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The flora of the Indian Subcontinent has stirred European curiosity and investigation for over two millennia. From pepper, to rhododendrons, orchids, and alpine flowers, Indian plants have long been highly prized in Western horticulture, commerce and art. This book chronicles the first European awareness of the Indian flora in the fifth century BC to the demise in the mid-nineteenth century of the British East Indian Company and of its successor, the India Office. An epilogue briefly surveys the development of botanical studies since independence in 1947.