BOMBACACEAE. 241 



at the apex, cordate at the base, the small flowers in axillary dense racemes, 

 the white petals only 2"-3" long, the carpels in a single row, is recorded by 

 Lefroy as uncommon in gardens, called SWEET, or WHITE ABUTILON. [Abuti- 

 lon pulcliellum Sweet; Sida pulchella Willd.] 



Family 3. BOMBACACEAE Schumann. 

 BOMBAX FAMILY. 



Trees, mostly with palmately compound leaves and large and showy 

 perfect flowers. Calyx inferior, mostly 5-toothed. Petals 5. Stamens com- 

 monly very numerous, with long filaments and short, anthers. Ovary 2-5- 

 celled ; style simple ; stigmas as many as the ovary-cavities. Fruit various, 

 dry or fleshy. Seeds usually woolly. About 20 genera and over 100 

 species, natives of tropical regions. 



Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertu., SILK-COTTON TREE, a very large tree 

 with spreading branches, native of tropical America and tropical Asia, has a 

 trunk armed with spines, its base with large buttresses. The long-petioled 

 palmately compound leaves have 5 or 7 lanceolate leaflets 4'-6' long; the 

 large flowers are in stalked lateral or axillary clusters, and the 5-celled cap- 

 sules enclose many seeds enveloped in wool. [Eriodendron aufractuosum DC.; 

 Bombax pentandrum L. ; Bombax Ceiba of Lefroy and of H. B. Small.] 



Two of the trees mentioned by Lefroy as planted at Mount Langton by 

 Governor Eeid in 1845 existed there in 1914, having attained great size at the 

 base of the hill ; the straight columnar trunks were then over five feet in 

 diameter and at least sixty feet in height. A few smaller trees may be seen 

 in other places; one at Orange Valley, seen in 1914, was then about 2A in 

 trunk diameter. 



Ochroma Lagopus Sw., CORKWOOD, of tropical America, represented in 

 1913 by a young plant at the Agricultural Station, is a large tree with orbicu- 

 lar cordate long-petioled, entire or lobed leaves often 1 broad, more or less 

 stellate-pubescent, large terminal flowers, and large 5-celled capsules contain- 

 ing many seeds covered with brown wool. Its wood is very light in weight. 



Bombax aquaticum (Aubl.) Schum., BOMBAX, planted experimentally at 

 the Public Garden, St. George's, in 1914, is a South American tree with 

 petioled, palmately compound leaves of 5-9 ovate-lanceolate leaflets, the 

 large and showy flowers with 5 oblong, yellowish petals and very numerous 

 red stamens. [Pachira aquatica Aubl. ; Carolinea princeps L. f.] 



Family 4. STERCULIACEAE H.B.K. 

 CHOCOLATE FAMILY. 



Shrubs, trees or herbs. Leaves alternate, simple, entire or toothed. 

 Flowers mostly perfect, regular, in spikes, racemes or panicles. Calyx of 5 

 distinct or nearly distinct sepals. Corolla of 5 distinct petals, or wanting. 

 Androecium of as many fertile stamens as there are sepals and alternate 

 with them, or numerous; filaments sometimes in groups, the anthers with 

 parallel sacs, opening extrorsely. Gynoecium of 5 united carpels or rarely 

 of 1 carpel ; ovary 5-celled or 1-celled ; styles distinct or united. Ovules 

 few or several, ascending or horizontal. Fruit a capsule or follicle. About 



17 



