A Dictionary Of The Economic Products Of India

The Dictionary of the Economic Products of India is a monumental work that was compiled by a Scottish doctor and botanist, George Watt. The dictionary contains information on India's commercial plants and produce, including scientific and vernacular names, properties, domestic and medical uses, trade statistics, and published sources. Watt hoped that the dictionary would be found "sufficiently accurate in its scientific details for all practical and commercial purposes." The first volume of the dictionary was published in six parts between 1889 and 1893, and an index volume was completed in 1896. The whole work is now reissued in nine separate parts.

A Scottish doctor and botanist, George Watt (1851-1930) had studied the flora of India for more than a decade before he took on the task of compiling this monumental work. Assisted by numerous contributors, he set about organising vast amounts of information on India's commercial plants and produce, including scientific and vernacular names, properties, domestic and medical uses, trade statistics, and published sources. Watt hoped that the dictionary, 'though not a strictly scientific publication', would be found 'sufficiently accurate in its scientific details for all practical and commercial purposes'. First published in six volumes between 1889 and 1893, with an index volume completed in 1896, the whole work is now reissued in nine separate parts. Volume 6, Part 1 (1892) contains entries from Pachyrhizus angulatus (a large climbing herb) to rye (not indigenous to India).