" A BRIEP MEMOI E OP
was a Botanist, determined to priut, at tlieii- own expense, their father's manuscript
exactly as he had left it. This was done under the editorship of the venerable Carey,
and the book was published, ia three octavo volumes, at Serampore in 1832. This
edition having been for many years out of print and difficult of purchase, a verbatim
reprint of it, in a single volume (paged, however, according to the original), was undertaken
in Calcutta in 1874, at the expense of Mr. C. B. Clarke, F.K.S., the present cUstiuguished
President of the Linna5an Society. Jlr. Clarke's reprint also includes Roxburgh's
account of Indian Crf/ptogamia, which was not included in Carey's Serampore
edition, but which (having been rescued from oblivion by Griffith) was published by him
in 1844, in the fourth volume of the Calcutta Journal of Natural History. Mr. Clarke's
objects in re-publishing Roxburgh's Flora are stated at length in his excellent preface to
his edition of it. The main one was to put the book within the reach of the poorest
Indian student, and that object was most effectually fultilled by his issuing the volume
at a price (five rupees) which could not have covered one-half of the cost of publication,
even had every copy of the edition been sold within a year. Roxburgh's Flora is still
a most useful book to persons, who, wit-hout being really Botanists, desire to make
themselves acquainted with the plants of the plains and of the lower slopes of the hills
of Northern India and of the Madra,s Presidency. It contains also an account of the
majority of the exotic plants which are cultivated, even at the present day, in
gardens in the plains of India, and also descriptions of some plants which Roxburgh
had introduced from various parts of the llalayan Peninsula and Archipelago
(which he named in a general way " The Jloluccas"). The descriptions of these
" J l o l u c c a " plants are often meagre in the extreme, and are now practically of no
value. Many of the common garden planter also are described in an imperfect way.
And of the plants of the Himalaya and of the higher ranees of Southern India
above levels of 500 feet or thereby, the Flora gives no account whatever. With reference
to the imperfections of Roxburgh's Flora as a guide to the Botany of the
Indian mountain ranges, it should, however, be borne in mind that the bulk of the
indigenous population lives in the plains; and that it is only a small perccntnge even
of the Em-opean population who actually reside in the hills.
The excellence of Roxburgh's Flora as a botanical work has so long been acknowledged
that it is unnecessary here to ent-er upon, any estimate of it. I would
simply remark that Roxburgh's descriptions of Indian plants are, for the most part, so
accurate and graphic that, while identifying a plant by his Flora, one can feel quite certain
when he has got the very species that its autlior meant: one does not finish one's
attempt with a headache and with the uneasy feeling that his plant may be one of half
a dozen. I regard Roxburgh's accuracy as something marvellous. When an organ is
not too minute for pro2)er observation by moans of tlie comparatively rude lenses obtainable
in Roxburgh's time, one may trust to his account of it being absolutely correct.
Authors since Koxburgh—and especially young authors—working chiefly with Herbarium
specimens have, as it seems to me, reduced some of his species with rather too much
levity. I have worked a good deal with Roxburgh's Flora and among Indian plants,
Jind it takes a good deal to convince me of a Roxburghian blunder! Roxburgh's ideas
of affinity are in the highest degree sagacious; and, had he lived a few decades later
his Flora would have doubtless been as successfully fashioned on the natural system as
it was on the Linnazan. Finally, I would claim for Roxburgh's book the merit that it
does not contain a single ill-natured or unkind remark. Never onco does its author
WILLIAM BOXBURGir.
insinuate that some other botanist is cither an egregious blunderer, a vile filcher of
cinothoL- man's species, or a person of supreme incompetence.
As regards economic botany, Roxburgh's Flora is a perfcct mine of wealth ; and it
is only since the publication of Dr. Watt's Economic Dictionary that it has been superseded
as the standard book on Indian vegetable economics. Much of lloxburgh's time
and a great deal of his attention were given to enquiries into indigenous vegetable produets;
and so greatly wero his researches into the sources of fibres* and other useful
substances esteemed in England, that on no fewer than three occasions were gold medals
awarded to him by the Society of Arts. To hitii also much credit was due for the
organization of the arrangements successfully carried out by one of his sons, for the
introduction into the Honourable Company's Malayan possessions of the cuUivation of
the trees yielding cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Roxburgh was not, as has been stated in some notices of him, one of the founders
of the Asiatic Society of ]3engal. As a fact he was stationed at Samulcotta when it was
founded (1784); but after his settlement in Calcutta ho took an active interest in its
management and contributed several papers to its Researches.^ Besides being a member of
the Asiatic Socicty, Roxburgh was a Fellow of the Linnasan Society of London, of the
Society of Arts, and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was not, however, a Fellow
of the Royal Society of London.
• lu Vol. XXI I ot the Trans.
Eoxbuvgli's giving aa account of liis
jute, towstriug-flai, sun, agiive, Abisc
t A list of all hoxburgii'
papers) is givea below
Eosburgli, miHam. On tlie L.ieshi o:
Phil. Mag. I l l , 1799, pp. 367—36S,
2, A. description of the plaot Bittea.
3. A description of tlio Jonesi,
of tlie Society of Arts (London, l?y4), Ihero
meats into tho mode of cultivation and properl;
iny lelttìrs o
res oE hem
contributions to Scientific Joi
Lac-Insoct {Coccus Iucca). As
(taken from tlio It'^al Society's Catalogue of
alic Eesoirchcs, II., ]?yO, pp. £61—361; Tilloch,
Prosopis acalcai
TP, .105-408.
•ig, Tshar
e. Botioical obserrations oi
6. A botanical description
account of the propertina o£ :
searches, V„ 1798, pp. 167-177
.siatic Rosearolie
c Besearches, I\
of tiie Hindus
I d , pp. '169—47i.
17U5, pp. 35Ô—358.
n the Northera Circars. Asiatic Ecsearclios, IV, 17P5,
the Spiltenard of tlie ancients. Asiatic Eesenrehes, IV, 1705, pp, 433—48i).
of Vrceola elaaCica, or Caoutcliouo Viuo of Sumatra and Pulo Peiiang, with aa
s inspissated juico compared witli those ot the Americnn Cautchouo. Asiatic Ee-
Nicholson, Journ. I l l , 1800, pp. 435-4ÌU ; Tiliocb, Phil. MaR. VI, J800. pp. J54-J61.
7. Au account of a new spccles of I>dfU«as. an inhabitant of the Ganges. Asiatic Eesearchea, VII, ISOl. vv
170-174.
S. Account of the Tusseh and Arrindy Silk-worms of BenynL [1803] Linn. Soc. Trans. VII, 1804, pp. 33-48.
9. A botanical snd economical account of Bassia balijrana or East India Bntter Tree. Asiatic EcsearcLe«, VIII
1S05, pp. 477-488; Nicholson, Jouru. XIX, 1808, pp. 372—SIS ; Gilbert, A.iaal. XL, 1812, pp. 334-3.10.
10. On tiia culture, properties, and comparative strength of Hemp and other vegetable fibre.«, the growth of the
East Indies. Nicholson, J,)i.rn. XI, 1805, pp, 32—47; Gill. Tecb. Rep. VI, 1824, pp. 18.1-194, 240—241.
n . An account of tho Hindu metliod of cultivating tho Sii^iarcane and manufacluring the sugar and jagary in the
Kajamundry district. Tilloch, Phil. Mag. XXI, 1805, pp. 261—275.
12. A table of tho growth, of trees in tho Botanic Garden at Cttlcutta. Nicholson, Journ. XVII, 1807, pp, 110-11.
13. DescripUon of several of the monnndrous plants of India, bolon.jing to the natural order called Scitaminc'S
by Linnrous, CCWTKE by Jusiicu and Drimyrhin<e by Ventenat. Asiatic lleseurches, XI, ISIO, pp. 818—363 • Spreneel
Jahrb. I, 1820, pp. 04-110. • H .
14. Letter on varioua naturai productions of the East Indies. Nicholson, Journ. XXVII, 1810, pp. 69—76.
16. Eemarts on the Land "Winds and their causes. London, Med. SJC. Trans, I, 1810, pp. 189-211- Tilloch Phil
Mag. XXXVI , 1810, pp. 24S-253.
i(i. Someaccountof the Teak tree of the Eust Indies. Nicholson, Journ. XSXI I I , 1812, pn. 318—So-i.
17. Flora Indica, Pavi 4, Cryptojiamous Plants. Calcutta, Journ. Nat. Hist. IV, 1841, pp, 463—620.
18. OnthegenusJyuiWm, with remarks by the laic H,T. Colebrooko [185J] Linn. Soc. Trans. XXI 1865 ci>.
199—200; Lin.i, Soc. Proc. II, 1865, pp. 123—125. '