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ON THE INCREASE OF THE FLORA
OF JAPAN.
BY
Dr. SAVATIER.
Read before the Asiatic Society of Japan,
on the 17th June, 1874.
———o———
The flora of Japan has been enriched of late years by a considerable number of species, and it may be hoped that, at an early future, it will yield to that of no other country of equal area and analogous climatic conditions.
This rapid increase is due not only to the researches of European travellers, who have explored the coasts at rare intervals and penetrated more or less into the interior of the country, but also to the persevering investigations of Japanese botanists, who pursue the science with ardour, and have a far larger acquaintance with the vegetation of their country than is generally supposed in Europe. In proof of this I need only adduce the existence of their rich herbaries, and their innumerable collections of illustrations, where are exhibited, often in great perfection and with excellent regard to anatomical floral details, almost all the Japanese species diffused among our own herbaries, together with many others still unknown to us.
It may be said that the Flora of Japan has been better illustrated than that of many States in Europe. Doubtless all the illustrated works have not the same value, but it would be but a hasty judgment to conclude after an inspection of the book Kwa wi, published 150 years
