Botany: India

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Extracted from:

THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA

THE INDIAN EMPIRE

HENRY FROWDE, M.A.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF HIS MAJESTY'S SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA IN COUNCIL

OXFORD

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

1909

PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

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Introduction

THE term British India as employed in this chapter embraces, Introduction over and above the vast territory controlled by the Govern- ment of India, some independent countries, of which Nepal and the Himalayas east of Sikkim are the chief, together with Ceylon and the Malayan Peninsula, which are in great part under the Colonial Office.

The geographical and climatal features of India, upon which the distribution of its Flora so much depends, can be here introduced only incidentally. They will be found to be fully discussed in chap, i of this volume 2 .

The term Flora applies in this sketch to native Flowering plants, Ferns and their allies. Collected materials do not exist for discussing the distribution of Mosses, Hepaticae, Lichens, and Fungi, which abound in most parts of India, or of the Algae in its seas and fresh waters. On the other hand, such extensive herbaria of the higher Orders of plants have, during the last century especially, been made over most parts of British India, that the study of their contents may be assumed to provide sufficient materials for a review of its Flora.

The Flora of British India is more varied than that of any other country of equal area in the eastern hemisphere, if not in the globe. This is due to its geographical extension, em- bracing so many degrees of latitude, temperate and tropical ; to its surface, rising from the level of the sea to heights above the limits of vegetation ; to its climates, varying from torrid to arctic, and from almost absolute aridity to a maximum of humidity ; and to the immigration of plants from widely different bordering countries, notably of Chinese and Malayan

1 In compiling this Sketch I have had the advantage of icceiving valu- able facts and suggestions from Sir G. King, K.C.I.E., F.R.S., late Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, and J. S. Gamble, M. A,, C.I.E., F.R.S., late of the Indian Forest Department.

2 See also Introductory Essay to the Flora Indica, by J. D. Hooker and Thomas Thomson, pp. 280, with two maps ^London : Pampliu Co., 1855). on the east and south, of Oriental \ European, and African on the west, and of Tibetan and Siberian on the north. Whether India is richer in number of genera and species than any other area on the globe of equal dimensions is doubtful ; it is cer- tainly far poorer in endemic genera a\id species than many others, especially China, Australia, and South Africa.

Of the elements of the Indian Flora the Malayan is the dominant; but until the Floras of Sumatra, Tongking, and South China are better known, it is not possible to estimate its com- parative strength. The Oriental and European elements can be approximately estimated. About 570 European genera and 760 species are indigenous in India, of which about 430 genera and over 400 species are British ; and if the Oriental genera and species be added to the European, these figures would probably be doubled. The African element, which includes the Arabian, is third in amount, and it will no doubt be augmented as the Flora of Equatorial Africa becomes better known. The Tibetan and Siberian elements, which include an Arctic, are all but confined to the alpine regions of the Himalayas. Lastly, the Chinese and Japanese Ftoras are strongly represented throughout the temperate Himalayas and in Burma.

Of the Natural Orders of Flowering plants, Ferns and their allies comprised in the Flora of British India, not one is peculiar to it ; and if the genera common to it and to one or more of the adjacent countries be excluded, few endemic genera remain, and such of them as are endemic are local, and with few exceptions are restricted to one or few species 2 . It may hence be affirmed that in a large sense there is no Indian Flora proper 3 .

1 The term ' Oriental ' is unfortunately used in a very different sense by botanists and by zoologists. In 1755 it was adopted by Gronovius as the title, * Flora Orieutalis,' of his work on the plants of the Levant and Meso- potamia ; and it is the title of Boissier's great Flora of the F,ast, from Greece to Afghanistan inclusive. This meaning has long been accepted by botanists. In zoological literature, 'Oriental* is more synonymous with Eastern India.

2 Of these exceptions perhaps the most notable one is that of two genera of Dipterocarpcae, Doona with eleven species and Stemowporus with fifteen, \vhich are both confined to Ceylon.

1 Mr. C. B. Claike, in a most instructive essay 'On the Botanical Sub- areas of British India/ has speculated on the successive periods at which the component elements of the Flora were introduced, and has arrived at the following division : (i) The Deccan or Indo-African, (2) the Malayan, (3) the Central Asian, (4) the European. Mr. Clarke's Sub-areas approxi- mately correspond with the Regions of this Sketch. See Journal of tht Linntan Society, Bot., vol. xxxiv (1898), p. 143.

The British Indian Flora

The British Indian Flora, though so various as to its ele- ments, presents few anomalies in a phytogeographic point of view. The most remarkable instances of such anomalies are the presence in it of one or a few species of what are very large and all but endemic genera in Australia: namely, Baeckea, Leptospermum^ Melaleuca, Leucopogon, StyUdium, Helicia, and Casuarina. Others are Oxybaphus himalaicus, the solitary extra-American species of the genus ; Pyrularia edulis, the only congeners of which are a Javan and a North American ; and Vogelia, which is limited to three species, an Indian, South African, and Sokotran.

Of absentee Natural Orders of the Old World, the most notable are Myoporineae, which, though mainly Australian, has Chinese, Japanese, and Mascarene species ; Empttraceae, one species of which girdles the globe in the north temperate hemisphere and reappears in Chili (the rarity of bog-land in the Himalayas must be the cause of its absence) ; and Cistineat) an Order containing upwards of 100 European and Oriental species, of which one only (a Persian) reaches Native Baluchistan. The absence of any indigenous Lime (Tilid) or Beech (Fagus) or Chestnut (Castanea) in the tem- perate Himalayas is remarkable, all three being European, Oriental, and Japanese genera. The Chestnut, which has been introduced into NVV. India from Europe, ripens its fruit in the Western Himalayas.

With the exception of the Rhododendron belt in the high Eastern Himalayas, there are in India few assemblages of species of peculiar or conspicuous plants giving a character to the land- scape over wide areas, as do the Heaths in Britain, the Heaths and succulent plants in South Africa, the Eucalypti^ Epacrideae^ and Protcaceae in Australia, the Cacti in America, or the great Aloes and Euphorbias in East Tropical and South Africa ; nor are there representatives of the Pampas, Catingas, Savannahs, or Prairie vegetation of America. The Coniferous forests of the Himalayas resemble those of other northern countries, and the great Teak forests have no peculiar features 1 . The wood-oil trees (Dipterocarpi) in Burma form an exception, towering over the forests of Arakan and Tenasserim. Of gregarious trees, some of the most conspicuous are the Sal (Shorea robusta),

1 For an account of the Indian forests reference must be made to the chapter on Forests in this Gazetteer (Vol. Ill, ch. ii), and for details to Gamble's Manual of Indian Timbers (London, 1902). In the latter in- valuable work, 4,749 woody plants are recorded for British India (exclusive of those of the Malayan Peninsula); and of these 2,513 are trees, 1,429 ftluubs, and 807 climber Eng or In (Dlpterocarpus tuberculatu$\ Sissu (Dalbergia Sissoo), Khair (Acacia Catechu), and Babul (A. arabica).

Indigenous Palms are few compared with many regions in tropical America, and are comparatively unobtrusive. The Talipot Palms (species of Coryfha) dre the most majestic palms in India, in stature, foliage, and inflorescence, but they are exceedingly rare and local.

The Indian Date (Phoenix syktstris), the Fan-Palm or Palmyra (Borassits flabclliftr\ and the Coco-nut near the sea, are the only palms that may be said to be conspicuous in the landscape of the plains of India. On the other hand, graceful erect or climbing Palms with pinnate or fan-shaped leaves frequent the humid evergreen forests, where the Rattans (Calami) ascend the trees by their hooked spines and expose their feathery crowns to the light.

Bamboos

of which there are more than 120 kinds in India, form, as else- where in the tropics, an important feature, whether as clumps growing in the open, or forming in association all but impene- trable jungles ; the taller kinds monopolize large areas in the hot lower regions, and the smaller clothe mountain slopes up to 10,000 feet in the Himalayas. Tree-ferns, of which there are about twenty (?) species, frequent the deepest forests of the Eastern Himalayas, Central India and Vizagapatam, Burma, Malabar, the Malay Peninsula, and Ceylon.

Of shrubs that form a feature in the landscape from their gregarious habits, the most conspicuous examples are the Rhododendrons of the temperate regions of the Himalayas, and the genus Strobilanthts in the western hills of the Peninsula. Many species of the latter genus do not flower till they have arrived at a certain period of growth, and then, after simul- taneously flowering, seed profusely and die. Some Bamboos, also gregarious, display the same habit, which they retain under cultivation in Europe. Three local all but stemless Palms are eminently gregarious : Phoenix farinifcra of the Coromandel coast, Nannorrhops Ritchieana of extreme Western India, and Photnix paludosa and Nipa fruticans of the Sundarbans.

Among herbaceous plants the beautiful genus Impaticns takes the first place, from abounding in all humid districts except the Malay Peninsula, and from its numerous species being (with hardly an exception) endemic ; added to which is the fact that, though profuse in individuals, the species are re- markably local, those of the Eastern Himalayas differing from those of the Western, these again from the Burmese, and all from those of the Eastern and Western Peninsulas and Ceylon ; and most of these two last from one another.

Of fresh-water flowering plants, floating or wholly or partially submerged, there are many kinds in India. They include the beautiful white, red, and blue Nymphaeas, Nelumbium speciosum, and Euryale ferox, the latter a near ally of the Victoria Regina of South American \v f aters ; also many carnivorous Bladder- worts {Utricularia), and the curious Aldrovanda with leaves like those of the Venus Fly-trap, a South European plant, hitherto found nowhere in India except in some saline ponds near Calcutta. The most remarkable among the Indian fresh- water plants are the Podostemonads, which clothe rocks and stones in rapid streams with submerged spreading fronds, resembling green Lichens more than flowering plants.

They are most common in Malabar and Ceylon, and are never found in rivers that have glacial sources. Marine flowering plants are few indeed, and are mostly of wide Oceanic distribution. Of peculiar littoral sand-hill plants there are few, the most notable being the above-mentioned Phoenix farinifera^ Ipo- moca bilobci) Vigna lit tea, Canavalia lineata, Launaea pinnati- fida^ and a curious grass, Spini/ex, of Australian affinity. The estuarial plants will be enumerated when describing the tidal flora of the Sundarbans.

The number of recorded species of Flowering plants in India approaches 17,000*, under 174 Natural Orders 2 ; and there are probably 600 species of Ferns and their allies.

The largest Order of Flowering plants in all India is Orc/ii- deae, of which more than 1,600 species are recorded and additions are constantly being discovered. The greater number of these are tropical and epiphytic, and with comparatively few exceptions all are endemic. Ten are European, and they are British 5 . It is only in the Eastern Himalayas, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula that the Order predominates ; in other parts of India Leguminosac, Gramiricae t a.nd Euphorbiaceae outnumber them.

1 In the Flora of British IftJia (1872-1897) about 15,900 species of Flowering plants are described. But since the publication of the first volumes of that work the greater part of Burma has fallen under British rule, and large accessions have been made to the Indian Flora from that and other quarters, especially from the Malay Peninsula.

In the Genera Plantarum> by G. Bentham and J. D. H. (1862-1883), 200 Natural Orders of Flowering plants are described. Some of these have been rightly subdivided by earlier or later authors.

• Corallorhiza innata, Goodyera repens^ Spiranthes autt4nntalis j Lhtera

wata^ Epipogum aphyllitm, Cephalanlhera ensifolia, Epipactis latifolia y Orchis latifolia, Habenaria viiidis, Herminium Monorchis* All these are temperate Western Himalayan ; a few are also Eastern.

The ten dominant Orders of Flowering plants in all British India are in numerical sequence :

1. Or chide at. 6. Acanthaceac.

2. Leguminosa$. 7. Compositae.

3. Gramineae. 8. Cyperaceac.

4. Rubiaceae. 9. Labiatat.

5. Euphorbiaceae. 10. Urticaceae.

Of these all but Labiatat and Composite* are more tropical than temperate. Compositat take a very low place, and would, but for the temperate and alpine Himalayan species, take a very much lower. In this respect India shares, with the whole Malayan Archipelago, an exceptional poverty in what is not only the largest of all the Orders of Flowering plants in the world, but the one that heads the list in most other parts of the globe. The following data l , deduced from the whole Indian Flora, are of use for comparison with those of its several botanical areas. The proportion of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons is approximately as i to 2-3 ; of genera to species as about i to 7. Of Palms there are more than 230 recorded species ; of Bamboos, 120; of Conifers, only twenty-two; of Cycadeac, five. Of genera with 100 or more species there are ten, of which four are Orchids, headed by 200 of Dendrobium ; the others are Impatient (which will probably prove to be the largest genus of Flowering plants in India), Eugenia, Pedicularis^ Strobilanthes, Ficus, Bulbophyllum^Eria^ Habenaria, and Car ex. Botanical British India is primarily divisible into three botanical areas : hr/ti^T f a Himala >' an an Eastern, and a Western.

The two latter are India. roughly limited by a line drawn meridionally from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. The prominent characters of the three are that the Himalayan area presents a rich tropical, temperate, and alpine Flora, with forests of Conifers, many Oaks, and a profusion of Orchids; that the Eastern has no alpine Flora, a very restricted temperate one, few Con ifers, many Oaks and Palms, and a great preponderance of Orchids ; that the Western has only one (very local) Conifer, no Oaks, few Palms, and comparatively few Orchids.

Further, the Himalayan Flora abounds in Euro- pean and Siberian genera ; the Eastern in Chinese and Malayan ; the Western in European, Oriental, and African. These three botanical areas are divisible into nine botanical Regions, for the determination of which I have, after long deliberation, resorted to the number of species, of the ten

1 It need hardly he pointed out that throughout thu Sketch numbers are approximate only, and are liable to revision. largest Natural Orders in each Region as the leading exponent of their botanical differences. The nine Regions are :

1. The Eastern Himalayas, extending from Sikkim to the Mishmi mountains in Upper Assam.

2. The Western Himalayas 1 , extending from Kumaun to ChitrSL

3. The Indus Plain, including the Punjab, Sind, and RSjputSna west of the ArSvalli range and Jumna river, Cutch, and Northern Gujarat.

4. The Gangetic Plain, from the Ar&valli hills and Jumna river to Bengal, the Sundarbans, the plains of Assam and Sylhet, and the low country of Orissa north of the Mahanadl river. This Region is divisible into three Sub-regions: an upper dry, a lower humid, and the Sundarbans.

5. Malabar in a very extended sense the humid belt of hilly or mountainous country extending along the western side of the Peninsula from Southern Gujarat to Cape Comorin. It includes Southern Gujarat, the Southern half of Kathiawar, the Konkan, Kanara, Malabar proper, Cochin, Travancore, and the Laccadive Islands.

6. The Deccan in a very broad sense : that is, the whole comparatively dry elevated table-land of the Peninsula east of Malabar and south of the Gangetic and Indus Plains, together with, as a Sub-region, the low-lying strip of coast land extending from Orissa to Tinnevelly, known as the Coromandel coast.

7. Ceylon and the Maldive Islands.

8. Burma, bounded on the N. and NE. by the flanking moun- tains to the south of the Assam valley and China, on the east by China and Siam, on the west by Bengal and the Indian Ocean, and on the south by the State of Khedah in the Malay Penin- sula. The Andaman Islands, and possibly the Nicobar, belong to the Burmese Region.

9. The Malay Peninsula, from Khedah to Singapore, includ- ing the British protected States in this Peninsula. The British Provinces proper are VVellesley, the Island of Penang, Malacca, and Singapore. The Nicobar Islands may belong to this Region.

1 The independent Kingdom of Nepal, extending for 500 miles between the Eastern and Western Himalayas, is here left out of account, from ignorance of its Flora. Except a very limited collection made in the valley of Katmandu by Wallich in 1821, the Flora of Nepal is all but unknown. Great as are the differences between the Floras of Sikkim and Kumaun, the two meet in Nepal, as indicated by Wallich's collections, which further contain a considerable number of endemic species. .

A glance at the map of India shows that, in the attempt to delimit these botanical Regions geographically, large areas are in some cases difficult to apportion: as, for example, Kathiawar, of which the N W. half is probably referable botani- cally to Sind, the SE. to the Konkan? It is not possible to draw a bounding line between the Flora of the Indus and of the Gangetic Plains : that is, between the Flora of the affluents (in the plains) of the Sutlej and of the Jumna rivers. Extensive tracts of land with characteristic Upper Gangetic plants intrude into the Indus Plain, and desert areas of Rajputana intrude into the Gangetic Plain. The eastern limit of the Malabar Region is undefinable, because of the number of spurs and valleys from its hills which project far into the Deccan Region, sometimes almost crossing it, carrying with them types of the Malabar Flora, which towards its northern limit mingles with those of the Deccan and of the Indus and Gangetic Plains.

The Flora of the trans-Indus mountains bounding the Indus Plain Region on the west, of which the eastern flanks are British Indian, is known botanically in one valley only, the Kurram. To have referred this either to the Western Himalayan Region, or to Afghanistan, would be premature. It is therefore treated of in an Appendix (A) to this Sketch ; as is also the Flora of British Baluchistan (Appendix B), which differs considerably from that of any other botanical Region of India.

These Regions coincide roughly with the areas of com- parative humidity or dryness, indicated by Major Prain in his Plants of Bengal (Introduction, p. 2) as follows :

India Deserta ; Sind, Rajputana, and the Punjab. (The Indus Plain Region.)

India Diluvia ; with its chief development in the Gangetic Plain, comprising much of the territory that constitutes politically the United Provinces and Bengal (The Gangetic Plain Region.)

India Aquosa; the wet forest tracts along the Western Ghats from Gujarat to Tiavancore, which receive all the force of the SW. monsoon. (The Malabar Region.)

India Vera; the dry but not desert triangle between the Western and the Eastern Ghats of the Peninsula, with its apex in Tinnevelly, and its base skirting the Gangetic Plain. (The Deccan Region.)

India Subaquosa ; the Eastern Ghats and the strip between them and the sea. (The Coromandel Sub-region.) India Littorea; most highly developed in the Gangetic delta. (The Sundarbans Sub-region.)

They also approximate to the botanical Sub-areas of British India drawn up by M^ C. B. Clarke in his instructive Essay in the Journal of the Linncan Society (vol. xxxiv (1898), p. 142), with an excellent map. The principal differences between his Sub-areas and my Regions lie in his inclusion of Central Nepal in the Eastern Himalayan Region, and of the Afghan E. boundary mountains, all Baluchistan, SE. Rajputana, and Central India in the Indus Plain Region ; in his treatment of N. and NE. Burma with the Assam Valley as a separate Sub- area (Assam), and of Eastern and Southern Burma as another (Pegu) ; and in his inclusion of all Ceylon in the Deccan Region.

The Flora of British India has been described at much greater length than in this Sketch in the Introductory Essay to Dr. Thomson's and my Flora Indica (see footnote, p. 157). In that work three primary divisions are recognized * : namely, I. Hindustan, including the Western Peninsula from the base of the Himalaya to Cape Comorin ; II. The Himalayas; III. India beyond the Ganges. These primary divisions are subdivided into sixty-four Provinces, the botanical characters of which, as far as they were then known, were delimited in relation to their climate, geographical position, elevation above the sea, and other physical conditions; to which are added references to many of the botanists who had explored them, their collections and their works. These sixty-four Provinces will, I believe, all prove to be deserving of detailed botanical treatment when sufficient materials shall have been obtained to effect this. The following is a list of them, arranged under the Regions adopted in this Sketch :

1. Eastern Himalayas: Mishmi, Abor, Bhutan, Sikkim, Central Nepal.

2. Western Himalayas, under three groups: I. Kumaun, GarhwSl, Simla, Kulii, Chamba, Jammu, Rajaori ; II. Kanawar, Lahul, Kishtwar, Kashmir, Murrec ; III. Gugi, Piti and Parang, Zaskar, Dras, Nari, I^idakh, Balti, Nubra.

3. Indus Plain, which includes the Punjab, Sind, Cutch, Northern Gujarat, and Rajputana west of the Aravalli Hills.

4. Gangetic Plain, under two groups : I. Upper, including Rajputana east of the Aravalli Hills, Bundelkhand, and Malwa

1 A fourth is devoted to Afghanistan and Baluchistan, which countries Dot being in British India arc not included in this Sketch, except a small area in Baluchistan since acquired. See Appendix B, p. 209. north of the Vindhya range; II. Lower, including Bengal south of the Himalayas, Orissa north of the MahanadI, the Assam, Sylhet, CachSr, and Tippera plains.

5. Malabar, including Khandesh, the Konkan, Kanara, Coorg, Malabar proper, Travancore.

6. The Deccan, including Malwfc, Bih5r, Ber&r, Central India, the Central Provinces, Chota Nagpur, Orissa south of the Mahanadi, the Deccan proper, Mysore, and the Cororaandel coast.

7. Ceylon.

8. Burma, including the Assam, GSro, PStkai, N5g3, Khsi, Manipur, Cachar, and Sylhet Hills, Chittagong, Tippera, Arakan, Pegu, and Tenasserim, together with the Shan and other States bordering China and Siam.

9. The Malayan Peninsula, including the British and Siamese States therein.

The Eastern Himalayas

The only botanically well-known portion of the first Region is Hima- j ts wes t ern end : Sikkim, an oblong section of Region, about 100 miles long from north to south, and forty from east to west An analysis of its Flora may be presumed to give an adequate idea of the general features of the unexplored Hima- layas to the eastward of it. This is indeed proved by such materials as have been procured from the latter l .

A comparison of its vegetation with that of the Western Himalayas will be found under that Region. Sikkim is the most humid district in the whole range of the Himalayas, because of its proximity to the Bay of Bengal and direct exposure to the effects of the moisture-laden south-west monsoon, from which the ranges east of Sikkim are partially screened by the mountains on the south flank of the Assam valley. It is estimated to contain about 4,000 species of Flowering plants under 160 Natural Orders; also 250 Ferns

1 Of the Flora of the Mishmi Hills the only account is that of Griffith, who visited them in October to December, 1 836, collecting upwards of 900 species of 1* lowering plants and 234 of Ferns and their allies. According to a list which he drew up and which is published in his ' Posthumous Papers' (vol. i, p. 57, Calcutta, 1847), the following is a decad of the largest Natural Orders, with the number of species in each: i. Compositor \ 80; a. Gramiruae, 73; 3. Labiatae> 50; 4. Orchideae, 43; 5. Rubiaceat, 42 ; 6. Acanthaccatt 38 ; 7. Leguminosat. 31 ; 8. Cypcraceat, 32 ; 9. Gtsntraceae* 23 ; 10. Euphorbiaceat ', 21. Most of these are presumably from the tropi- cal zone. The predominance of Compositae is notable. It was during this visit that Griffith discovered the remarkable stemles* and leafless root- parasite Sapria himalayana y a near ally of Raffle sia Arnoldi> which added the Natural Order Cytinaccat to the Himalayan Flora. It has not since been collected. and their allies, of which eight are Tree-ferns. The ten domi- nant Orders are the following, to which are appended, in brackets, their relative places in the Western Himalayan decad :

1. Orchideac (7). 6. Urticaceac.

2. Gramineae (i). 7. Scrophularineac (10).

3. Leguminosae (3). 8. Rosaceae (8).

4. Compositac (2). 9. Rubiaceae.

5. Cyperaceae (5). 10. Euphorbiaeeae.

The proportion of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons in Sikkim is about i to 2-5. Its Flora is disposed in three altitudinal zones : tropical, temperate, and alpine. It is difficult to limit, even approximately, the elevation of these zones above the sea, many tropical species ascending far into the temperate, and temperate species descending into the tropical. So too with the alpine zone, many of its species descend far into the temperate, and temperate species ascend far into the alpine. Assuming the normal tropical Flora to ascend from the level of the plains of India to 6,500 feet, and the normal alpine to descend from 18,000 to 12,000 feet, the number of species normal to each zone may possibly be found to approximate to 2,000, 1,500, and 500. The total number of recorded species of Orchids in Sikkim is 440 ; of Palms, twenty ; of Bambusae^ about twenty-three ; and of Ferns and their allies, 280, of which eight are Tree-ferns.

The tropical zone of Sikkim is skirted at its base by a low belt Tropical about 20 miles broad, which gradually slopes upwards from *?f . of the level of the plains of Bengal to the foothills of the zone at 1,000 feet elevation, from which the ascent is rapid to 6,500 feet and upwards. This belt was, when Sikkim was first botanically explored (in 1848), a deadly, unhealthy tarai 1 , covered with a loose forest (now for the most part cleared away) of trees common in the hotter parts of India, especially the Sal (Shorea robusta)> together with a rich undergrowth of shrubs, coarse grasses, and the herbaceous plants of the Gangetic Plain. Among them a few species of the temperate zone occur, brought down by the streams from higher levels. The foothills and spurs of the tropical zone are (or were before the introduction of tea cultivation) clothed throughout with a dense

1 The term * tarai ' as used in Sikkim is a misapplication of the word, as understood throughout the Western Himalayan Region. In the latter region a similar belt skirting the foothills is known as the ( bhabar,' and the

• tarai ' is a more or less swampy belt along the foot of the ' bhabar/

forest, Malayan in general character. The ten dominant Orders of the tropical zone are, in numerical sequence :

1. Orchideae. 6. Cyperaceae*

2. Leguminosae. 7. Rubiaceae.

3. Gramineae. 8. Comfositae.

4. Urticaceae. 9. Asdepiadeae.

5. Euphorbiaceae. 10. Acanthaceae,

There are in this zone about 850 trees and shrubs, many of them timber trees, among the most conspicuous of which are (beside the Sal), species of Magnoliaceac, Anonaceae, Gutti- fcrae, Sttrculiaceae, Tiliaceae, Mcliaceae, Sapindaceae, Anacar- diaceae, Legiiminosae, Combretaceae, Myrtaccae, Lythraceae, Ritbiaceae, Bignoniaccae, Laurineae^ Ettphorbiaceae^ Urticaccae, and Myristicaceae.

There are four species of Oak, as many of Castanopsis (a genus allied to Castanea), Lnciilia gratissima, the two paper-yielding shrubs, Daphne cannabina and Edgeiuorthia Gardner^ a Poplar, a Willow (Salix tetraspcrma), one Pine, in the inner valleys only (P. longifolia\ a Cycas and two species of Musa, eighteen indigenous Palms, a dwarf and a tall Pandanus^ and twelve arborescent or frutescent Bamboos. Ferns abound. Of shrubs, Acanthaceae and Melastomaccac, together with others of the above arboreous Orders, are among the most frequent. Of climbers, there are many species of Ampelidcae, Cucurbitaceac, Convolvulaceae, Apocyntae, Asdepiadcae^ Sniilax^ Dioscorea^ and Aroideae. Herbaceous plants are well represented by Malvaceae, Balsams, Orchids, and Scitamineae, together with many species of other ubiquitous tropical Indian Orders.

Temperate

The temperate zone of Sikkim, from 6,500 to 11,500 feet,

• s rou Shty divisible into a lower non-coniferous and an upper

coniferous and Rhododendron belt ; but the line of demarca- tion between these varies so greatly with the exposure and humidity of the locality that they cannot be dealt with apart. Of about 100 Natural Orders of Flowering plants that occur in this zone the following ten dominate, the figure in brackets after each Order denoting its relative position in the tropical zone :

1. Orchideae (i). 6. Geraniaceac.

2. Compositae (8). 7. Ericaceae.

3. Gramineae (3). 8. Liliaceac.

4. Rosaceae. 9. Labiatae.

5. Cyperaceae (6). 10. Umbelliferae.

Of the above Orders the Orchideae alone are strongly

Malayan in character, the others are mostly European, Central Asian, Japanese, or Chinese. The most conspicuous trees are Magnoliaceae (five species), of which one (Magnolia Camfibellii), before the working of the forest began, clothed the slopes around Darjeeling, starring them in spring, when still leafless, with its magnificent flowers. Other conspicuous trees of this region are Oaks, Laurels, Maples, Birches, Alder, Bucklandia, Pyrus, and Conifers. Of these the Conifers are chiefly con- fined to a belt from 9,000 to 12,000 feet in elevation.

The monarch and most common of them is a Silver Fir (Abies Webbianci), which is also the most gregarious ; others are the English Yew, a Spruce (Picea Aforinda), a Inarch ' Larix Griffithii, the only deciduous Conifer in the Himalayas), the weeping Tsuga Brunoniana, and two species of Juniper, both of which, in dwarf forms, ascend high into the alpine zone. The absence of any true Pine or Cypress in the forests of this region of the Himalayas is notable, in contrast with similar elevations in the Western Himalayas.

Of shrubs, the most conspicuous are the Rhododendrons (twenty-five species), which abound between 9,000 and 12,000 feet elevation, some of them forming im- penetrable thickets ; a few of these are arboreous, though never attaining any considerable height. Other shrubs are species of Clematis, Ttrnstroemitu'eae, Berberideae, I/ex, JZosa, Rubus, Co(oneasfer y Spiraea, Hydrangea, Aucuba, Lonicera, Leycesteria, Osmanthus, Osbeckia, Buddlcia, Vacciniaceae (some epiphytic), Ericaceae, Elder, Viburnum^ Polygon* m, Ivy, &c.

Beautiful herbaceous plants abound Anemones, Aconites, Violets, many species of Balsam, Potcntilla, Fragaria, Gentianeae, Cam- panulaceae, Gtsncraccae, Scrophularineac, Orchideae (Codogyne^ eight species), Cypripedium, Polygonatum, Stnitacina, Lilium^ Fritillaria, Arisaema. Only two Palms inhabit this zone, a scandent Rattan (P/ectocomia himalaica), and very rarely a Fan-Palm (Trachycarpus Martiana\ Dwarf Bamboos, of which there are six species, abound, some of them forming impervious thickets infested with leeches and large ticks. Ferns are characteristic of this zone.

The alpine zone of Sikkim descends to about 12,000 feet Alpine from the upper limit of the existence of Flowering plants. It *? , of presents two climates with conforming differences in their vegetation : a lower or outer humid, and an upper or inner dry Tibetan region.

But the limits of these climates are not clearly definable either topographically or botanically; for whereas in some cases the passes between Sikkim and Tibet are abrupt and lofty, in others the valleys expand widely and become gradually Tibetan in climate and features, the pass proper hieing a political boundary. Further, some valleys run up from south to north, others from west to east. The number of species of Flowering plants recorded for this zone is about 380, no doubt far below whal future collectors will raise it to.

They are included under forty-six Orders, of which the ten dominant are as follows, their corresponding position in the Western Himalayan decad being given in brackets :

1. Compositae (i). 6. Caryophylleae (8).

2. Scrophularincae. 7. Ranunculaceae (6).

3. Primulaceae. 8. Cyperaceae (4).

4. Saxifragaceae (9). 9. Gramineae (2).

5. Crucifcrae (5). 10. Fumariaceat (10).

Of the above, the first three greatly outnumber the others, some of which may have to give place to Rosaceae^ Gen- tianaceae^ or Umbelliferae. The largest genera are Pedicularis, Primula, Corydalis^ and Saxifraga. The low position of Cyperaceae and Gramineae in the decad is notable, remarkably so in contrast to the Western Himalayan decad; but future herborizations may bring them up higher.

The few trees, to be found only on the lower skirts of this zone, are scattered Birches and Pyri. The principal bushes are Rhododendrons (of which several species attain 14,000 feet elevation, and three dwarf ones 16,000 feet), two Junipers, species of Ephedra^ BerberiS) Lonicera^ Caragana, Rosa> Cotoneaster^ Spirata, and dwarf Willows. Of Ferns there are very few. About thirty species reach 18,000 feet elevation, some of them a little higher. The highest recorded Flowering plant is a Fcstuca (not found in flower) at about 18,300 feet.

In drier valleys above 15,000 feet elevation several species of Arenaria occur, which form hard hemispheric or globose white balls and are a characteristic feature in the desolate landscape. By far the most striking plants of this zone are the species of Mcconopsis, Rheum nobile> the Edelweiss, many Primulas, Tanacetum gossy- pinum, Saussurea obvallata and gossypifera^ and the odorous Rhododendron Anthopogon.

The The Western Himalayan ranges differ greatly from the

Western Eastern, in orientation, in greater length, higher latitude,

Region/* coo ^ er drier climate, and in the far greater breadth of the

mountain mass west of the Sutlej. A transverse section drawn

through the valley of Kashmir, from the plain of the Punjab to

the Kdrakoram range, is three times as long as one drawn anywhere transversely across the Eastern Himalayas, and, unlike the latter, it presents a series of parallel snow-clad ranges, which have a general direction from SW. to NE. Of the valleys enclosed by these ranges, those towards the plains are very narrow, tortuous, and steep ; the rearward, on the contrary, are more open, with elevated, often saline floors, and owing to the dryness of the air are either sterile or support a Tibetan vegetation. The latter valleys constitute Little Tibet, forming the western termination of the Great Tibetan plateau.

It would appear from the above that the Western Himalayan Flora should greatly outnumber the Eastern in genera and species, and but for the dryness and reduced temperature of its tropical and temperate zones it would doubtless do so. But if it is borne in mind that no area in the Western Region of the dimensions of Sikkim is nearly so rich as the latter, and that the Flora of the Western is fairly well explored, while the Eastern, except in Sikkim, is all but unexplored, the conclusion must be that the latter will prove to be far the richer botanically.

Upwards of 4,000 Flowering plants are recorded as Western Himalayan, comprised in 147 * Natural Orders, and there are also 230 Ferns and their allies. Of the former, the following ten are the dominant, the number in brackets indicating their corresponding positions in the Eastern Himalayan decad :

1. Gramintae (2). 6. jRanuncutaceac.

2. Compositae(^\ 7. Orchideae (i).

3. Lcguminosac (3). 8. Crucifcrae.

4. Cyperaceae (5). 9. Rosactae (8).

5. Labiatae. 10. Scrophulariaccae (7).

The proportion of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons is about i to 3. Twelve Eastern Himalayan Orders here disappear: namely, Dilleniaceae^ Guttiferae, Passifloraceae^ Stylidieae, Vacciniaceae^ Diapensiaeeae, Myristicaceae y Proteaceae^ Cycadeae, Burmannia- ccae, Xyridtac, and Pandantac, together with Tree-ferns and many Palms. With the exception of Vacciniaceae and Diapen- siactae y all are tropical. The following Orders that are absent in the Eastern Himalayas are found in the Western : Moringeae^ PoltmoniaceaC) Illecebraceae^ of which Polemonium alone is strictly temperate or sub-alpine. Of even greater significance is the removal of Orchids from the first to the seventh place in the above decad, and the replacement of the tropical Orders of Uriicactat) Rubiaceae, and Euphorbiaccae of the Eastern Region

1 The Order F/atanacfae is excluded, the Oriental Plane not being indigenous in any part of India.

Tropical rone of Western Hima- layas. by the temperate Ranunculaceae^ Cruci/erae^ and Labiatae of the Western. Finally, an instructive example of the difference between the Eastern and Western Floras is afforded by a reference to the recently published Flora Simlensis by the late Colonel Sir Henry Collett. In that work, 1,326 Flowering plants are described, of which nearly one-third are absent from Sikkim. The number of genera in the Western Himalayan Region (about 1,220) does not greatly exceed tKat in Sikkim, but no fewer than 250 of them are absent from the latter; almost all of them are European, thus demonstrating the preponderance of this element in the West. Selecting some of the most con- spicuous of the typically European Orders common to the Eastern and Western Himalayas, and indicating by the letters E. and W. a rough approximation to the relative number of species under each, the following are the results :

UmMliferae Labiatat Cruciferae - E ** Caryophylleae - F ^

Lompositae boragineae r Chenopodiaccae Gramincae About 1 70 species of Orchids are recorded as West Hima- layan, most of them being terrestrial, but few are of tropical type ; a list of such as are European is given at p. 161, in a foot- note. Of Palms there are six species ; of fiambuseac seven.

The upper limit of this tropical zone of the Western Hima- layas is lower by perhaps 1,000 feet than is that of the corre- sponding zone in Sikkim. Notwithstanding the absence of the above-mentioned tropical Orders, its general features are, in many respects, the same in both Regions. Proceeding north- westward, however, tropical species rapidly decrease in numbers, and before crossing the Indus the tropical zone has almost disappeared.

As examples of this dying out of tropical types in the west the following fifteen are instructive, in which the letters E. and W. denote the two contrasted zones : Menispermaceae Sterculiaceae

Liliaceae

Meliaceae

Ampelideae Araliaceae Begoniaceae Myrsineae Gesneraceae Piperaceae Laurineae Urticaceae Com melinaceae Pahneae Bambuscae

1 The absence of saline soil in Sikkim accounts for its poverty in this Order.

Among the most interesting tropical and sub-tropical trees and shrubs of the Western Himalayas that are absent in the Eastern are Cocctilus laurifolius^ Bosivellia thurifera^ Pistacia integerrimcii the Pomegranate and Oleander, Roylea elegans, Engelhardtia Colebrookeana^ and Holoptelea integrifolia, most of which are also Oriental. Of the disappearance of trees prevalent almost throughout the tropical zone of the Himalayas, that of the Sal between the Ravi and Chenab rivers is a very notable instance.

The Orchids of this zone, especially the epiphytic, are few, and almost confined to the Districts of Kumaun and Garhwal. There are only fifteen Dendrobes, all but one or two of which are also natives of Sikkim, where about forty are known. Of Bulbophyllum and Cirrhopetalum, only six species are recorded. The Palms are Wallichia densiflora> Phoenix sylvestris, acaulis, and humiliSy and Calamus tenuis. The only common Bamboo is Dendrocalamus strictus.

Owing to the complexity of the mountain ranges, outer and Temperate inner, and the differences of their climates, it is very difficult to ^stem assign altitudinal limits to the temperate zone of the Western Himalayas. Himalayas. In Kumaun and Garhwal I have estimated it as perhaps 1,000 feet lower than in Sikkim, but farther to the west and north observations are wanting for fixing it. The vegetation of the outer ranges is in character on the whole that of Sikkim, the difference being due mainly to the greatly increased number of European genera.

All the Conifers of the Eastern Himalayas are present, except the Larch ; and to these are added forests of Deodar, Pinus longifolia (a com- paratively rare plant in Sikkim and there only tropical),/*, excelsa^ Abies PindroW) Cupressus torulosa* Junipcrus macropoda, and (in dry regions) Pinus Gerardiana, the first and three last giving, where found, a character to the landscape. Of Oaks there are six, four of them Sikkim species, two only being Western, of which one is the European Holm Oak (Quercus Ilex), which extends eastward to Kumaun at 3,000 to 8,500 feet elevation, and westward to Spain. The Indian Horse-Chestnut {Aesculus indicd) represents the Eastern Ae. punduana. Two Birches and two Hornbeams are common to both Regions, but the Eastern-nut (Corylus ferox) is replaced by the Oriental C. Colurna.

Among other shrubs and small trees peculiar to the Western Himalayas are the Indian Bladder-nut and Lilac (Staphylea Emodi and Syringa Emodt\ Rosa Webbiana, mos- chata^ and Eglantcria^ Parrottiajacquemontiana^ the Mountain

Ash (Pyrus Aucuparia), the Bullace (Prunus insititid), and the common Hawthorn. On the other hand, the most striking difference between the temperate Floras of the Eastern and Western Himalayas is the paucity of species of Rhododendron in the latter, where only four are found all common, at their respective elevations, in Sikkim R. Anthopogon^ barbatum y eampanulatwn, and arboreum ; the latter also inhabits the mountains of Southern Malabar, Burma, and Ceylon. Of European herbaceous plants there occur several hundreds unknown in Sikkim, as Ranunculus aquatilis and R. Lingua, Caltha palustris, Nymphaea alba^ Ly thrum Salicaria^ Menyan- thes trifoliata, and Cladium Mariscus^ which all occur in the Lake of Kashmir; also species of Aquilegia and Paeonia, Parnassia palustris^ Adoxa Moschatellina^ Lynmachia vulgaris^ Polemonium caeruUum> Eriophorum vaginatum, and many Grasses, Rushes, and Sedges.

The genus Impatiens abounds in the temperate zone, at all elevations except the highest, the species being with few exceptions endemic. The Orchids of this zone are almost uniformly terrestrial; they include several European species unknown in the Eastern Himalayas (see footnote, p. 161). The only Palm is a Trachycarpus, confined to and local in Kumaun and Garhwal. Of Bamboos there are four, all dwarf and gregarious.

Alpine Assuming n,ooo to 12,000 feet as the lower limit of the zone of alpine zone of the Western Himalayas in the outer ranges, and Himalayas. 18,000 feet as the normal upper limit of Flowering plants, about 600 species belonging to forty-eight Natural Orders are recorded as indigenous. Of these Orders the dominant ten are the following, with their relative positions in the alpine Sikkim decad indicated in brackets :

1. Compositae (i). 6. Ranunculaceae (7).

2. Gramineae (9). 7. Gentianeae.

3. Leguminosae. 8. Caryophylleae (6).

4. Cyperaetac (3). 9. Saxifragaccae (4),

5. Crudferae (5). 10. Fumariaceac (10).

Two Orders of the above decad, Leguminosae and Gentianeae^ are absent in the corresponding Eastern one, where they are replaced by Primulaceae and Scrophularineae. I doubt, how- ever, whether this and other comparisons will hold good when the alpine zone of Sikkim shall have been fully explored. As was to be expected, the Western alpine Flora is much richer than the Eastern, due to its greater area. The increment con- sists mainly of small European genera, and not in additions to

the large genera common to both ; for taking twenty-nine of the latter, the sum of their species is nearly the same for both Regions, 277 in the Eastern, 266 in the Western ; the close coincidence is of course accidental, but not the less instructive. The genera in excess in the Eastern Himalayas are :

Arenariay Saxifraga Primula ^* Rhododendron Pedicularis In excess in the Western Himalayas are :

jrmruguius j. unuiciurn

Artemisia aussurea Nepeta Polygonum

In the following large genera the numbers in each Flora are nearly equal : Corydalis^ Draba, Potentilla, Gentiana, Juncus, Carex. The above data all point to a further great pre- dominance of the Eastern Himalayan alpine Flora over the Western to be expected when the 500 miles of mountains east of Sikkim shall have been botanized *.

Two of the most conspicuous alpine plants of Sikkim are absent in the Western Himalayas, Rheum nobile and Tanacetum gossypinum ; the latter has, however, the remarkable Saussurea obvallata and gossypiphora, together with, in the driest regions, some cushion-formed species of Arenaria.

Ascending the Indus river a few tropical plants extend up to Tibetan Gilgit (alt. 4,000 to 5,000 feet). At greater elevations the full Ue > s of effects are experienced of a dry climate, great cold alternating Himalaya*, with fierce sun-heat, and consequent aridity. Between 12,000 and 14,000 feet the principal indigenous trees are Populus euphratica and P. balsamifera, and of shrubs or small trees Ulmus paruifolia and species of Tamarix, Caragana^ Rosa, Lonicera^ Hippophae, Myricaria, Elaeagnus, and Salix.

The cultivated trees are the fruit-bearing European ones, with Populus alba and P. nigra. Above 14,000 and up to 18,000 feet is a region of alpine perennials of European, Oriental, and Central Asian Orders and genera, as Fumariaceae, Legu- minosae (Astragalus especially), Compositae^ Labiatae, and Stipateae. The only Orchids are a few species of Orchis and Herminium. Above 17,000 feet, twenty-five genera are recorded, all (except Biebersteinid) European, and many of

1 The only botanist who has written on the distribution of the plants of this Region is the late Dr. Thomas Thomson, F.R.S., who explored it in 1847 anc * 1848. See Narrative of a Journey in the Western Himalaya and Tibet (1853), and Introductory Essay to the Flora Indica (1855).

them British, as Potentilla Sibbaldi and anserina, Saxifraga cernua, and Lloydia serotina. The most typical plant of thia region is Arenaria rupicola, which forms hard white cushions or balls a foot in diameter, apparently the growth of centuries. The genera Astragalus, Saussurca, Artemisia, Tanacetum, and Allardia have many endemic species at these elevations. Where saline soils occur Chtnopodiaceac abound, with two endemic Crucifers {Dilophia and Christolea), also Sonchus maritimus, Glaux maritime*, and Triglochin maritimum. The fresh-water plants of this region include Ranunculus aquatilis^ Hippuris vulgaris, Limosella aquatica, and species of Utricu- laria, Potamogeton, and Zan niche Ilia. Ferns are all but absent. The Indus Whether proceeding across the Indus Plain Region in a

Plain g^y jjrectJQn f rom t h e Himalayas to Sind, or in a SE. from Region.

the Afghan border to Western Rajputana, vegetation rapidly diminishes, approaching extinction in the Indian desert. Over the whole region a low, chiefly herbaceous vegetation of plants common to most parts of India, mixed with Oriental, African, and European types, is spread, with thickets of shrubs and a few trees.

With few exceptions all have deciduous leaves, and most of the herbaceous are burnt or dried up in the hot season, the principal exceptions to the latter being Chenopodiaceae, which especially aflect the frequent saline soils. On Mount Abu, an outlier of the Aravalli Hills in the SE. of this region, 5,653 feet in elevation, more humid tropical types appear, with Rosa Lyellii, Vogelia indica, and an epiphytic orchid (Aeridts)\ many cultivated fruits succeed in the villages, as the mulberry, tamarind, mango, guava, and custard apple.

From the scattered materials available it may be assumed that the Flora of this region may comprise about 1,500 indi- genous Flowering plants, under 112 Orders, of which the following are the dominant ten, with, in brackets, their corre- sponding positions in the Gangetic Plain decad :

1. Gramineae (i). 6. I.abiatae (10).

2. Leguminosae (2). 7. Boragineat.

3. Compositae (4). 8. Malvaceae (6).

4. Cyperaceae (3). 9. Euphorbiaceae (8).

5. Scrophularineae (5). 10. Convolvulactae (9).

Of the 112 Orders about thirty-five are represented by a single genus only, and thirteen by a single species. The number of monotypic genera is also very large. The high position of Boragineae is a marked feature. The chief arboreous vegetation consists of isolated groups of trees in the outskirts of the Western Himalayan Region, on the banks of the rivers, and in the Ajmer forest on the flanks of the Aravalli hills in Rajputana 1 .

The principal indigenous trees are Tamarix articulata, Bombax malabaricum, Sterculia urens, Grewia salt- cifolia, Balanites Roxburghii, Boswellia serrata, Balsamodendron Mukul and pubescens, Pistacia integerrima, Aegle Marmelos, Odina Wodier, Moringa pterygosperma and concanensis, Dal- bergia Sissoo, Butea frondosa, Prosopis spicigera, Acacia arabica, Jacquemontii leucophaea, eburnea, modesta, and rupestris, Dichrostachys cincrea, Salvadora persica and oleoides, Anogeissus pendula, Cordia Myxa and Rothii, Terminalia tomentosa, Tccoma undulata, Olea cuspidata, Ficus infcctoria and palmata, Morus indica, Ccltis ausfra/is, Alnus nit Ida ^ Populus euphratica' 1 and nigra, Salix tetrasperma. The only indigenous Palms are Phoenix sylvcstris and Nannorrhops Ritchieana. The only Bamboo is Dendrocalamus strictus.

Of shrubs, among the most conspicuous are isolated clumps of the columnar, almost leafless Euphorbia Royleana and ncriifolia. Other more or less prevalent shrubs and under- shrubs in certain districts are Capparis aphylla, horrida, and spinosa, Flacourtia Ramontchi, Tamarix dioica and gallica, Grcwia (seven species), Fagonia arabica, Rhamnus persica and virgata, Zizyphus nummularia, vulgaris, and Oenoplia, Dodonaea viscosa, Alhagi maurorum, Sophora mollis, Cassia auriculata, Tora^ and obovata, Mimosa rubicaulis, Pluchea lanceolata^ Reptonia buxifolia, Carissa diffusa, Rhazya stricta,

Nerium odorum, Orthanthera viminea, Periploca aphylla, Calotropis procera and gigantea, Withania coagulans^ Adhatoda Vasica, Calligonum polygonotdes, Pteropyrum Olivieri, Salsola foctida, and species of Kochia, Suaeda, Anabasis, &c. Of special interest as shrubs of this region are three species of Cotton (Gossypium), a genus unknown as native in any other part of India. These are G. Stocksii in Sind, G. Wightia- num in the Aravalli forests, and G. herbaceum (?) in the Ambala District of the Punjab. Having regard, however, to the many centuries during which cotton has been a staple crop in India, it may be doubted whether these three may not be the descendants of as many cultivated plants. It is a remarkable fact that one of these (G. Wightianum}, which is grown as

1 For an excellent account of the Flora of Rajputana, to which I am greatly indebted, see Sir George King, in the Indian Forester*

9 In India this widely spread Central Asian tree is confined to the plain of this Province and elevations up to 10,000 feet in the Tibetan Himalayas, whence it extends over Central Asia. an erect shrub in many parts of India, should in the Aravallis assume a scandent habit quite foreign to the genus.

Of climbing plants in this Region, Ephtdra Alte> Cuscuta reflexa, C as sy t ha filiform* s, with species of Convolvulactae and Aselepiadeat) are the most frequent TW herbaceous vegeta- tion includes plants of all the Orders in the decad, with others of Fumariactae, Papaveraceac^ Cruciferae, Rcsedactae, Caryo- phylleae, Zygophyl/eac, Ficoidtae, Cucurbitaceae, Plantagincae, Amarantaceac, Chcnopodiaceac, and Polygoneae. The European Asphodelus fistulosus is a [)est in cornfields.

The curious eastern Rosaceous plant Nturada procumbent is confined to this Region, and the widely spread Frankenia pulverulenta and Herniaria hirsuta advance very little to the east of it. The Persian Seetzcnia orientalis is in India all but confined to Sind ; and the only Orchid is the diminutive terrestrial Zeuxine sulcata, which is ubiquitous in the plains of India. Grasses abound, especially Eragrostis cynosuroides, Cynodon Dactylon^ Eleu sine flagellif era > Aeluropus villosus, the odorous Andropogon muricatus^ Irawan- cusa and Nardus, and the inodorous /. squarrosus.

Ferns are exceedingly few in this Region ; five are found rather commonly in the dry districts, namely, Nephrodium mollt, Adiantum caudatum, A. Capillus-Vencris, and Actino- pteris radiata, with, on Mount Abu ur\\y,Nephrodiumcicutarium> Cheilanthes farinosa, Botrychium virginianum^ and Adiantum lunulatum.

It is not possible within the limits of this Sketch to enumerate in detail the botanical features of the various districts of the Indus Plain Flora, or to discuss the distribution of its principal trees and shrubs, many of which are limited as to locality. Having, however, been kindly favoured by Mr. T. R. Drummond, F.L.S., with some observations on this subject made purposely for this Sketch, I shall summarize them here, before concluding with a brief notice of some peculiarities of the Salt Range, Sind, and Indus Delta Floras.

Mr. Drummond selects the following plants as characteristic of the Indus Plain throughout : Peganum Harmala, Crotalaria Burhia, Dalbcrgia Sissoo^ Aerua lanata^ Asphodelus fistulosus, and species of Suaeda, Kochia* Cenchrus, Pennisetum^ Apluda^ Eteusintj and Saccharum. In Sind and the South Punjab he cites species of Maerua, Crataeva^ CUome % Wrightia^ Acacia rupcstris, Nerium, Pulicaria Wallichiana, Echinops^ Anticharis, Cordia Rothii, Blepharis sindica, species of Otimum and Arnebia kispidissima, the last two covering a large area of sand and perfuming the air in spring.

In the Indus valley proper he gives the following as characteristic : Cappans spinosa, Jliplotaxis Griffithii) Malcolmia strigosa, Gymnosporia^ Sage- rctia Brandrethiana^ Pluchea argufa, Pulicaria glaucescens> Jloucerosia Aucheriana* Arnebia Grijfithii^ Withania coagulans, Stachys paruiflora^ Otostegia limbata, Eremostachys^ Oka cuspi- data, Pennisetum dichotomum, Aeluropus villosus, Haloxylon, Sa/so/a, and Nannorrhops Ritchieana. To the eastern districts belong Capparis spinosa, Atwgeissus pendula, Euphorbia Roy- leana, Cordia Rothii, Dichrostachys cinerea y Sterculia urens, Mo- ringa concanensis, Boswcllia serrata, and Acacia leucophloea.

Rawalpindi, of which the principal hills are the Salt Range, occupies the NW. corner of the Indus Plain area. Glancing at the map, it might be supposed that its Flora was that of the outer hills of the Himalayas ; but this is not so. for though typically Himalayan plants occur on the more elevated parts of the range, its predominating vegetation is Oriental and European. Of this the most conspicuous examples are the Rcsedaccae, many species of Cntciferae, and the remarkable Palm Nannorrhops Ritchieana^ the north-eastern limit of which is the Salt Range, the south-western limit Sind and Baluchistan.

Sind occupies about one-third of the Indus Plain area. Its Flora is a very poor one, comprising perhaps not more than 500 recorded species ; but it is a very noteworthy one, in that it comprises a much larger proportion of North African plants than does any other Indian area, and that a very considerable number of these have not boen found anywhere to the east- ward of Sind. Its Flora promises to offer a most interesting study when material for this shall be forthcoming, the absence or rarity of species of higher groups which are prevalent in the Punjab being as remarkable as the prevalence of some others. The indigenous Cotton (Gossypium Stocksii) and Palm {Nannor- rhops Ritchieana), both mentioned already, are its two most notable plants.

The Indus Delta repeats the vegetation of the Sundarbans of Bengal, with a greatly reduced number of species, and the absence of the two Palms (Nipafruticans and Phoenix pahtdosa), and of the genus Calamus. It has, however, species of Avicennia^ Sonneratia, Rhizophora, Ceriops^ Acgiceras^ and Scacvola, the latter genus unknown in the Sundarbans, together with the stately grass, Oryza coarctata, which has been found nowhere except in these two deltas.

The Gangetic Plain Region presents three assemblages of The Gmn- plants which may be regarded as botanical Sub-regions : I. The & eti< : Pla ^ n dry upper valley from Eastern Rajput5na to the Kosi river ;

that is, to a little above the bend of the Ganges at Rajmahal ; II. Bengal proper of the old maps, defined 1 as 'the humid region of the Gangetic delta and the region immediately north of it.' This Sub-region includes the A^sam plain and a coast strip of Orissa, as far as the MahanadI river. III. The Sundarbans.

The number of indigenous species in this Region is small, possibly amounting to 1,500, under 112 Orders, of which the following ten are dominant ; the attached numbers in brackets are those of the corresponding decad in the Indus Plain Region :

1. Gramineae (i). 6. Malvaceae (8).

2. Lcguminosae (2). 7. Acanthaccae.

3. Cyperaceae (4). 8. Euphorbiaceae (9).

4. Compositae (3). 9. Convolvulaceae (10).

5. Scrophularineae (5). 10. Labiatae (6).

The only other Orders rich in genera and species are 6V curbitaceaC) AscUpiadtae y Verbenaceac, and Amarantaceae. The largest genera are Hibiscus, Indigo/era, Crotalaria, Ipomoea, Polygonum, Cypems, Fimbristylis, Panicum^ Andropogon, and Eragrostis ; Gymnospermae and Cupuliferae are absent ; and the European Orders Ranunculaceae, Crucifcrae^ Caryophyllcae, Gcraniaceae, Rosaceae, Saxifragaccae, Campanulaceae, and Gcntianeac are very scantily represented, chiefly by annual weeds.

The Upper The indigenous vegetation of the upper part of this Sub- Gangetic re gion is that of a dry country, the trees in the dry season being leafless (for the most part) and the grasses and other herbs burnt up ; but by far the greater part of the land to the eastward contrasts with that to the westward in being under cultivation. In the extreme west, the Flora is con- tinuous with that of the Indus Plain, and might perhaps be better included in that Region, Peganum Harmala, Pluchea lanceolata, Tecoma undulata^ and other plants characteristic of the Punjab being equally so of the western part of this Sub-region. These gradually disappear in following the course of the Ganges downwards into a more humid climate, and towards the entrance of the Kosi river they are replaced by

1 This is the definition of Bengal adopted in Yule and Burnell's Anglo- Indian Glossary. Politically, Bengal includes Sikkim on the north, Orissa, Bihar, and Choti Nagpur on the south and west, and Chittagong and Tippera on the east. Of this political Province (excluding Sikkim), a Flora by Major Prain has just been published. the plants typical of Bengal proper. The principal forest is that of Ajmer, flanking the Aravalli and other hills which bound the Sub-region on the west. The most characteristic tree of this forest is Anogeissus pendula ; others more or less restricted to Western India are Boswellia serrata, Balsamo- dendron Mukul (which is rare), Moringa pterygospertna, Rhus wysorensiSy Acacia Senegal, and Prosopis spidgera> accom- panied by the common trees of the drier parts of India, especially Butea frondosa.

The Bengal rose (Rosa involucrata) occurs frequently, forming an erect bush in the open, and seeming to an English eye to be quite out of place in its climate and its surroundings. Several British herbaceous plants are common, flowering in the cool season, especially Ranunculus sceleratus, Malva rotundifolia, Lathyrits Aphaca, Anagallis arvensis, and Veronica agrestis. ])endrocalamus itrictus and Bambusa Balcooa are the only indigenous Bamboos, being natives of the bordering hills rather than of the plain. The cultivated Phoenix and Borassus are the two Palms most commonly seen, but two species of Rattan (Calamus] are found in thickets. Considerable areas of this Sub-region are occu- pied by the Usar, or Reh-lands, which, being impregnated with alkalies, and converted into swamps in the rainy season and into deserts in the dry, are as unfavourable to a native as they are to an introduced vegetation. Salvadora persica is said to be the only tree that will succeed on the most saline of them, and of herbaceous plants a few perennial-rooted grasses are the only ones which thrive.

Bengal proper, by its humidity and luxuriant evergreen Bengal vegetation, contrasts favourably with the upper valley of the 1>r P er * Ganges. The villages are usually buried in groves of Mango, Figs, and Bamboos, with the Betel-nut Palm, Palmyra, Phoenix, and Coco-nut. The trees are of many kinds, and it is difficult to distinguish the indigenous from the introduced. Except perhaps a few 7va, the most common belong to the latter class. Such are Michelia Champaca, Polyalthia hftgifolia^ Bombax malabaricuw, Eriodendron anfrattuosum^ Lagerstroc- mia Mos-reginae, Pterospermum acerifolium^ with species of Terminalia and Artocarpns. The shrubby and herbaceous vegetations are for the most part of species found all over India.

In the Jful district in the east, where the waters of the great rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Surma inosculate and overflow during the rains, aquatic and marsh plants, especially Cyperaceae and tall Gramineae of many kinds, pre- vail, but not the Nymphaeaceae (Nymphaea, Ntlumbinm, and

Euryale), which affect stiller and shallower waters. The most interesting of the water-plants of India is Aldrovanda vcsicu- losa, the curious floating Fly-trap mentioned at p. 161. There are few Orchids, and those are mostly^, terrestrial. The epi- phytic Orchids include species of Vanda^ Luisia, and Cytn- bidium. Aroideae abound, and are conspicuous features both wild and in cultivation ; among the latter are broad-leaved species of Amorphophallus, Alocasia, and Colocasia ; of the wild the most conspicuous are ScinJapsus officinalis, clothing the trunks of trees with its magnificent foliage, and Pothos scandcns, which simulates the Ivy in covering walls and tree trunks.

The prickly Lasia heterophylla abounds in the marshes, and species of the curious genus Cryptocoryne, with twisted spathes, are frequent on the river margins. Pistia Stratiotes is ubiquitous in fresh water, and several species of Lemna are common. An anomalous feature in the Flora of Bengal is the occurrence on rising grounds between the Jhils of a few plants typical of the Khasi Hills. Of this the District of Mymensingh affords an example, in which may be found, together with the common plants of Bengal, a few wanderers from the hilly regions to the northward.

The Son- The estuarial Floras ] of India are notable, inasmuch as that, darban*. considering the limited areas they occupy, they contain more local species than do any other botanical regions in India. This is due to the saline properties of their waters, and to tidal action on the land. The islets of the Sundarbans are in great part clothed with a dense evergreen forest of trees and shrubs, amongst which the various Mangroves hold the first place, with an undergrowth of climbers and herbaceous plants, together with Typhaceat, Gramineae, and Cyperaceae. Two gregarious Palms form conspicuous features, the stemless Nipa fruiicans in the swamps and river banks, with leaves thirty feet long, and the elegant Phoenix paludosa in drier localities ; as also do the cultivated Coco-nut and Betel-nut Palms.

The principal exceptions to these forest-clad tracts are the sand hills occurring at intervals along the coasts facing the sea, the vegetation of which differs from that of the inland muddy islets and grassy savannahs which become more frequent in advancing eastward towards the mouth of the Meghna.

1 The four chief estuarial Floras of India occupy the deltas of the Ganges, Irrawaddy, Mahanadi, and Indus ; but minor ones, notably those of the Kistna and Cauvery, occur at intervals commonly along the eastern shores, more rarely on rhe western.

Three hundred indigenous species of Flowering plants, under seventy-two Orders, and seventeen Ferns and their allies are comprised in the Sundarbans Flora. l Of these the dominant Orders are :

1. Leguminosae . 8. Vcrbenaceae.

2. Gramineae. 9. Convolvulaccae.

3. Cyperaceae. (Malvaceae.

4. Euphorbiaceae. \Rubiaceae.

5. Orchideae. \Acanthaceae.

6. Compositae. \Urticaccae.

7. Asclepiadeae .

A very large proportion of genera consist of a solitary species. Of the trees and shrubs one alone, Ficus, contains four. There are about fifty species of trees which may be classed according to whether they are purely estuarial. or common to other parts of India. Among the former are Hibiscus tortuosus, Thespesia populnca, Brmvnlowia lanceolata, Amoora cucullata, Carapa molucctnsis and obovata, Bouea burnianica, Erythrina indica, Afzelia bijuga, Rhizophora conjugata and mucronata, Ceriops Roxburghiana, Kandelia Rheedei, Bruguiera gymnorhiza and paruiflora, Lumnitzcra racemosa, Barringtonia racemosa^ Son- ncratia apetala and adda, Aegialitis rotundifolia, Aegiceras majuSy Ctrbera Odollam, Avicennia ojjicinalis and alba, Excae- caria Agallocha^ Sapium indicum^ Casuarina equisetifolia (doubtfully indigenous), Nipa fruticans, and P/wenix paludosa ; to which may be added, as estuarial woody climbers, Hibiscus tiliaccuS) Dalbergia spinosa and torta, Mucuna gigantea, Derris sinuata and uliginosa^ Finlaysonia obovata, and Sarcolobus globosus\ and among under-shrubs Acanthus ilirifolius and volubilis.

Of trees common to inland Bengal there are about as many as there are purely estuarial ; they include Kkinhovia Hospita, Micromelum pubtscens, Aegle Marmelos, Zizyphus Jujuba, Odina Wodier^ Cassia Fistula, Pongamia glabra, Acacia tomentosa and arabica, Barringtonia acutangula, Ixora parvi- flora, Morinda bractcata, Diospyros montana and Embryo- ptcris, Cordia Myxa, Dolichandrone Rheedii, Vitcx trifolia and Negunda, Cyclostemon assamicus, Croton oblongifolius, Anti- desma Ghaesembilla, Trewia nudiflora, Strcblus asper^ Trema orientalis, and four species of Ficus.

1 Thcte numbers are taken from Major Prain's exhaustive article entitled

• Flora of the Sundribuns,' published in the Records of the Botanical Survey

of India, vol. ii, p. 231 (June, 1903), upon which I have drawn largely iu the following Sketch.

Of herbaceous plants that are purely estuarial there are few, the most remarkable of them being two tall grasses : one, Oryza (oarctata^ which grows profusely on the banks of the islets, but (except in the delta of the Indus} has been found no- where else; the other, Myriostachya Wightiana, is also a native of estuaries on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal and of Ceylon.

Of aquatic plants with floating leaves Nymphaeactae are entirely absent, as are Lcmnaccae ; but Limnanthemum cristatum is found, and in the salt-pans on the northern limits of this Sub- region Aldrovanda vesiculosa, mentioned above (pp. 161, 182). There are also a few species of Utricularia, Ipomoea aquatica, and the common Naiadaceae and Ilydroeharidcae of India. Pistia abounds in tanks and the fresher-water districts. The Sundarbans Orchids comprise eight genera and thirteen species, all epiphytic. A species of Cirrhopttalum alone is endemic. Of parasites there are four species of Loranthaceae^ a Cuseuta, and Cassytha. Bambuseae are entirely absent. The indi- genous Palms are the above-mentioned Nipa and Phoenix, and two Rattans (a Calamus and a Daemonorops), both the latter common to Bengal.

Major Prain, in his ' Flora of the Sundribuns ' (see footnote, p. 183), enumerates thirty-five littoral flowering plants, under twenty-one Orders, which, though widely distributed on other shores of India, have not been detected in this Region ; among the most common of these are Calophyllum inophyllum, Heritiera littoralis, Suriana maritima, Sophora tomentosa, Lumnitzera coccinea, Pemphis acidula^ Scacvola Koenigii, Pisonia (three species), Euphorbia Atoto^ Lepturus rcpens^ and Spinifex squarrosus.

A most remarkable character of the estuarian vegetation is the habit of several of the endemic species to send up from their subterranean roots a multitude of aerial root-suckers, in some cases several feet long, which act as respiratory organs. These suckers occur in species of Avicennia, Carapa^ Hcrititra, A moor a, Sonneratia^ and in Phoenix paludosa.

The West- The Flora of the large portion of India, roughly bounded

cm Penin- on lhe north by the Vindhya, Kaimur, and Rajmahal Hills, and

• ula (the \ ' ' . * . J ' .

Deccan extending south to Cape Comorm, comprises two very distinct

and Mala- botanical Regions, a comparatively narrow western and a

bar Region* broad eastern ; but materials do not exist for drawing the

phytographical boundary line between them with any approach to accuracy. This is due to the fact that the western Region (Malabar), which is mountainous throughout (and technically called the Western Ghats), sends, for a great part of its length, spurs across the more depressed eastern Region, carrying with them characteristic western plants.

Furthermore, no complete local Flora has been published for any considerable area of the Peninsula, and over many parts no collections have been made ; not even a list of the plants around the city of Madras has been published, and only a very imperfect one of the Bombay Presidency l . Before, therefore, proceeding to describe the two Regions of Malabar and the Deccan, I shall, regarding them as one, contrast it with that of the Botanical Regions on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal (Burma).

Upwards of 4,000 species of Flowering plants have been recorded from the whole Western Peninsula as above delimited, under about 150 Natural Orders, of which the ten dominant are here given in approximately numerical sequence, the figures in brackets indicating their corresponding position in the Burmese decad :

1. Gramineae (3). 6. Eitphorbiaceae (5).

2. Legumiftosae (2). 7. Rubiaceae (4).

3. Acanthaceac (6). 8. Compositae (9).

4. Orchidcae (i). 9. Labiatae.

5. Cyperaccac (7). 10.

The proportion of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons is about i to 2-7, and of genera to species i to 3-3.

Indicating the Western Peninsula and Burma with the Malay Peninsula respectively by the letters W. and E., the vast difference between the Floras of the two great areas south of the Himalayas is made manifest by the following comparison of the approximate number 8 of species contained in twenty-seven Natural Orders common to both.

1 Dalzell and Gibson's Bombay Flora (1861). A complete Flora of the Bombay Presidency is now being prepared by Dr. T. Cooke, C.I.E., F.L.S., of which one volume (Kanutuulaccac to Rubiactat] and a part of a second have been published.

• The inclusion of Asclefiadeac in this decad, and the absence from it of

Scrophularineac, are notable. Referring to the Flora of British fti<fia, 1 find about eighty species of the one and sixty-five of the other recorded as indigenous in the Western Peninsula. On the other hand, in a list of 1,377 Flowering plants collected in Chota Nagpur, I find thirty-eight Scrophularineac and only fifteen Asclepiadcae (J. J. Wood in Records of Botanical Survey of India, vol. ii, p. i).

3 The numbers given are approximations only. The inclusion of Ceylon in the Western Region would only slightly modify them.

Orders in excess in the East :

Dilleniaceae E 5<| Magnoliaceae '-- > Anonaceae JnJfo f Guttiferae E> 3 ' Ternstrotmiaceae^'^i Diptcrocarpcat^ 1 **

Burstraceae p y Olacineae Fa baptnaaceae g-

Anacardiaceae E -'^> Connaraceae Mtlastomactae F ^ Gesnerace Urticaceae Palmeae

Me las to mac? ae p -- ^ Gesneraceae K~ 7 V Myristicaceae

Bambuseac Coniferae E --

Orders in excess in the West : Capparideae ' Umbellifcrac Commelinaceae

Acanthaceae Labiatae Gramineae

Furthermore, the estuarial Palms .Av/rt and Phoenix paludosa are unknown on the west side south of Orissa, as are Cupuliferae, of which upwards of forty species are found in the Eastern Region.

Malabar Malabar is almost throughout a hilly or mountainous country, eglon " and is (except in the north) of excessive humidity, the mountains often rising abruptly from the flat coast of the Arabian Sea. The average breadth of the Region may be about 50 miles. Its abrupt western face is clothed with a luxuriant forest vegetation of Malayan type, except towards the north, where, with the drier climate, the elements of the Deccan and Indus Plain Floras compete with that of Malabar.

The eastern face slopes gradually into the elevated plateau of the Deccan, but it is varied by many spurs being thrown off which extend far to the eastward, often, as above stated, enclosing valleys with a Malabar Flora. One great break occurs in the chain in lat. 1 1 N., where a transverse valley separates Travancore from the mountains north of it, and carries species characteristic of the Malabar Flora almost across the Peninsula. Travancore, thus isolated, presents a remark- able similarity to Ceylon in position, outline, and in many fea- tures of its vegetation. The most distinctive characters of the Malabar Flora, in contrast with that of the Deccan, are : firstly, the presence of Guttiferae (thirteen), Dipterocarpeae (twelve), Myristiceae^Helicia, many Palms (twenty-one), and Bambuseae\ secondly, the great excess of species of Malayan type, especially Sterculiaceae, Tiliaceae, Anacardiaceae, Meliaceae, Myrtaceae,

Melastomaccac, Ampelideae, Gesneraceae, Piperaceae^ Sritamineae, Orchideae, and Aroideae. One Coniferous plant alone has been found in the whole Deccan Peninsula, Podocarpus latifolia> con- fined to the Tinnevelty Ghats at 3,000 to 5,000 feet elevation. Burma and the Malayan Peninsula are the only other Regions in which it occurs. Of the Palms, one genus is all but endemic, Bentinckia Coddapanna, a native of Travancore, the only congener of which is confined to the Nicobar Islands.

The only species of Pinanga (P. Dicksonii) is endemic, as are nine species of Calamus. Other Palms are solitary species of Arenga, Caryota, Corypha^ with the cultivated Areca Catechu, Borassus, and Coco-nut, which latter may be indigenous on the coast, as it is said to be in the Laccadive Islands.

Phoenix sylvestris, doubtfully indigenous, is common in the north but rare in the south ; and there are several indigenous species of the genus in the hills which have not been botanically distinguished, one especially that grows gregariously in the Ghats 40 miles west of Poona, with a trunk 30 feet high and 15 inches in diameter. Among shrubs, the genus Strobilanthes with forty-six species holds the first place, distinguished for the beauty of their flowers and for the singular habit (alluded to at p, 1 60) of many of its species flowering simultaneously for the first and only time, at a fixed period of growth, and dying after fruiting. Of Bambuseae there are seventeen species, arboreous and shrubby, five of them also natives of Ceylon.

Among herbaceous plants the genus Impatiens with about sixty endemic species is the most conspicuous, almost carpeting the ground in many places, in others occurring epiphytically, which is not known to be the case with this huge genus in any other part of India. Of Orchids there are only about 200, a singular contrast to the hosts of this Order inhabiting Burma and the Malayan Peninsula. Most of the genera are epiphytic, and of these the largest is Dcndrobium, with sixteen species. Habenaria, with about forty-six species, is the largest by far of terrestrial genera, Umbclliferae occur throughout the range of the Western Ghats, increasing in numbers northwards; eleven genera with thirty species have been recorded. Several genera of the curious aquatic Order Podostemonaccae, mentioned at p. 1 6 1, abound in the fresh-water torrents and in stiller waters of the Ghats.

The Nilgiri Hills form a noeud of the Western Ghats, where The these attain their greatest elevation, viz. 8,760 feet. They rise precipitously from the west to extensive grassy downs and table-lands seamed with densely wooded gorges (Sholas). These grassy downs possess in parts a rich shrubby and herbaceous Flora. Among the shrubs, some of the most characteristic are Strobilanthes Kunthianus, Berberis aristata, Hyptricum mysorense y many Ltguminosae^ as the common Gorse (introduced), Sophora glauca and Crotalaria formosa, Rhodo- dendron arboreum, species of Rubus, Osbeckia, Myrtaccae, Jledyotis, Helichrysum, Gaultheria. Among the herbaceous plants are species of Senecio, Anaphalis, Ceropcgia, Pedicularis, and Cyanotis. Most conspicuous of all is the tall Lobelia excelsa.

But the richest assemblage is found in the Sholas, which, commencing at about 5,000 feet, ascend to the summits of the range. They are filled with an evergreen forest of tall, usually round-headed trees, with a rich undergrowth. Of the trees, some of the most conspicuous are Michelia nilagirica, Tern- stroemia japonica^ Gordonia obtusa, species of Ilex, Mcliosma, Microtropis, Euonymus, Photinia, Viburnum hebanthum, Eugenia (three species), and several of Symplocos, Glochidion^ Araliaceae, and Laurineae. Of shrubs, Strobilanthes tt r ikes the first place, then Rubiaceae, with species of Eurya^ Ligustrum, and Vernonia. Of climbers, there are Rosa Leschenaiiltiana, Jasminum brcvilobum, Gardneria ovata^ Gyninema hirsutum, and Elaeagnus latifolia.

The genus Impatiens takes the lead among conspicuous herbaceous plants, and the beautiful Lilium neilghfrrense is a notable feature. At lower elevations in the Sholas, Hydnocarpus alpina is a very common tree, and in dry localities Rhodo- dendron arboreum and Vaccinium Ltschtnaultii. Two species of Bamboo are found in the Sholas, namely, Arundinaria Wightiana in the higher parts, and Oxytcnanthtra Thwaitesii (also a native of Ceylon) in the lower, where also three Tree- ferns appear, with many Orchids and several species of Calamus, all evidences of a higher temperature.

Sholas similar to those of the Nilgiris occur on the Anaimalai, Palni, and other ranges of the Malabar Ghats ; but these, being of a lower elevation, and in a lower latitude, harbour a more tropical vegetation.

The most interesting feature of the Nilgiri Flora is its affinity with that of the cool regions of the far-distant Khasi,Manipur, and Naga Hills in Northern Burma. Among trees and shrubs common to these two localities (and most of them to the temperate Eastern Himalayas also), are Ternstroemia japo Hypericum Hookerianum and napaulcnst, Eurya Rhamnus dahuricus, Photinia Notoniana, Rubus ellipticus and lasiocarpus, Carallia intcgcrrima^ Rhododendron arboreum^

Gaulthcria fragrantissima, and Gardneria ova fa, together with species of Kadsura, Berberis, Pittosporum, Elaeocarpus, Eu- onymus, Meliosma, Pygeum, Rosa, Viburnum^ Lonicera, Vacci- nium. The herbaceous plants common to the Nilgiri and Khasi Hills are too numerous to mention. Most of them are of European genera, and some are European species, as Stellaria uliginosa, Circaea alpina, Sanicula europaea, and Prunella vulgaris. Other herbaceous European genera are Thalictrum, Ranunculus, Cardamine, Geranium, Alchemilla, Fragaria, Potentilla, Parnassia, Lysimachia, Swertia, Halenia, Gentiana, Calamintha, Scutellaria, Ajuga, &c., with many of Cyperaceat and grasses.

Peat bogs 1 , which are of the rarest occurrence in India, are found in depressions of the Nilgiri and Anaimalai Hills at about 7,000 feet elevation. Their chief constituents are the debris of grasses, sedges, mosses, and rushes. The curious Ifedyotis verticillata, found elsewhere only in Ceylon, is characteristic of these bogs, whose surface is covered with a herbaceous vegetation of species of Utricularia, Scrophularineae, Eriocaulon, Xyris, Exacum, Commelinaceae, Lysimachia, &c.

The Nilgiri Hills have been largely and successfully planted with exotic trees of temperate climates, among which the Australian gum-trees and acacias are the most conspicuous.

The Laccadive Archipelago 2 , situated in the Arabian Sea The 140 miles from the coast of Malabar, consists of coral islets ^ cc ^ r . fringed with Coco-nut Palms. Its vegetation is Malayan, with chipelago. no endemic species. The trees have mostly been introduced by man, as Areca Catechu, Artocarpus intcgrifolia, Morinda citrifolia, Terminalia Catappa, Eugenia Jambos ; others, all littoral, are probably the result of ocean-borne seeds, as Pandanus fasdcularis, Hernandia peltata,Pisoniaalba, Ochrosia borbonica, Guettarda speciosa, Thcspesia populnea. The her- baceous plants are chiefly the weeds of the Western Peninsula. The littoral grass Spinifex^ mentioned at p. 193, was probably bird- or wind-borne.

Regarding the whole Peninsula south of the Ganges Valley The and east of the Malabar Ghats as one botanical Region,

1 I am indebted to Mr. Gamble, C.I.E , F.R.S., for an account of the Nilgiri peat bogs, which are the only ones in India of which the produce is utilized for fuel. I am also largely indebted to the same excellent botanist in respect of the Shola Flora.

• The Flora of the Laccadives has been exhaustively explored and

described by Major Prain in the Journal of tlu Bombay Natural History Society, vol. viii (1892), wheie 190 species of Flowering plants are recorded. it is primarily divisible into two Sub-regions: one, the elevated, usually hilly, sometimes mountainous, plateau terminating east- ward more or less abruptly at no great distance from the sea in what are called the Eastern Ghats, horn which the descent is more or less sudden to the low coast land of Coromandel, which forms the other Sub-region. The great plateau may prove to be further transversely divisible into Sub-regions, but so little is accurately known of the distribution of plants over the Deccan that neither the limits nor the botanical characters of such can be satisfactorily described. Such may be

i. The region bounded on the south by the Ajanta hills and Godavari river, exclusive of the plains of North-east Orissa which belong to the Bengal Sub-region. It thus includes the upper valleys of the Narbada, Tapti, Mahanadi, and Godavari rivers, belonging for the greater part to the political Provinces of Bombay, Central India, the Central Provinces, Berfir, Chota Nagpur, and Orissa. It is hilly and even mountainous almost throughout, rising in scattered isolated peaks or table-lands to above 4,000 feet, of which the two loftiest are Parasnath in Hazaribagh (4,490 feet), and Mahendragiri (4,923 feet) in Ganjam near the sea.

This hilly and mountainous country is for by far the greater part botanically unexplored. It is in the main covered with deciduous-leaved forests, the type of which may be inferred from the following list of forest trees of Singhbhum in Chota Nagpur, drawn up for this Sketch by Mr. H. H. Haines, F.L.S., of the Forest Department.

Singhbhum

is in the zone of deciduous-leaved forest, and lies in the * Central Indian Sal tract/ With a high temperature in the shade and mountains rising to 3,000 feet with scorched southern slopes and deep damp valleys, its Flora contains representatives of dry hot countries with plants characteristic of the moist tracts of Assam, of some of which latter a list follows this. On rocks often too hot to be touched with the hand are found Euphorbia Nivulia, Sarcostemma^ Sterculia urens, Boswcllia serrata, and Cochlosptrmum. The ordinary mixed forest of dry slopes is composed of Anogcissus lalifolia, Ougtinia^ Odina, Cleistanthus collinus, Zizyphus xylopyra^ Buchanania latifolia, and species of Terminalia and Bauhinia. The Sal varies from a scrubby tree of 30 feet to one of 120 feet high, and is often associated with Adina^ Bassia latifolia, Diospyros> Symplocos racemosa y Pterocarpus Marsu- pium y Eugenia Jambolana, and especially Wendlandia tinctoria. Its common associates elsewhere, Careya arborea and Dillenia pcntagyncty are here confined to the valleys ; but Dillenia aurea, a tree of the Eastern Peninsula and tropical Himalayas, is, curiously, common in places.

The Flora of the valleys includes Garcinia Cowa, Amoori Rohituka, Hardwickia binata, Saraca indict Ficus RoxburghH^ Gnttum scandens, Musa sapientum and ornata, and others less interesting. The best-represented woody Orders are the Le^uminosae y Rubiaceae (including six species of Gardenia and Randid), Euphorbiaceae, and the Urticaceae (mostly Figs). Of other Orders the grasses number between one and two hundred species, including the Sabai grass (Ischatmum angustifoliuni) and Spear-grass (Andropogon eontortus\ which are most abundant; the Cyperaceae about fifty, Compositae fifty, and the Acanthaccae about eleven under-shrubs and twenty-five herbs.

The Flora, though mainly that of other parts of the Deccan, presents a few types of the Eastern and Western Himalayas, both tropical and temperate, as epiphytic Orchids, species of Thalictrum and Bcrberis : and what is more singular, in Chota Nagpur a few plants elsewhere confined to the humid districts of Assam and Burma 1 , as Michelia Champaca, Dillenia aurca, Dysoxylum procerum^ Pygeum acuminatum^ Lasianthus laurifolius, Dysophylla Andersoni, Lysimachia pedunadaris^ Ardisia depressa, Bcilschmiedia fagi/alia^ Lit sea nitida, Cycloste- mon assamicuS) and Tree-ferns.

2. The Deccan, in a restricted sense the country between the Godavari and Kistna rivers, a much less mountainous region, including Hyderabad.

3. Mysore, roughly limited by the Kistna river on the north, and the lower course of the Cauvery on the south. It is more hilly than the Deccan proper, and even mountainous in the Salem District, where the botanically unexplored Shevaroy and Kalrilyan hills attain 5,000 feet elevation.

4. The small Districts of Madura and Tinnevelly, which form a prolongation of the Coromandel coast terminating at Cape Comorin.

Over the Deccan Region deciduous forests are the most The conspicuous feature on the plateau, and comparatively ever- green ones on the coasts and slopes with an eastern aspect. The Teak occurs at intervals nearly over the whole area, but the Sal, which is common in the north, does not advance beyond the Godavari on the south, or west of long. 78 E. Much of the open country presents a jungle of small trees

1 For a list of which recent discoveries I am indebted to Major Prain, F.L.S., of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta. and shrubs, together with a herbaceous vegetation which is leafless or burnt up in the dry season. In the large river valleys and those of the higher hills, types of the Malabar Flora penetrate far to the east. Ofj forest trees there are several hundred species, among which Stercutiaceae^ Meliaceae, Anacardiaceae, Leguminosac, Combrctaceae^ Rubiaceae^ Bigno- niaceaC) Euphorbiaceae, and Urticactae are well represented.

The Satin-wood (Chloro.\y!on Swietenia) and Indian Red- wood (Pterocarfus santa/inus) yield the most ornamental Indian timbers; the Tun (Cedrefa Toond] one of the most useful. The odoriferous Sandal-wood (Santalum album) is widely distributed over the southern part of the area, as are the small trees Cochlospermum Gossypium, Butca frondosa, and some species of Bauhinia^ all conspicuous in the dry season for their beautiful flowers. Of shrubs, species of Capparis, Grtwia, Flacourtia, '/Azyphus^ Buchanania, Holarrhena y La- gerstroemia, Woodfordia, Azima, Diospyros^ F/ucggia, and Phy/lanthus are very prevalent, often overgrown with climbing Menispermaceae, Malpigkiaceae, Toddalia, Cuscuta, Cassytha^ Smilax, Dioscorea, Asclepiadeae^ Apocyneae, Ampelidcae, and Convolvulaceat. In rocky places the columnar Euphorbia neriifolia and tortilis are conspicuous features.

The herba- ceous vegetation of the Deccan includes most of the common annuals and perennials of Bengal, among which Acanthaceae are notable. Commelinaceae and species of the Labiate genus Leucas are more abundant than in any other Indian Region. Except in the northern districts, Orchideae and Scitamineat are very rare. Of Palms there are Calamus viminalis^ Phoenix sylvtstris, P. robusta^ and Borassus flabellifer^ the three latter growing gregariously ; and there are besides P. acaulis and P. humi/is, both in the northern tract, and an undetermined species grows gregariously in the Shevaroy Hills near Salem. The chief Bamboos are Bambusa arundinacea and Dendro- calamus strictus. Ferns and their allies are very rare, except in the north, where forty-seven species are recorded from Chota Nagpur.

The rich black cotton soil that prevails over large areas in the Deccan deserves a special notice, as being characteri/ed by a peculiar assemblage of the indigenous plants of the Region. I am indebted to Mr. Gamble for the following list of its common trees : Capparis divaricata^ Acacia arabica, Prosopis spicigera, Parkinsonia acuUata^ and Balanites Roxburghii; of shrubs, Cadaba indica, Zizyphus nummularia^ Cassia auri- culata } Calotropis procera> and Jatropha glandulifera ; and of herbs, Hibiscus Trionum, Momordica cymbalaria, and Cressa cretica.

The narrow strip of low-lying land between the Eastern Coroman-

Ghats of the Deccan *md the sea is dry. hot, and, in many del . Subtracts, sandy. Except at the mouths of the many rivers, where Mangroves and other common estuarial trees and shrubs prevail, there is little to break the uniformity of the vegeta- tion, which is of the Deccan type, with a greatly reduced number of species. Thickets of thorny evergreens and deciduous trees and shrubs abound, belonging to the genera Flacourtia, Randia^ Scutia^ Diospyros, Mimusops, Garrinia, SapinduS) Pterospermum, &c. It is well known for being a favoured district for the production of Nux vomica, Satin- wood, and Ebony (Diospyros Ebenum *). Two very peculiar gregarious plants, a Palm and a grass, form impenetrable spinous thickets in sandy soils near the sea ; these are Phoenix farinifera and Spinifcx squarrosus^ of which latter great globu- lar masses become uprooted and are carried by the wind along the shore.

In the extreme south the Districts of Madura and Tinnevelly, being sheltered from the monsoon by the Palni Hills on the north and Ceylon on the east, are exceptionally hot and arid. The umbrella-shaped Acacia planifrons is confined to these Districts and to North Ceylon, regions which resemble Egypt in the prevalence of Cocciilus Lcaeba and Capparis aphylla, and in the production of the finest Cotton and the best Indian Sennas (Cassia obovata and angustifolid).

Ceylon, though so near in position to the Western Peninsula, The and presenting so close an affinity to its Flora, as also to those Ceylon of both Malabar and the Deccan, nevertheless contains so large a proportion of endemic genera and species that it constitutes a separate Region of the Indian Flora. Its botanical features coincide with its physical, the moist mountainous southern and south-western districts having a Flora of the Malabar type, and the hot dry northern districts one of the Coromandel type. It differs from the Malabar Flora in having many more Malayan types.

The number of indigenous Flowering plants in Ceylon is about 2,800 species, under 149 Natural Orders, and that of Ferns and their allies 257 species. Of these 2,800 species no fewer than one-third (940) are non-peninsular, of which again 160 are natives of other parts of India, the majority of them being

 Ebenum is also a native of Ceylon. 

Burmese or Malayan, leaving 780 endemic Ceylon species. The following are the ten dominant Orders of Ceylon Flowering plants, with their corresponding position in the Peninsular decad added in brackets: *

1. Gramineae (i). 6. Euphorbiaceae (6).

2. Leguminosae (2). 7. Acanthaccac (3).

3. Orchideae (4"). 8. Compositae (8).

4. Cyptraceae (5). 9. Urticcueae.

5. Rubiactae (7). 10. Mehutomaccae.

The proportion of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons is nearly i to 3-6, and of genera to species about i to 2-6. Comparing the above decad with the Western Peninsular (p. 185), it is seen that Orchideae and Rubiactac are more numerous in Ceylon, Acan- thaceae much fewer ; and that Urticaceae and Mclastomaceae replace Labiatat and Asclepiadeae. These changes all point to the stronger Malayan affinity of the Ceylon Flora, which is further demonstrated by the following figures, where the letter C. indicates Ceylon, and P. the Western Peninsula :

Malayan affinity strongest in Ceylon

Dilleniaceae -j,-^ Guttiftrac. Tcrnstroemiaceae Dipterocarpeat^^ Safindaceae j/^ Myrtaceae -|; 4<> > Ahlastomactae p ^>

Western Peninsular affinity strongest in Ceylon Capparideae -?~^ Tiliaceae '*-. Meliaceae y-^ Ampelidcae p ' 2 ^, Umbclliferat p * Oltactae -^'i

Asclepiadcae ^'~' () t Boragineac - p -- Acanihactat > 20 f Labiatat ~* **> Liliaceac * '* I8 > Commelinaceae ^- 3 -

Four Ceylon Orders are absent in the Western Peninsula, Cactaceae^ Stylidieae, Nepenthaceae, and Monimiaceae ; and four Peninsular Orders are absent in Ceylon, Morin^eae^ Sa- Urineae^ Gnetaceae, and Coniferac. Of the above, Cactactat is the most noteworthy, being represented by the only species of that vast New World Order which is known to be indigenous in the Old World, namely, fihipsalis Cassytha, also a native of tropical America, Africa, the Mauritius, and Madagascar. The absence in Ceylon of Coniferae and especially of Salicineae is remarkable, SaKx tetrasfcrma being a widely spread Indian shrub or small tree.

Ceylon possesses no fewer than twenty-three endemic genera, of which ten, comprising forty-six species (all but two endemic), belong to the typical Malayan Order of Dipterocarpeae, which is represented by only twelve species in the Peninsula. The principal Orders containing very many endemic species are Orchideae seventy-four, Rubiaceae seventy-two, Euphorbiaceae fifty-three, Melastomaceae thirty-eight, and Myrtaceae twenty- six ; and of genera Strobilanthes, Eugenia, Memecylon, Phyl- lanthus, and Hedyotis.

The genus Impatiens abounds ; up- wards of twenty-one species are recorded, nearly all of them endemic. Of other conspicuous Orders, Orchideae contains 1 60 species, more than half of them endemic. Of Palms, eight indigenous genera, one alone endemic, and eighteen indige- nous species, eleven of them endemic, exclusive of the intro- duced Betel-nut, Borassus, and Coco-nut. The Talipot (Cory- pha umbraculifera) is one of the most imposing of the Order. The Nipa occurs rarely, Ceylon being its western limit, Aus- tralia its eastern. Cycas dranalis is common in the forests. Of Bambuseae there are five genera and ten species (of which four are endemic).

At elevations above 6,000 feet a few temperate northern genera appear, fewer than might have been expected in moun- tains that attain heights of upwards of 7,000 and 8,000 feet. Of these genera, Agrimonia, Craivfurdta, and Poterittm are not Peninsular. The following are Peninsular : Anemone, Thalictrum, Berberis, Cardamine, Viola, Cerastium, Geranium, Rubus, Potentilla, Alchcmilla, Sanicula, Pimpinella, Peuceda- num, Galium, Valeriana, Dipsacus, Artemisia, Vacdnium, Gual- theria, Rhododendron, Gentiana, Swcrtia, Calamintha, Tettcrium, Allium. Of Peninsular temperate genera that are absent in Ceylon, Fragaria and Rosa are two the occurrence of which might have been expected, both being Nilgiri genera.

Remarkable features in the vegetation of Ceylon arc the Patanas, grass- or shrub-covered stretches of country, most prevalent in the south-east of the island, from the sea to 5,000 feet altitude. They are partly natural, and paitly due to the destruction of the forests and their replacement by subse- quently abandoned field-crops. A peculiar, endemic, pale green Bamboo, Ochlandra stridula, so called from the crack- ling noise caused by treading on its broken stems, covers hundreds of square miles of these Patanas. In grassy places Impcrata antndinacea prevails ; and in scrub-forests such tropi- cal trees occur as Pterocarpus Marsupium^ Careya arborea^ Ffiytlanthus Emblica^ Terminalia Bellerica and 71 Chebula.

At higher levels Rhododendron arboreum appears. In moist districts a Fern (GUichenia lincaris) occupies the ground 1 . The The Maldive Archipelago, a very large group of coral islets

Archipelago. Wlt '* ^ ew ot ' ier flowering plants than Ooco-nut Palms, littoral shrubs, and weeds of cultivation, lies about 400 miles SW. of Ceylon, to which the group is politically subordinate. An ex- haustive study of their Flora has been published by Messrs. Lewis and Gardiner in the Annals of the Peradenya Botanical Garden, who record 284 species of Flowering plants and Ferns. Of these none are endemic, about 160 are indigenous, ninety- eight cultivated, and twenty-six probably introduced by man. Ardisia humilis and Cladium Mariscus are notable natives of the southern atolls.

The Burma is botanically by far the richest Region of British

India, and at the same time, as such, the least known. This is due to its great area ; to its variety of climates, from a littoral and southern of great humidity to a drier interior, almost arid in places ; to its complicated systems of mountain ranges ; and to its many geological features and surface soils. The greater portion of Burma having been comparatively recently brought under British rule, very large areas of it arc as yet in great part botanically unvisited. This is especially the case with the meridional ranges of Chittagong and Arakan, which extend for 500 miles along the Bay of Bengal, attaining an elevation in parts of 6,000 to 8,000 feet ; and with the many continuous or broken, often multiple, ranges bounding Burma on the east from Assam to the Keda State of the Malay Peninsula, which ex- tend for 1,500 miles, and reach even greater elevations. There are also subsidiary longitudinal ranges between the great rivers that have never been botanized, and arid interior areas with little or no rainfall.

The Burmese Region, when better known, will probably prove to be botanically divisible into four Sub-regions, before discuss- ing which some general observations on the cardinal features of its whole Flora are necessary. Its recorded species of Flowering plants amount to about 6,000 \ under 161 Natural

1 For an excellent detailed account of the Patanas vegetation, see H. H. W. Pearson, F.L.S., in Journal Linnean Society ', Bot., vols. xxxvi (1899), p. 300, and xxxvi (1903), p. 430.

2 In the revised and enlarged edition of Mason's Burma by W. Theobald (1883), 3,545 species of Flowering plants and 215 of Ferns and their allies are recorded, and the proportion of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons is i to 3-4. The first of these classes has evidently been neglected by collectors, as is shown by Gramineae ranking only 8 and Cyftraceae 10 in the decaf 1 of laigest Orders. Mason's Burma is of coarse th* old political Province of

Orders, of which the following ten are the dominant, the num- bers following in brackets showing their corresponding positions in the tropical zone of the Eastern Himalayan Region on the north (p. 1 68): *

1. Orchidtae(\\ 6. Acanthaceae (10).

2. Leguminosae (2). 7. Cyperaceae (6).

3. Gramineae (3). 8. Urticaceae (4).

4. Rubiaceae(j}. 9. Compost fae (8).

5. Euphorbiaceae (5). 10. Scitamineae.

The proportion of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons is about i to 2-3; of genera to species, i to 3-25. One Order alone (Scitamineat) is not in the Sikkim decad. Acanthaceae are relatively much more numerous in Burma, Urticaceae in Sikkim; but these proportions are founded on very insufficient data. Over and above the Orders included in the decad, the following are very largely represented in Burma: Magnoliaceae (21 sp.), Dipterocarpeae (26 sp.), Begoniaceac (43 sp.), Melasto- maceae (57 sp.), Gesneraceac (60 sp.), Asclepiadeae (100 sp.), Cupuliferae (44 sp.), Laurineat (100 sp.), Myristiceae (ir sp.), Coniferae (8 sp.), Cycadeac (3 sp.), Palmeae (68 sp.), Pandancac (12 sp.), Bambuseat (68 sp.). Balsams and Ferns abound, but data are wanting for even a rude estimate of their numbers; about fifty Balsams have been collected. The Coniferous genera are Ccphalotaxus, Taxus, Dacrydium, Libocedrus, Podo- carpus (2 sp.), and Pinus (2 sp.). Of Orchideae, 700 species are recorded.

Burma being in the main a forest-clad country, it may be well as an initial step, in sketching what is known of its Flora, to regard it as a whole from this point of view. Fortunately, Kurz in his Forest Flora of British Burma 1 has classified the forests as known to him with remarkable lucidity. I shall therefore, before proceeding to indicate the botanical sub- divisions of the Region, summarize his chief results, premising that the northern districts, which are politically in Assam, and which I regard as a Sub-region of Burma, are not included in his work.

The forests are classified by Kurz according as they are ever- green or deciduous, in relation to their elevation above and proximity to or distance from the sea, their climatic and geolo-

that name (or Lower Burma), which does not include the northern districts here comprised in botanical Uurma.

1 In this work Kurz has given under each class of forests a multitude of examples of their constituent plants. Biological conditions, and the nature of the soil 1 in which they grow; to which are added observations on their associated plants, shrubby and herbaceous.

1. Evergreen littoral forests. These lire estuarial, and of the same character and with the same conditions as the Sundarbans of Bengal. They appear at intervals along the coast, and also on the Andaman Islands.

2. Evergreen swamp forests occupy the low land and de- pressions in alluvial plains, and borders of lakes and rivers. They shelter a multitude of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, the most characteristic trees being Mangifera longipes and Xanthophyllum glaucum.

3. Evergreen tropical forests are the most strongly Malayan ; they affect the humid coast districts, and are the special home of Dipterocarps, Palms, and Bamboos, They prevail along the coast range from Chittagong to Tenasserim.

4. Evergreen hill forests succeed the tropical above 3,000 feet elevation. Oaks and their allies are characteristic, and, if the climate is sufficiently damp, epiphytic Orchids appear. Above 6,000 feet this forest becomes stunted, and in it Rhododendrons (including R. arboreuni), Eurya, Rosa, Honey- suckle, dwarf Bamboos, and other temperate shrubs appear, with Anemone, Viola y Gentiana, the common Bracken, Mosses, and Lichens. The crests of the ridges are often crowned with forests of Finns Khasya towards the north, and of P. Merkusii towards the south.

5. Open deciduous forests affect diluvial or older alluvial soils. The Eng (Dipterocarpus tuberculatus\ whence the name of Eng forest, is the characteristic tree, and there are other species of the same Order, together with a few Oaks, Palms, and Bamboos.

6. Dry deciduous forests recall the vegetation of the Deccan. Acacia Catechu is characteristic, and gives its name (Cutch) to a special class of forests in which it is the most valuable tree. The soil is usually calcareous.

7. Mixed deciduous forests are of two classes, an upper and a lower. The upper are restricted to sandstone or metamorphic soils ; Teak is the characteristic tree, Palms and Dipterocarps are few, Deccan types are numerous. The lower deciduous forests occupy alluvial soils, and have, consequently, a different undergrowth.

8. Dune forests are deciduous and mixed ; they are littoral,

1 The soils are laterite, or arc derived from sandstone or calcareous rocks, or are sal me, or swampy.

Occupying calcareous sands and gravels. Species of Erythrina, Bombax, Afzelia, and some estuarial plants occur in them, with Cycas Rumphii and Pandanus fascicularis. Ipomoea biloba and creeping grasses cover |he sands.

9. Bamboo jungles are formed of many species of Bambtiseae, often presenting impenetrable thickets and strangling other plants. Seldom are more than two species associated together.

10. Savannahs are limited tracts of what would be swamp forests had they more trees in them. They are covered with tall coarse grasses, as Saccharum spontaneum, Phragmites Karka, Polytoca barbata, many sedges, and in drier places Imperata arundinacea.

Assuming Burma as a botanical Region to be divisible into four Sub-regions Northern, Western, Eastern, and Central these may be outlined as follows :

Northern Burma ! , a mountainous country extending for Northern 500 miles in a NE. direction from the great bend of the Burma - Brahmaputra in Bengal to the Chinese Province of Yunnan. Its northern boundary is the range of mountains flanking the Assam valley on the south. Politically it belongs to Assam ; and its chief districts, beginning at the west, are known as the Garo, Khasi, Jaintia, Nowgong, Naga, Patkai, and Manipur Hills, the direction of all which is from S\V. to NE., except in Manipur, where they trend from N. to S. The average height of these hills may be 4,000 to 5,000 feet, with a few peaks rising to above 10,000. The climate is of maximum humidity ; there are no arid areas, as in Central Burma.

The vegeta- tion throughout this Sub-region approximates to that of the Eastern Himalayas, differing conspicuously in the absence of an alpine zone, and of any species of Picea, Abies ^ Tsuga, Larix or Juniperus, and in the presence of Pinus Khasya and of a Pitcher-plant (Nepenthes). From that of Central and Southern Burma it differs in the absence of Teak, in the paucity of Dipterocarps, in the presence of the Nepal and Sikkim Palm Trachycarpus Martiana, and of Sal, which finds its eastern limit in the Khasi Hills, and of Finns Khasya, which is replaced farther south by P. Mcrkitsii. In the valleys and lower elevations the vegetation of the tropical zone of the Hima- layas prevails ; but at elevations above 4,000 feet temperate genera and species mainly replace it, many of them identical with the Himalayan, though maintaining a lower level by 3,000

1 This botanical Sub-region is recognized by Nfajor Prain (see Records of the Botanical Survey of India , vol. i, p. 284), who refers to it the Lushai Hills, Tippera, Chittagong, Arakan, and the Andaman Islands. Western and Southern Burma. feet or more. Such are, of herbaceous plants, species of Ranun- culus.

Anemone, Thalictrum, Delphinium, Corydalis, Geranium^ Impatiens, Drosera, Astragalus, Rubus, Potentilla, Fragaria^ Sangiiisorba, Astilbe, Parnassia, Valeria\a, Senecio, Pedicularis, Primula, Tqfieldia, Iris, Allium, and Paris. Of temperate shrubs, species of Berberis, Cleyera, Camellia, Eurya, Saurauja, Ilex, Ncillia, Luculia, Viburnum, Ligustrum, Rhododendron, Vaccinium, Gaultheria, and many others of Himalayan type. Of trees at the high level, among the most conspicuous are Rhododendron arboreum, species of Magnolia, Manglietia, and Michelia, Acer, Prunus, Pyrus, Pieris y Bucklandia, Alnus, Betula, Carpinus, Quercus (twenty species), Taxus, and Pinus Khasya.

A conspicuous feature of the western district of this Sub- region is the open unforested character of elevations above 4,000 feet, reminiscent of the Nilgiri Hills and presenting genera of trees, shrubs, and herbs common to that far-distant region (see p. 188). It is in one spot of a few yards wide alone in all Burma 1 (in the Jaintia Hills) that the Pitcher-plant (Nepenthes khasiand) is found growing prostrate among wet grass and stones, at an elevation of about 4,000 feet. It is the northernmost known member of this singular genus, its British Indian congeners being natives of Ceylon and the Malayan Peninsula, the latter 1,500 miles to the southward, and they are all climbers. It has not been found elsewhere.

To the eastward the loftier districts of this Sub-region are forest-clad, Bamboos often replacing the arboreous vegetation and dominating the scenery. It is a singular fact that Manipur, the most distant of the districts from Sikkim, possesses species of the latter country not hitherto found elsewhere in Burma.

The botany of the humid strip of land between the sea and the crests of the Chittagong and Arakan hills differs from that of Central Burma, being interrupted by the estuarial Flora of the deltas of the Irrawaddy, Sittang, and other rivers, eastward of which it reappears along the Tenasserim coast to Mergui. Though many collections have been made in different parts of it 2 , these do not suffice to supply a decad of its dominant

1 In Mason's Burma (vol. ii, p. 230) a Nepenthes is reported to have been found in Mergui by the Rev. C. Parish, but its discovery has never been confirmed.

Especially in Pegu and Tenasserim. In the latter country Griffith, in 1832, commenced his Indian career as an exploier of botanically unknown regions, which occupied thirteen years of his life without a break, and -extended from Afghanistan to the Chinese frontier in Assam, and from Bhutan to the Malay Peninsula. Large collections in the Mergui Province and Archipelago were subsequently made by Mr. Heifer. Natural Orders.

The nature of its tree vegetation may be gathered from Kurz's classification given above, which is that of

a dense evergreen forest where Dipterocarps (twenty-six species), 

Oaks, and Bamboos arA conspicuous features, some of the first of these towering over all other trees. Ferns, scandent Palms, and Orchids abound, of which latter Orders novelties are still being sent to botanical establishments in India and Europe. The general character of the vegetation may be gathered from Nos. 3 and 4 of Kurz's classification of the Burmese forests (p. 198). In detail it may be supposed to contain many plants of the temperate tracts of the North Burmese Sub-region.

The Flora of the complicated ranges of mountains interven- Eastern ing between Burma and China on the north and Siam on the Burma ' south is all but unknown. They have been visited by few botanists or collectors, and their very limited collections throw little light on the interesting question of the community or diversity of the border Floras of these three countries. Only four such collections are known to me : Lieut. Pottinger's in the Kachin Hills, Sir H. Collett's in the Shan States, and those of the Rev. C. Parish and of T. Lobb in the Tenasserim Hills.

Lieutenant Pottinger's collections were made in 1897 at elevations of 450 to 7,000 feet in a mountainous country in the extreme north-east of Central Burma, between lat. 25 and 27 N., and long. 97 and 99 E. : that is, a little to the eastward of the Hukawng valley by which Griffith entered Central Burma in 1836. They were made under great difficulties, owing to the climate and to the hostility of the natives, so that a large proportion of them were lost. In Major Prain's account l of this collection he records 60 1 Flowering plants and twenty- seven Ferns and their allies, of the former of which forty-one are endemic new species, including a new genus of Leguminosae (Cruddasia insignis), and another allied to Escallonia* Not a single Oak is on the list, which is very remarkable (the specimens were presumably lost).

Teak here finds its northern limit in Burma (the trees of it were gnarled) ; as does Shorea siamensis, the only Dipterocarp on the list. The Tea plant was found throughout the route. Only four species of Impa- tiens were collected, but many were seen. Of the few plants hitherto supposed to be endemic in China, but now found also in Burma, the most conspicuous were Wistaria chincnsis> Rhododendron indicum^ and Gelsemium elegans^ which latter

1 Records of the Botanical Survey of India , vol. i (1898), p. 315, with two maps. It contains a most instructive article 'On the Nature and Affinities of the Kachin Flora.' is not included in the Flora of British India, although it had been found in Assam. The following are the ten dominant Orders, with their approximate number of species in each :

1. Orchideae y 77. 6. lA'ticaceae, 20.

2. Leguminosae, 60. 7. Euphorbiaceae^ 18.

3. Acanthaceae^ 26. 8. Compositae^ 17.

4. Rubiaceae, 25. 9. Scitamineae, 17.

5. Labiatae, 20. 10. Aroideae^ 17.

The contrast between the Kachin collection and that made by Sir H. Collett only some 200 miles to the southward in about the same longitude, and for the most part at similar elevations, is startling, and can only be accounted for by assum- ing that in both cases the number of species collected was too small for an instructive comparison. Of Pottinger's 60 1 Flower- ing plants not 100 are recorded among Collett's 843.

Sir H. Collett's collections were made in 1887-8 in Upper Burma and the Southern Shan States : that is, in the valleys of the Salween and Sittang rivers, lat. 19^ to 21^ N., long. 96 to 97, 2 E. ; and on Popa (4,000 feet high) in the Irrawaddy valley. They contain 843 species of Flowering plants, which have been enumerated by himself and Mr. Hemsley in the Journal of the Linnean Society ! , where no fewer than eighty- three are described as new and endemic. The most remark- able of the novelties were Osteomeles anthyllidifolia, a Rosaceous shrub resembling the Blackthorn, previously known as a native of China and of some Pacific Islands, all whose congeners are Andean ; a Rose and a Honeysuckle (Rosa gigantea and Lonicera Hildebrandiana\ both with flowers of extraordinary size, and a new genus of Leguminosae (Neocollettid). The collection contained nine Oaks.

Though so near the Chinese frontier, few species of that country were added to the Burmese Flora ; the most interest- ing was a species of Speranskia, a monotypic Chinese Euphor- biaceous genus. About twenty-five of the species and one-fifth of the genera are British.

The following are the ten dominant Orders in Sir H. Collett's collection, with the approximate number of species in each :

1. Leguminosae, 90. 6. Acanthaceae, 30.

2. Gramineae, 80. 7. Convolvulaceae, 29.

3. Compos itae y 60. 8. Euphorbiaceae, 25.

4. Labiatae } 41. 9. Orchideac, 22.

5. Rubiaceae^ 30. 10. Verbenaceae, 21.

1 Dot., vol. xxviii (1890), with a full account from Sir H, Colletf* pen of the vegetation of the tracts he visited. The collection, having been made at various elevations between 3,000 and 12,000 feet, is one of mixed tropical and temperate types, the latter descending as low as 4,000 feet, according to Sir H. tollett's observation. The most salient features of the collection are the fewness of Orchideae and the large number of Compositae- y but very many Orchids have since been found in the same collecting ground, chiefly around Fort Stedman and the Tale Lake. Tectona Hamiltoniana is included, but not the true Teak (T. grandis) .

The Rev. C. Parish's collection, and that of Thomas Lobb, a collector for Messrs. Veitch, are chiefly Orchids, of which many interesting species were discovered in the Mulyet and Mo- kai mountains (altitude 5,000 and 6,300 feet) in Tenasserim. The existence of a Nepenthes in Mergui is alluded to on p. 200 (footnote). A more remarkable discovery, if confirmed, is that of a Rafflesia in the pass of Ta-ok, east of Moulmein, at an elevation of 3,000 feet, recorded by Mr. Theobald in Mason's Burma, vol. ii, p. 828.

Central Burma, between the Arakan ranges and those east Central of the Sittang river, is divisible into two Sub-regions, a northern Buima - dry, and a southern humid, but in what latitude the change of climate becomes marked by the vegetation is not determined ; it is, no doubt, irregular in its course, and influenced by the great rivers, by the hills between these, and by proximity to the Arakan range which exhausts the moisture of the south-west monsoon. One small district, that of Minbu, between the Irrawaddy and Arakan, in lat. 20 N., is spoken of as being a desert, no doubt figuratively l . The character of the upper Central vegetation is largely that of the drier parts of Western India; it agrees with that of No. 6 in Kurz's classification (p. 198) in being mainly dry deciduous. Two species of Teak (Tectona grandis and T. Hamiltoniana) occur, with many Leguminous trees, Acacia Catechu often forming forests, and more rarely Dipterocarpus tuberculatus.

The Andaman Islands have been visited by botanists at few The and distant points only, of which the chief is Port Blair. Kurz Andaman collected in them 560 species of Flowering plants 2 ; and Major

1 Quite recently this specially arid district has been botanized by Capt. Gnge of the Calcutta Botanical Garden, under the direction of Major Prain, and the results have been published in the Records of the Botanical Survey of India.

3 See for details his Report to the Indian Government on the vegetation of the Andamans, where the species are all enumerated and discussed. Memoirs and Memoranda by D. Prain, Calcutta, 1894. Prain, who visited several of the smaller islets, Barren Island, Narcondam, and the Coco, as well as one of the main islands, added perhaps 150 to Kurz's record. The total would probably not exceed one-third of the whole Floda. The forests with which most of the Archipelago is clad are typically Burmese, and are regarded by Kurz as a less developed stage of his seventh class, mixed evergreen and deciduous.

Their most remarkable feature is the apparently total absence of the Cupuliferous genera Quercus and Castanopsis, of the first of which there are forty species on the neighbouring continent, and of the second eleven. Of Dipterocarpeae there are very few, but owing to the number of their individuals and gigantic stature they form the dominant feature of the forests ; of Myristica there are four. Considering, however, that nothing is known of the vegetation over nearly the whole of the Archi- pelago, and that its interior hills, which reach 2,400 feet in altitude, have not been botanized over, it is evident that it would be premature to regard the apparent absence of Cupuli- ferae as ascertained fact, or indeed that of any of such other desiderata as Mr. Kurz indicates, namely Magnoliaceae, Ona~ graceae, Umbelliferae^ Vacciniaceae, Scrophularineat) Labiatac, PolygoneaC) Amarantaceae, Chcnopodiaceae^ Coniferae, Ponte- deriauae^ Amaryllideae, and other small families, and all fresh- water plants. One Coniferous plant (Podocarpus) is included in his Forest Flora as a native of the Andamans, and others of the desiderata have, since the publication of that work, been found by Major Prain.

Mr. E. M. Buchanan, of the Forest Department, informs me that the absence of grasses like Saccharum^ Panicum^ and Imperata^ and of all indigenous erect Bamboos except . schizos tacky oides^ is a peculiar feature of the Andaman vegeta- tion, and that their belts of pine forest on silty deposits facing the sea seem to have no parallel in Burma or the Nicobars. The The Nicobar Islands are even less known botanically than

Islands Andamans, and it is questionable whether they belong to the Burmese or to the Malay Peninsular Flora. They were visited both by Mr. Kurz 1 , who collected on Katchall and Camorta 573 Flowering plants and fifty Ferns and their allies, and by Major Prain, who obtained no 2 on the islets of Car Nicobar, Batti Malv, and a few other localities, adding con- siderably to his predecessor's list. The general character of their vegetation is that of the Andamans, with the apparent

1 See Journal of 'the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1876), p. 105.

3 Enumerated and fully discussed in his Memoir $ and Memoranda* absence of Dipterocarpeae y Datiscaceae^ and the Podocarpus* The presence in the Nicobars of a genus of Mommiaceae, an Order elsewhere in British India confined to the Malayan Peninsula and Ceylon, would indicate a closer affinity with those Regions. On the other hand, the occurrence of Cap* fans ambigua^ a plant confined to the two Archipelagoes, indicates a community in their Floras. It would be interesting to know whether any species of Nepenthes, of which eight are found in the Malay Peninsula, exist in the Nicobars.

Except the Island of Penang, and the Protected States of The Perak, Selangor, and the British territories of Wellesley, Malacca, and Singapore, little is known of the Flora of the Malay Region. Peninsula, the greater part of which is under Siamese dominion. Of the range of mountains which forms its backbone and which rises to peaks 4,000 to 7,000 feet in height, a few have been visited botanically, including one (7,000 feet) in Perak, and Mt. Ophir (4,183 feet) in Malacca. It is hence obvious that materials do not exist for estimating with any approach to finality either the Flora as a whole or the relative number of its dominant Natural Orders.

Except where cultivation interferes, the whole Peninsula is clothed with an evergreen vegetation, that of the shore being estuarial. Mr. Ridley informs me that the number of recorded species of Flowering plants from this Region in the rich herbarium of the Royal Gardens at Singapore is 4,547, and of Ferns and their allies 368 ; but this does not include many species discovered by collectors sent from the Royal Gardens, Calcutta, which are in course of publication 1 by Sir George King. The ten dominant Orders are, as given me by Mr. Ridley, the following, to which I have added in brackets their corresponding position in the Burmese decad :

1. Orchideae (i). 6. Gramineae (3).

2. Leguminosae (2). 7. Scitamineae (10).

3. Euphorbiaceae (5). 8. Melastomaceae*

4. Rubiaceae (4). 9. Cyperaceae.

5. Anonaccae. 10. Urticaccae (8).

The proportion of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons is i to 2-2, and of genera to species i to 2-3. The numbers attached

1 In the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, where descriptions are, or will be, given by Sir G. King of all the known Flowering plants of the Malay Peninsula. The huge Orders not jet worked up for that work, which may interfere with the sequence of the above decad, are Etiphorbiaccac, Laurintae. and Urticactat. to the Orders in this decad afford striking evidence of the difference between the Floras of Burma and of the Malay Peninsula, which may be even more forcibly illustrated by the following contrasts, where the letter? M. and B. represent the two Regions : Orders with a great preponderance in the Malayan Peninsula

Dilleniaceat n - Q 3 i

o. o

Bixineae ^'^'

Guttiferac

M.66

B.Yo'

Dipterocarpeae B -^

Polygakae

Meliaceae

M-90,

Anacardiaceae

Connaraceae

Myrtaceae

* 

Melastomaceat

Myristicaceae

Nepenthes

TCI f

Palmeae '-!?

Orders with a great preponderance in Burma

Capparideae Balsamineae Leguminosae

Rosaceat Compositae Acanthaceat -t

Labiatae Cupuliferae Bamhuseae ^-

This latter statement demonstrates the much stronger affinity of the Burmese Flora with that of the Deccan. The maximum difference between the two Regions is shown by the genus Impatiens, the seven Malay Peninsula species being altogether different from the forty Burmese. One species is the most singular of all known Balsams (/. mirabilis\ with a simple or branched trunk often four feet high and as thick as a man's leg. It is a native of the small islet of Terutan, one of the Lankauwi group, and of the adjacent coast of West Siam.

The Malayan Peninsula is much richer in Palms than is any other region of British India. Upwards of thirty genera and 150 species are recorded, and these numbers will no doubt be exceeded in the forthcoming history of Indian Palms which is about to appear from the pen and pencil of Dr. Beccari of Florence, in the Annals of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta. Both generically and specifically the Malayan Palms differ from those of Burma, and find their affinities with those of Sumatra and other islands of the Eastern Archipelago. To this, however, there appears to be one remarkable exception, for Mr. Ridley informs me by letter that an undescribed species of Borassus, an essentially African genus, of which one species is commonly cultivated all over the plains of India, has been recently found in the forests of Perak.

Of Bamboos fewer Malayan species have been recorded than of Burmese, but more than in the Malabar region.

About twenty-two species, under five genera, are known, most of them endemic or common to the adjacent islands. Of Conifers eight speries are recorded for the Malayan Pen- insula, belonging to the genera Agathis, Dacrydium, and Podo- carpus (five species) ; of Cycadeae, only Cycas Rumphii. The small Order Monimiaceae, of which two species are natives of the Malay Peninsula, is unknown in Burma (though inhabiting the Nicobars), but is represented by two species in Ceylon. The most notable plants of the Peninsula are perhaps two species of the stemless and leafless root-parasites, Cytinaceae^ namely, Brugmansia Lowi, and a Rafflesia probably identical with the famous R. Arnoldi of Sumatra ; and seven species of the Pitcher-plant {NepentJies).

The islet of Penang, lying opposite the coast of Wellesley, Penang distant ten miles, demands a separate notice, if only for the fact klet. of the astonishing number of species, and so many of them arboreous, that it contains. Though its area is only 106 square miles, and its greatest elevation 2,750 feet, yet, accord- ing to a catalogue of its Flowering plants drawn up and printed (1894?) by Mr. C. Curtis, F.L.S., Assistant Superintendent of its Forests, it contains 1,813 species, together with 173 Ferns and their allies. With the exception of one, the tenth (Apocyneae replacing Sritamineae\ the ten dominant Orders are the same as those I have given as the decad of the whole Peninsula, but they do not follow the same sequence, Rubiaceae ranking first, Leguminosae fourth, and Orchideae third ; and the proportion of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons is very different, i to 4-1. Other Orders largely represented wzMyrtaccae thirty-five, Acanthaceae thirty-one, Dipterocarpeac twenty-eight, Myristicaceae and Guttiferae twenty-five each, Cupulifcrae seventeen (of which thirteen are Oaks), Palms thirty- four. Of Compositae there are only twenty- three, of Bamboos one only, of Nepenthes three, of Gymnosperms eight (Gnetum four, a Dacrydium, Agathis, and two Fodocarpi}.

The Cocos and Keeling islets, in the South Indian Ocean, Cocos and 500 miles S.W. of Java, and still more distant from Singapore, . are British possessions, which have in recent years been trans- ferred from the Government of Ceylon to that of the Federated Malay States. Their scanty Flora is purely tropical Indian, and in great part littoral. Mr. H. B. Guppy spent ten weeks there, and made a very interesting collection of seeds and fruits cast up on the shores of Reeling's Island, of which a list has been published by Mr. W. B. Hemsley, F.R.S. (See Nature^ xli. 491, 492 ; and Science Progress, i. 40.) The Kurram Valley

The THE Kurram is the only valley in the long range of moun-bordering British India on the west of the Indus of which the Flora has been described. It was exhaustively explored by Surgeon-Major J. E. T. Aitchison, F.R.S., in 1879-80, who collected in it about 900 species of Flowering plants, and twenty-six Ferns and their allies 1 . The valley is nearly 100 miles long, and the elevations at which the collections were made varied from 2,000 feet above the sea at the mouth of the valley to 15,000 feet on its flanks: that is, from the tropical Flora of the Indus Plain to the alpine of the Himalayas. Of the ninety-three Orders to which the Flowering plants belong, the following ten are the dominant. The added numbers in brackets indicate the positions of the same in the Western Himalayan Region :

1. Compositac (2), 6. Cruciftrac (8).

2. Gramineac (i). 7. Umbdliftrac.

3. Ltguminosat (3). 8. Ranunculaceae (6).

4. Labiatae (5). 9. Boragineae.

5. Rosactat (9). 10. Cypcraccae (4).

The low position of Cypcraccae^ and the subjection of Gra- mineac to Compositac^ may be attributed to the dryness of the climate, as also may the prevalence of Boragincae. The genera and most of the species are Himalayan, the chief exceptions being such plants as Herniaria and Pcganum^ which are typical of the Indus Plain. The nine Coniferae, which include the DeodSr, are all Himalayan. The only Palm is Nannorrhops Ritchieana> which extends from the Salt Range to Sind and Baluchistan. The distinctively Oriental genera, such as Pistacia and Eremurus, are few. Of Bambuseat there are none. On the whole, the Flora may be regarded as a dying- out Himalayan, and not as typically Oriental. It differs considerably from that of British Baluchistan.

1 Journal of the Linntan Society of London t Dot., roll, xviii and xix.

British Baluchistan

THE small tract of country (about 180 miles long) bearing British this name is enclosed between Afghanistan and Baluchistan proper. It is mountainous, 5,000 to 8,000 feet elevation above the sea, with peaks rising above 10,000 feet, and its climate is one of great extremes of cold and heat. Not having been brought under British administration until the early volumes of the Flora of British India were considerably ad\anccd, its plants were not taken up in that work.

Only three botanists have collected in it. Griffith 1 in the spring of 1839 passed through it when accompanying the army of the Indus fiom Shikarpur to Kandahar, Dr. Stocks 2 \isited it in the spring of 1850, and Mr. J. H. Lace, F.L.S. (of the Indian Forest Department), resided in it from 1885 to 1888. Some of the plants collected by the first two travellers are included in Boissier's Worn Orientalis, and excellent observa- tions on the vegetation of the country are published in the works cited below. Mr, Lace alone was enabled to make a detailed botanical exploration of the district. He collected upwards of 700 species, which, aided by Mr. Hemsley, he has published ', prefacing his account with an exhaustive description of the botanical features of the country. These materials prove the Flora to be Oriental, with an admixture of Himalayan and Indian plants ; it is Afghan, in short, and very different from that of the Indus Plain, and of Baluchistan in its lower levels, which is more Arabic-Persian. It may be gathered from the observations of these three botanists that the vegeta- tion, though poor, is very varied and presents many local assemblages of species, dependent upon climate, soil (including saline), humidity, and elevation within a very limited area. The ten dominant Orders of the eighty-two in Mr. Lace's

1 Posthumous Papers ', vol. i, p. 336.

1 Hooker's Jourttal of Botany ; vol. ii (1850), p. 303; vol. iv (1852),

Sketch of the Vegetation of British Baluchistan, with Descriptions of 

New Species/ Journal Linncan Society, Dot., vol. xxviii (1891), p. 268. collections are the following, with, in brackets, their relative positions in the Kurram Valley Flora :

1. Composiiae (i). 6. {^henopodiaceac.

2. Gramineae (2). 7. Boragineae (9).

3. Leguminosac (3). 8. Liliaccac.

4. Cruaftrac (6). 9. Caryophylkae.

5. Labiatae (4). 10. Rosaceae (5).

Of the eighty-two Orders, no fewer than twenty are mono- typic, including Acanthactae, which is well represented in every other botanical Region of India. The forest trees are Juniptrus macropoda (the only Conifer), which is found at 7,000 to 10,000 feet elevation ; Populus euphratica and species of Pistacia, Dalbtrgia^ Celtis^ Acacia, Prosopis, Salix> Fraxinus, Ulmus, Crataegus, and Tamarix. (The Oriental Plane in- cluded in Mr. Lace's list I assume to have been introduced.) The Pomegranate and Fig are indigenous. Nannorrhops is the only Palm. There are no Bambuseae in the collections, and only six Ferns.

Before concluding, it must be recorded that the very con- siderable European and Oriental Order of Cistineae has its extrefne eastern limit in Native Baluchistan. Stocks collected Helianthemum Lippii, a widely distributed species extending from the Levant to Persia, near Gandava, sixty miles south of the British frontier. Should it be found within the latter it would add a Natural Order of plants to British India.

1686-1702. H. van Rhcedc. Hortus Malabaricus. Amitelaedami. la Yols. fol., 794 plates.

I 737- J. Burman. Thesaurus Zcylanicus. Amstelaedami. 410, no plates,

1747. C. Linnaeus. Flora Zeylanua. Holmiae. 8vo [1748, Amstelae- dami, 8vo], 4 plates.

1768. N. L. Barman. Flora Indica. Lugduni Batavomm. 410, 67 plates.

1779-91. A. J. Retzius. Observations Botanicae. Lipsiae. fol.

1795-1819. \V. Roxburgh. Coromandtl Plants. London. 3 vols. max. fol., 300 plates.

1820-4. W. Roxburgh. Flora Indica. Serampore. Ed. Carey and Walliih. a vols. 8vo.

1821. A. W. Roth. Nova* Plantarum Species. Halberstadii. 8vo.

1825. D. Don. Prodt omits florae Nepalensis. Londini. 8vo.

1826-49. N. Wallich. List of Dried Specimens in the Museum of the Honourable East India Company. London, fol., 9148 sheets.

1830-2. N. Wallich. Pianta* Asiatica* Rariores. London. 3 vols. fol., 295 plates, and map.

1832. W. Roxburgh. Flora Indica. Serampore. Ed. Carey. 3 vols. 8vo.

1833-40. Royle. Illustrations of the Botany, &c. t of the Himalaya Mountains. London. 2 vols. small fol., 100 plates.

1834. R. Wi^'ht and G. A W. Arnott. Prodromus Florae Peninsulac huiiae Oricntalis. London. I vol. 8vo.

1839. J. Graham. A Catalogue of the Plants growing in Bombay and the Vicinity. Bombay. 8vo.

1840-50. R. \Vight. Illustrations of Indian Botany. Madras. 2 vols. 410, 205 plates.

1840-53. R. Wight. hones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis. Madras. 6 vols. 4to, 2101 plates.

1847-54. W. Griffith. Posthumous Papers. Calcutta. 6 vols. 8vo, 2 vols. 410, 66 1 plates; I vol. fol., 139 plates.

1855. J. D. Hooker and T. Thomson. Flora Ittdica, with Introductory Essay. London, i vol. 8vo.

(18581-64. G. IL K. Thwaites and J. D. Hooker. Enumerate Plantarum Zeylaniae, London, i vol. 8vo.

1861. N. A. Dalzell and A. Gibson. The Bombay Flora. Bombay. 8vo.

1863-76. R. II. Beddome. /Vmr of Southern India. Madras. 4to, 371 plates.

1865-76. R. II. Beddome. Ferns of British India, with Supplement. Madras, a vols. 410, 390 plates.

1865-74. R. H. Beddome. Tht Flora Syivatica of Southern India* Madras, a vols. 4to, 359 plates.

1869. J. L. Stewart. Punjab Platits. Lahore. 8vo.

1869-74. R. I L Beddome. hones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis. Madras. 4to, 300 plates.

1873-97. J. D. Hooker. Flora of British India. London. 7 vols. 8vo.

P 2

1874. D. Brand is. Forest Flora of North-west and Central India. London, i vol. Svo, and i vol. 410, 79 plates.

1877. S. Kurz. Fortst Flora of British Burma. Calcutta. 2 vols. Svo.

1883. R. H. \\zMums.--Ucindbcok to the ttfys of British India, Ceylon and the Malty Peninsula* Calcutta. Svo.

1891-1905. Annals of the Royal Botanic Garden*. Calcutta. Calcutta. 10 vols. large 4to, 1720 plates,

1893-1900. H. Trim en. Handbook of the Flora of Ceylon* London. 5 vols. Svo., and Atlas 4to, of 100 plates.

1893-1905. Records of the Botanical Survey of India. Calcutta. 4 vols. Svo.

1902. II. Collett. //0>a Simtensis. Calcutta, Simla, and London. Svo, aoo illustrations in the text.

1902. J. S. Gamble. A Manual of Indian Timbers. London. I vol. Svo, 16 plates, [isted. Cahutta, iSSi.]

1903. D. Train. Bengal rtants. Calcutta. 2 vols Svo.

1906. I). Brandis. Indian Trees* London. Svo, JQI illustrations in the text.