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BoMBAX {Villofus) foliis quinque-angularibus villofis, [ fide arc covered with a fliort, brown, liairy dowil, and 



caiile gcniculato. Silk Cotton with five-cornered hairy 



leaves, and a jointed ftalk. -■ -li ^ ■ , -i t 



The firft and fccond forts grow naturally in both In- 

 dies, where they arrive to a great magnitude, being 

 feme of the talleft trees in thofe countries ; but the 

 wood is very light, and not much valued, except for 

 making of canoes, which is the chief ufe made of 

 them. ^ Their trunks are fo large, as when hollowed, 

 to make very large ones. In Columbus's firft voyage 

 it was reported, there was a canoe feen at the ifland 

 of Cuba, made of the hollowed trunk of one of thefe 

 trees, which was ninety-five palms long, and of a 

 proportional width, which would contain a hundred 

 and fifty men : and fome modern writers have af- 

 firmed, that there are trees of thefe forts now grow- 

 ing in the Well-Indies, fo large, as not to be fathom- 

 ed by fixteen men, and fo tall as that an arrow cannot 



be Ihot to their top. ... . ■ 



Thefe trees generally grow with very ftrait ftems ; 

 thofe of the firft fort are clofely armed with ftiort 

 ftrono- fpincs, but the fecond hath very fniooth ftems, 

 which in the young plants are of a bright green, but 

 after a few years, they are covered with a grey, or 

 Alh coloured bark, which turns to a brown as the 

 trees orow older ; they feldom put out any fide 

 branches till they arrive to a confiderable height, un- 

 lefs their leading flioot be broken or injured. The 

 branches toward their top are garnifhed with leaves 

 coriipofed of five, feven, or nine oblong fmooth lobes, 

 \vhich are fpear-lhaped, and join to one center at 

 their, bafe, where they adhere to the long foot-ftalk. 

 Thefe fall away every year, fo that for fome time the 

 trees are naked, and before the new leaves comeovit, 

 the flower-buds appear at the end of the branches, 

 and fbbn after the flowers expand, wliich are com- 

 pofed of five oblong purple petals, with a great num- 

 bei" of ftamina in the center ; when thefe fall off^, they 

 are fucceeded by oval fruit larger than a fwan's egg, 

 having a thick ligneous cover, which, when ripe, 

 opens in five parts, and is full of a dark Ihort cot- 

 ton, ihclofing many roundiili feeds as large as fmall 



Peafe. 



The down which is inclofed in thefe feed-veJTels is 



feldom ufed, except by the poorer inhabitants toftuff 



pillows or chairs, but it is generally thought to be 



unwholefome to lie vipon. 



Thefe two fpecies have been fuppofed the fame by 



many writers on natural hiftory, who have affirmed, 



that the young trees only have prickles on their 



trvmks, and as they grow old, their trunks become 



fmooth ; but from many years experience I can affirm, 

 that tln^ feeds which have been fent me of the two 

 forts, have always produced plants of the difi^erent 

 kinds for which they were fent, and continue the 

 fame in plants, which are more than twenty years 

 growth. 



There was a few years paft a fine plant of another 

 fort in the garden of the late Duke of Richmond, at 

 Goodwood, wliich was raifed from feeds that came 

 from the Eaft-Indies. The ftem of this was very ftrait 

 and fmooth-, the lea^Ts were produced round the 

 top upon very long foot-ftalks, each being compofed 

 of feven or nine long, narrow, filky, fmall lobes, 

 joined at their bafe to the foot-ftalk, in the fame man- 

 ner as thofe of the two former, but they were much 

 longer, and reflexed backward, fo that at firft fio-ht 

 it appeared veiy different from either of them. This 

 may be the fpecies, titled by Jacquin, Bombax flori- 

 ribus pentandris, foliis feptenatis. Amer. 26. 

 The third fort was fent me from the Spanifh Weft- 

 Indics, where it grows naturally, but I do not know 

 to what fize \ the plants which have been raifed here, 

 have foft herbaceous ftalks very full of joints, and 

 do not appear as if they would become woody, for 

 the plants of feveral years growth have foft pithy 

 ftems. The leaves come out on long hairy foot- 

 ftalks toward the top of the plants -, thefe have the 

 appearance of thofe of the Mallow-tree, but are 



larger, and of a thicker confiftence j on their under 





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are cut on rlicir edges into five angles. Hicfe plants 

 have not as yet flowered in England, nor have I re- 

 ceived any information what tiovver they produce v 

 but by the pods and feeds, it appears evidently to he 

 of this genus. The down incloled in tlicfe pods,- is 

 of a fine purple colour ; and I have been informed 

 that the inhabltaiits of the countries where the trees 

 grow naturally, fpin it, and work it into garments, 

 which they wear without dyeing it of any other 

 colour. 



I received a few years fince, a few pods of another 

 fort from Panama, which were not fo large as thofe of 

 the common, but were rounder. The down of thefe 

 v/as red, but the plants raifed from tlie feeds were fo 

 like thofe of the third fort^ as not to be diftinguiflicd 

 from them, fo I doubt of their being diftinct fpecies. 

 I alfo received fome leeds from Siam, which produced 

 plants of the fame kind, fo that thefe trees may be 

 common to many of the hot countries. 

 The plants are propagated by feeds, which muft be 

 fown on a hor-bcd in the fpring ^ if the feeds arc good, 

 the plants will appear in a months and tliofe of the 

 two firft forts Will be ftrong enough to tranfplant in a 

 month after, w^hcn they fnould be each planted in a 

 fmall pot, filled with frcfii lo^my earth, and plunged 

 into a moderate hot-bed of tanners bark, being care- 

 ful to ftiade them from the fun till they have taken 

 frelh root -, after which they fliouM have a large lliar 

 of air admitted to them when the weather is warm, to 

 prevent their being draw* n up weak -, they maift alfo be 

 frequently refrefiied with water^ v/hich muft not.be 

 given in large quantities, efpceially the third fort, 

 whofe ftalks are very fubjeft to rot wnth much moif- 

 ture. In this bed they .may remain till autumn (pro- 

 vided there is roorn for the plants und.-r the glaifes) 

 but if the heat of the bed declines, the tan ftiould be 



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ftirred up, and frefli added to it j and if the plants have 

 filled the pots with their roots, they fiiould be ibifted 

 into pots a little larger •, but there muft be care takea 

 not to over-pot them, for nothing is more injurious 

 to thefe plants, than to be put into large pots, in 

 which they will never thrive. In the autumn they 

 muft be removed into the bark-ftove, where they 

 muft conftantly remain, being too tender to thrive in 

 this country in any other fituation. In winter they 

 muft have but little v/et, efpecially if they caft their 

 leaves ; but in the fummer they fliould be frequently 

 refrefhed with water, and in warm weather muft have 

 plenty of frefli air admitted to them. With this ma- 

 nagement the plants will make great progrefs, and 

 in a fe\V years will reach the glaffes on the top 



bf the ftove, efpecially if the building is not pretty 

 lofty. . ^ ^ 



The plants make an agreeable variety in a large ftove 

 where they have room to grow, their leaves having 

 a different appearance from moft other plants ; but 

 as they are feveral years old before they flower in the 



. countries where they grow natur^ Ily, there is little 

 hopes of their producing any in England. 



B O N D U C. See Guilandiva. 



BON T I A. Lin. Gen. Plant. 709; Plum. Nov. Gen. 



23. Hort. Elth. 49, Barbadoes Wild 

 The Characters are, 



// hath a fmall ere£i empalement^ which is quinquifid and 

 permanent. "The flower is of the ringent kind., having a 

 long cylindrical tube^ S^pl^S ^^ ^^^ ^^^'^^ % '^he upper lip 



back%vard. 



^Ifiapedft. 



ifii 



fi 



^f 



fit u a ted the oval ger men ^ f upper ting a fu 



der ftyle the leJigth of the ftamina, crc-zir'ied hy a bifid ob- 

 tufe ftigma. The germen afterivard becomes an oval berry 

 with one cell, includiyiga nut of thcfa-nt form. 

 This genus of plants is ranged in the iccond fecLicn 

 of Linn.^us's fourteenth clafs, inriiled Dxdynamia 

 Angioipermia, the flower having two long and two 

 fliort ftamina, and the feeds are included in a cover. 



The 



