In the late 17th Century, when Madras was a fledgling colony of the British East India Company, Samuel Browne, an English physician, made an exceptional effort to document the region’s flora. His position within the colonial establishment — a ship surgeon aboard the company’s vessel and then the Surgeon of Madras at Fort St. George — gave him a distinctive role, both as a medical professional and as a naturalist. The details of his botanical explorations, preserved in an extensive collection of herbarium specimens, is housed in the Natural History Museum, London. Browne’s work offers a window on the local knowledge of flora in Madras at a time when its people closely observed the herbs, plants, weeds, and even the roots, using them to treat ailments. He collected a range of flora, totalling 316 specimens, and labelled each dried specimen with local names. He also listed their traditional uses, which he is said to have learned from Tamil-and Telugu-speaking doctors.
Expeditions in Madras
Ranee Om Prakash, senior curator at the Algae, Fungi, and Plants Division of the Natural History Museum, wrote in her 2024 research paper, published in Botany Letters, that Browne travelled to several locations around Fort St. George in 1696. His journeys took him to Hinguer Pollum (Eguvarpalayam, Thiruvallur district), followed by Pearmeedoor (Sriperumbudur, Kancheepuram district). He also visited Chamberamback and Aumerampead (Chembarambakkam and Amarampedu, Thiruvallur), and Perre-Pollum and Eremita Pollum (Periyapalayam and Erumaivettippalaiyam, Thiruvallur). Additionally, Browne travelled to Salawacka (Salavakkam, Kancheepuram) and Trippettee (Tirupati, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh).
Browne was not alone in his endeavours. He corresponded regularly with renowned collectors and naturalists, including James Petiver, an English apothecary and collector. Through these exchanges, Browne’s specimens made their way to England, where they would be catalogued by the Royal Society and later transferred to the British Museum. It was Petiver who helped bring these specimens to the world’s attention, publishing detailed descriptions of each plant in a series of papers.
“The ethnobotanical information recorded in Browne’s herbarium has the potential to inform our understanding of changes in the vernacular names and the uses of plants both over time and across different cultures. A crucial first step in this is to establish the identity of the plants,” writes Ms. Ranee.
The wealth of insights provided by Browne’s collection doesn’t end there. Ms. Ranee, alongside Mark Carine, the Chief Curator of the Algae, Fungi, and Plants Division at the Natural History Museum, has uncovered hundreds of more specimens collected by other East India Company officials. Some of them, alongside Browne’s, were recently exhibited at the Department of Botany, Madras Christian College.
What truly distinguishes Browne’s work, however, is the exceptional level of details he recorded for each specimen. While other folios feature multiple species with only names or locations listed, he meticulously documented the names in “Gentue” (Telugu) and “Malabar” (Tamil) and traditional uses of the plants.
Among Browne’s specimens and notes, he recorded several plants with notable medicinal uses. Cissus vitiginea (South Indian Tree Vine or Sempirandai), according to Browne, could cure buboes through a decoction of its leaves and roots. Nyctanthes arbor-tristis (Tree of Sadness or Pavalamalli) was noted by Browne for its ability to treat cough and asthma with a decoction of its bark and roots. Zanthoxylum asiaticum (Forest Pepper or Milakaranai) had multiple uses, as Browne recorded: its bark, leaves, and berries mixed with butter could cure scab and itch, while the root bark could expel wind and ease gripes. Phyllanthus amarus (Carry-me-seed or Keezhanelli), according to Browne, was used to treat yellow jaundice and fevers when ground into pills, and its mixture with milk could cure gonorrhoea, while combined with turmeric, it helped to heal the itch and ringworms.
Collaborative research
Now, Ms. Ranee and G. Gnanasekaran, Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, Madras Christian College, are reconstructing a detailed account of the plants — 1,514 specimens mounted on 705 folios — that once flourished around Madras. They have identified and catalogued hundreds collected by various East India Company officials.
Apart from shedding light on the flora that had once been so integral to the region’s ecology and culture, the herbarium has several uses, says Mr. Carine. Delivering a lecture at the Madras Christian College recently, he said, “We are living in times of change. The specimens we collect now will be used 300 years down the line in ways we can’t imagine.”
Beyond cataloguing and identifying old specimens, the researchers are trying to answer questions long overlooked. How have the vernacular names of plants changed over time? What traditional knowledge of medicinal plants has been lost? What impact has urbanisation had on the local flora? Their work will result in an annotated checklist of the flora of Madras in the late 17th and early 18th Centuries and a comparative analysis with the latest botanical knowledge will be done, say the researchers.
As part of the research, Ms. Ranee and Mr. Gnanasekaran have uncovered a surprising number of duplicates of the same species. Some species that were once abundant may no longer be found locally, while others may have adapted or been displaced by new arrivals. In the coming years, the data gathered by the researchers will be made public in the data portal of the Natural History Museum, which is expected to contribute to a broader understanding of the changing botanical landscape of South India.
Published – March 13, 2025 10:51 pm IST