The Species of Pedicularis of the Indian Empire and Its Frontiers

Calcutta : Bengal Secretariat Press, 1890-01-01. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Folio. Bound in contemporary quarter black leather. Gilt lettering on spine. 4 raised bands. Marbled boards. In protective mylar. Good binding and cover. Minor wear to extremities. Front board starting. Japanese character stamp on title page. Pencil notation on title page dating purchase from bookstore in Japan, 1951. 196 pages : illustrations ; 35 cm. Clean, unmarked pages with tanning. <br><br>Sir David Prain M.D., FRS was a Scottish physician and botanist. Prain duly went to India as a physician / botanist in the Indian Medical Service, and in 1887 was appointed curator of the Calcutta herbarium. In 1898 he was promoted director of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta as well as the Botanical Survey of India, and superintendent of Cinchona Cultivation in Bengal, remaining there until 1905. From 1898 to 1905 he also served as Professor of Botany at the Medical College of Calcutta. In 1905 he became Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. <br><Br> Pedicularis is a genus of perennial green root parasite plants currently placed in the broomrape family Orobanchaceae (the genus previously having been placed in Scrophulariaceae). The highest diversity is in eastern Asia, with 352 species accepted in China alone.