This study is based upon the collections made over more than 30 years prior to 1943 by Ralph Steward at Rawalpindi in northwestern India. It was in 1911, as a young instructor there, that Steward commenced the gathering of specimens, & in 1912 that he made his first trip into Kashmir. Since then he had been repeatedly into the Himalayas, spending vacations in Kashmir & collecting in adjacent territory north to Baltistan & east to Ladakh; he traversed the mountains of Lahul & Kulu, & also summered at Landour above Dehra Dun. Author Pennell made Stewart¿s acquaintance in 1914 & 1915. Pennell asked that on his return to India he would pay particular attention to the Scrophulariaceae, a request that Stewart amply answered. 25 plates.

This study was originally planned to follow certain regional papers with a similar account of the family Scrophulariaceae (figwort or foxglove family) for the Middle Atlantic & N. Central States. But it soon seemed preferable to include the southern Appalachians & the whole Atlantic Coastal Plain. The flora of the northern states has been profoundly modified by the glacial epoch, & any understanding of the composition & distribution of our northern flora should also consider the adjoining southern territory where vegetation was little or not affected & from which the north was again populated. So, it was decided to include again the South Atlantic & the West Gulf States. The plan of this study is both more thorough & more comprehensive than earlier efforts. Illus.