An Enumeration of all the Plants known from China Proper, Formosa, Hainan, Corea, the Luchu Archipelago, and the Island of Hong Kong; together with their distribution and Synonymy Vols. I-III [Index florae sinensis]

Description:

Reprint (possibly Indian) of a scarce work on Chinese and East Asian botany, first published in The Journal of the Linnean Society Vol. XXIII, XXVI, & XXXVI. The third volume includes the 'first supplement' (by M. Smith) for the period 1886-1904, and a complete index to botanical names. Originally issued both as journal and under separate cover; only the latter has the title Index florae sinensis. As stated in Frodin (2001), 'The main work is a systematic enumeration (in English) of seed plants recorded from the territories indicated in the title; includes descriptions of new taxa, full synonymy with references and citations, fairly detailed indication of internal distribution, brief summary of extralimital range, and miscellaneous taxonomic and other notes'.

Vol. 3 commences with a Historical Note, by W.T. Thiselton-Dyer, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew who had inaugurated the project, explaining why the monumental work had taken twenty years to complete and which he feared had 'exhausted the patience of the Linnean Society'. Francis Blackwell Forbes (1839-1908) was an American botanist with expertise in Chinese seed-producing plants who also worked as a merchant and opium trader in Asia, his co-author was the British botanist William Hemsley, (1843-1924) who worked at Kew.

Frodin, D.G. (2001), Guide to Standard Floras of the World, 2nd ed.

Condition

3 vols, 8vo, buckram, gilt titles to spines, worn. Good. Withdrawn from an institutional library; neat ink stamps, shelf labels to spines.