Revision of the Labiateae of the Indian Empire

Abstract

Since the publication of the Flora of British India oy Sir Joseph D. Hooker, there have been many expeditions on the borders of the country, and also in the interior. Lany new species have been described; and many plants, thought to oe non -Indian, have been recorded as occuring within Indian boundaries. Thus the list of Indian plants has been increased very much and most of the families require revision.

In the course of this investigation, I found ten new species and a new variety which, after careful comparison, in the herbaria referred to, I have named and described. Of these, five species and the variety, are endemic to Burma, one is common to Burma and Assam, one occurs only in Assam, one in S. India, one in Baluchistan, and one in Tibet on the border of Sikkim. I have dealt with these in a short paper, entitled "A Decade of New Species of Labiatae, from India, Burma, and Tibet", and it is being published in the "Notes of Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, now in the presa. As this paper is not available in the printed form at present, I have attached a typed copy to the main thesis. :d'or the variety, I have appended a Latin description, along with the English in the text. Certain other specimens which I have seen, may yet prove to represent new species, but the material of these is not adequate for definite description.

As a result of my survey, I find that 139 species have been added to the list of Indian Labiates enumerated in the Flora of British India, bringing the record to a total of 424, which is about 13% of the 3300 species (approximately) in the family for the whole world. The additional genera that have been counted as having Indian species are 13 in number, and are only met with in India only on the borders. These genera are/:- Nosema Prain, Ceratanthus I;tuller ex G. Taylor, Zataria Boiss., Satureia Linn., Ziziphora Linn., Chamaesphacos Schrenk, Mollucella Benth., l.agochilus Bunge, iiicrotoena prain, Paralamium Dunn, Paraphlomis Frain, Rubiteucris Kudo and Eurysolen Prain. It is interesting to note that of these 13 genera, those that were pre-existing at the time of publication of Flora of British India, have entered India from the N.W. side, and those that were published later are entirely east -Asiatic. The two genera Paraphlomis and Rubiteucris are however founded upon species previously included in phlomis and Teucrium respectively.