ON THE WESTERN COAST OF AFRICA. 301 
six- or generally seven-seeded. Seeds covered with close, short, glisten- 
ing “fuzz,” enveloped in a fine, silky, soft, glistening wool of a dazzling 
white. 
emarks.—I only know this by there being a few plants on Aké rock, 
near the Akese last described; but I cannot find out whence they came. 
The site of their growth, like every foot of earth in and around Abbeo- 
kuta, was at one time in a state of cultivation. The old farmer on 
whose farm I have a small piece of ground for experimental purposes, 
informs me that when a boy he remembers this Akese (which he calls 
“Akese Egba," to distinguish it from the other, or Akese Oibo, white 
man’s Akese) ; but that it was very rare, only a few plants having been 
raised, and kept jealously secluded from the “ profanum vulgus" by the 
medical fraternity, who here, as often in more civilized communities, are 
great mystery men, and that in a large town perhaps only two or three 
- plants would be found, and these not allowed to be taken to the farm. 
4. Pón (pronounced “ Eh-kpwong "), or Pówú (Eh-kpowu). Brown 
or Nankeen-coloured Cotton. j - 
Character. —Shrubby, bush 4-5 feet high, smooth. eaves as if 
truncated, lobed, the angles very oblique; upper and smaller leaves 
generally three-lobed ; lower larger and older, five-lobed; basal lobes 
smallest; Zobes short, broadly ovate, acute; the young shoots pinkish 
above, slightly hairy ; leaves smooth, perfectly free from hairs, glaucous, 
small, compared with the ** Owü " or common Cotton. Peéioles smooth 
or slightly downy, long, at right angles with the stem, tinged with 
pink on the upper side. Stipules broad, faleato-lanceolate. Flowers 
(not seen, but) yellow. Involucel laciniate, cordate at the base, light- 
coloured. Capsules ovate, round, filled out, smooth, glaucous, no pits 
Or punctatures, shortly rostrate, three- or four-celled. Seeds six to 
seven, small, covered with closely adhering short fawn-coloured fuzz, 
enveloped in tawny or fawn-coloured cotton, with short staple. 
Remarks.—There is a very marked difference in the appearance of — 
this plant as seen in a field of Cotton, from the “Owi,” or common — 
Cotton. The smaller size of the leaves and their truncated appearance, — 
their shorter lobes and very oblique angles, readily serve to distinguish - 
them. From all I can learn it does not appear that the colour of the — 
Cotton is merely a temporary and accidental variety. Seeds which i 
purehased in the market, and planted, have produced seemingly in all 
cases exactly the same quality of cotton, and the farmers here say it 
