A British surgeon’s documentation of the flora in 17th Century Madras Premium

Samuel Browne's botanical explorations in 17th-century Madras offer insights into traditional plant uses and changing flora over time.

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.

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.