First edition of this 'pioneering ecological study' (Rix) on the trees, shrubs and flowers of the Himalayan region of the Indian sub-continent, largely illustrated with delightful images after Vishnuperand: the greatest Indian botanical artist of his time.
Born in Cawnpore the son of an officer in the service of the East India Company, John Forbes Royle joined the medical staff of the Bengal Army in Calcutta in 1819 or 1820. Three years later, in 1823, he was able to combine his medical and military duties with his love of botany when he was appointed superintendant of the botanical garden at Saharunpore. He carried out a thorough investigation of the properties of traditional plant-based Indian drugs, buying them in the bazaars, and in the present work (vol. I, pp. 239-240) he also recommends the establishment of cinchona (the basis for quinine) in India. He was one of the first to botanise in the Himalayas, and his position at Saharunpore allowed him to commission Vishnupersaud and others to produce an important and valuable collection of beautiful and highly accurate drawings of the specimens he found during his plant-hunting expeditions. The resulting collection also contained the first visual record of many species. |
