Abstract
THE first edition of this useful work was published in 1858, since which period our knowledge of the economical products of our vast Indian possessions has greatly increased; and we have here an enumeration of 600 herbs or trees from which more or less valuable substances are obtained. The species are aranged in alphabetical order, the natural order and native and English names of each are given, followed by a description, and an account of its economic uses, taken from various standard works, or from the author's own observation. The list is not confined to natives of the country, but includes also such introduced plants as are largely cultivated and of great economic importance, as cinchona, tea, cacao, tobacco, and the Australian eucalyptus, now so extensively planted to replace the forests which have been destroyed in many parts of the peninsula to the great deterioration of the climate. In an appendix are statistics of the cultivation of cinchona, indigo, tea, and some of the fragrant woods, a table of exports and their value, and lists of synonyms in the Hindostanee, Bengalee, Tamil, Teloogoo, and Malayalam languages. The technical descriptions, and other details, have been worked out with great care, and with abundant reference to original authorities, as far as was possible to any one undertaking a work of this description at Trevandrum, and without access to the libraries and herbaria which are at the command of students in this country. Col. Drury has, however, obtained the assistance of Dr. Hugh Cleghorn, and other practical botanists, and his work is one that can be fully relied on as giving an accurate and nearly exhaustive account of the economical productions of our Indian empire.
The Useful Plants of India, with Notices of their chief Value in Commerce, Medicine, and the Arts.
By Col. Heber Drury. Third edition, with Additions and Corrections. (W. H. Allen and Co., 1873.)
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B., A. The Useful Plants of India, with Notices of their chief Value in Commerce, Medicine, and the Arts . Nature 7, 340 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/007340a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/007340a0