126 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



known to inhabit Australia or Polynesia ; and the African specimens referred to this 

 species are doubtful. 



Gossypium barbadense, Linn. 



Gossypium barbadense, Linn.; Hook, f., Fl. Brit. Ind., i. p. 347; Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afr., i. p. 210; 



Seem., Fl. Vit, p. 21. 

 Gossypium viti/olium, Lam. ; Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat., i. 2, p. 163. 



Timor Laut. — Generally diffused in hot countries as an escape from or the remains of 

 cultivation. The varieties of this species furnish the so-called American cotton. 



Gossypium herbaceum, Linn. 



Gossypium herbaceum, Linn.; Hook, f., Fl. Brit. Ind., i. p. 346; Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afr., i. p. 211; 

 Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat., i. 2, p. 162 (Gossypium. indicum et Gossypium micranthum). 



Timor Laut. — Now widely diffused in warm countries. Gossijpium stochsii, Masters 

 in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind., i. p. 346, is probably the wild parent of the forms usually 

 referred to this species. 



Bombax insigne, Wall. ? 



Bombax insigne, Wall., PL Asiat. Ear., p. 71, tt. 79, 80? Hook, f., FL Brit. Ind., i. p. 349. 



Timor Laut. — It is uncertain whether the Timor Laut specimen belongs to the present 

 species, or to the commoner Indian Bombax malabaricum, which has also been found in 

 North Australia. There is one different species in Tropical Africa, and several in America. 

 Miquel does not include the genus, and there are no other Archipelago specimens in the 

 Kew Herbarium. 



STERCULIACE^E. 



Sterculia fcetida, Linn. 



Sterculia foetida, Linn. ; Bentli., Fl. Anstr., i. p. 226; Hook, f., Fl. Brit. Ind., i. p. 354; Miq., FL 

 Ind. Bat., i. 2, p. 172. 



Lakor ; Timor Laut. — Tropical Australia ; throughout the Indian Archipelago, 

 India, including the Western Peninsula, and Eastern Tropical Africa. A large tree 

 common in the Moluccas. Two other species of Sterculia were collected in Timor Laut and 

 Ki Island ; one of them is apparently Sterculia balanghas, a common Indian species. 

 The genus is a large one, and spread over all tropical countries, but most numerous in 

 species in Asia, where it extends into temperate regions in China and Japan. Sterculia 

 vitiensis, Seem. (Fl. Vit., p. 23), is very closely allied to Sterculia fcetida. 



