions of India during the same interval.

The extension of area has been : on the East, Munnepore, and by far the greater part of Burma, adding many Indo-Chinese genera and species to the flora ; on the West, British Beluchistan and other trans-Indus hills and valleys, adding Oriental genera and species. Neither of these extensions have, however, added so much to the Indian flora as might have been expected ; for, as regards Burma, extensive materials were already available from Pegu, Martaban, Tenasserim, and the upper and lower Irawaddy valleys ; and as regards the West, the low country Oriental flora is represented in the plains of Sind and the Panjab, and the upland and alpine in the trans-Indus valleys, Western Tibet, and the Kashmir Himalaya.

On the other hand, the collections received from previously unex- plored and partially explored regions of India proper have been numerous and full of novelty and interest. Of these the first in importance are Mr. C. B. Clarke's, whether for their extent, the know- ledge and judgment with which the specimens were selected, ticketed, and preserved, or for the valuable observations which accompany them. They were obtained over a greater extent of India than had been traversed by any other Indian botanist, and at all elevations, up to li8,500 ft., from the bend of the Indus at Gilgit, Kashmir, and Western