Page:The Journal of Indian Botany, Volume III.djvu/52



The Indian Botanical Society grew out of a movement started at the Nagpur meeting of the Indian Science Congress in January, 1920. Invitation to membership was extended to botanists throughout India, and the organization was finally completed in December of the same year. The Society aims to unite the botanists and promote the botanical interests of India. The primary purpose is to encourage and promote research. The Society has made steady growth both in numbers and influence.

The first annual meeting was held at Madras in co-operation with the Botany Section of the Indian Science Congress. There was a short business session at the time of the Congress meeting in Calcutta the year before, but this Madras meeting was the first programme of the Society.

The entire meeting was a decided success. In addition to the programme of the Science Congress, there were special events for Society members only. On the 31st, a few members made a trip to Sripermatur to study and collect plant fossils. The next day a number of members went on a trip to Mamallapuram (Seven Pagodas), on the coast south of Madras, to study the vegetation characteristic of the region. Here a considerable variety of vegetation is met with — freshwater, brackish water, scrub forest, dune, and marine. Wild Oycas circinalis in the scrub forest, Isoetes in freshwater pools, Eriocaulon on damp banks, and Spinifex squarrosus on dune sands’ were perhaps the most interesting plants. It is planned to make the botanical trip a special feature of future annual meetings.

Three days were devoted to the reading and discussion of papers. The retiring President, Dr. Winfield Dudgeon, was also serving as President of the Botany Section, and the programme was made out jointly by the two organizations. Many of the papers were illustrated by lantern slides, charts and specimens.

The programme follows:

Winfield Dudgeon : The Botanical Opportunity in India (Pre- sidential address).

Shiv Ram Kashyap and Shiva Kant Pande : Contribution to the life history of Anew a indica.