Malvacee.} 
cent. better than that of Surat. Lamarck’s G. indicum. 
Encycel, 2. p.134, Capas, Rumph, Amb. 4. p. 33. t. 12. 
Dr. R. says, is no doubt one of these varieties; Cavanilles 
(Diss. 6. p. 314, t. 169.) having seen it in flower in Paris, 
was of the same opinion. The variety cultivated about 
Cawnpore and in the Doab, is figured tab. 23. fig. 1. froma 
drawing in General Hardwicke’s collection, There are 
also specimens from Saluen and Tavoy. 
Besides India, this species is cultivated in Syria, Asia 
Minor, and the Mediterranean. Specimens of it have been 
brought by Mr, Wilkinson from Egypt. ‘“ Wild cotton 
from the oases,” appears to be also a variety, as well as 
gotun, biladi, in the same collection deposited in the British 
Museum. G, punctatum, cultivated on the banks of the 
Senegal, and in the country between it and the river Gam- 
bia, is nearly allied to it, according to the authors of the 
Flore de Senegambie. Varieties must have been introduced 
into America, as seed is said to have been taken from 
Smyrna, when the Americans commenced the cultivation of 
cotton, 
4. G. arboreum, Stem arboreous, 15 to 20 feet, some- 
times shrubby, young parts hairy, tinged of a reddish 
colour, Leaves palmate, 3 or 5-lobed, hairy, dotted with 
blackish spots, of a dark green colour, lobes elongated, 
lanceolate, sometimes mucronate, sinus obtuse, glands one, 
sometimes three. Stipules awl-shaped. Flowers solitary, 
with short peduncles, red,.with a yellowish tinge near the 
claws, Leaflets of the exterior calyx cordate-ovate, entire, 
sometimes dentate. Capsule ovate-pointed, 3 or 4 celled, 
four to five seeds, covered with a greenish-coloured fur, 
enveloped in a fine silky yellowish-white wool—Xylon 
arboreum auctorum. Gossypium arboreum gotnem segiar 
(i.e. the large cotton) Prosp. Alp, Exot. t. 38. G.herbacewm 
vel Xylon maderaspatense rubicundo flore pentaphylleum. 
Pluk, Alm. 172, t. 188. f.3. G,arboreum. cotn el sadjar. 
Forsk, ASgyp. p. 70.° dn G, rubrum. Forsk. p. 116, Wild. 3. 
p. 804, Lamarck Encyel. 2. p. 135, Cav. Diss. 6. p, 310. 
t. 165. Roxb; Fl. Ind, 3. p. 182, DC, Prod, 1. p. 456. 
Dr, Roxburgh was of opinion, that Cadu pariti of Rheede, 
Hort. Mal. 1. p. 55. t. 31. is not this plant; but observes, it 
may be G. religiosum of Gaertner. 2. p. 246. t. 134. £1, kt 
is remarkable, that one specimen of G. barbadense is marked 
G. arborewm in the Linnean Herbarium, and that it should 
be marked G. religiosum in Heyne’s Herbarium. I was 
informed by Huree Sing, the head-gardener inthe H. C.’s 
Botanic Garden at Saharunpore, that the cotton of this 
plant was never used for making any of the lower gar- 
ments, but only for turbans for the head, as it was sacred 
to their deities. Some legend of this kind. may have 
reached Linneus, though the name is now applied to a 
different species, G. arboreum is found in the island of 
Celebes, in Arabia, Egypt, and in India; in the latter it 
is called nurma-barree, and is generally found in the 
clumps of trees which surround temples, or the abodes of 
- Fuqueers. As stated at p. 96,it may be cultivated like the 
common cottons. 
5. G. micranthum (Cav.) Stem branched, reddish- 
coloured, free from pubescence, but covered with black 
spots, Leaves 5-lobed, lobes roundish acuminate, with a 
single gland. Stipules lanceolate. Flowers solitary oppo- 
site to the leaves, Leaflets of the exterior calyx cordate, 
THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 
99 
| striated and laciniate, much longer than the corolla, three: 
whitish glands between the base of the inner and the divi- 
sions of the outer calyx. Corol yellow, petals ovate acute, 
rather hairy, claws purple. Germen globose.—Cav. Diss. 
6. p. 311. t. 193. This species, grown in Persia, near 
Ispahan, flowered in the Paris Garden, and enabled Cava-~ 
_nelles to write his description, I have not been able ta 
ascertain what species is cultivated in Persia, but the cotton 
from that country is frequently of good quality. Mr, Bruce, 
in a short notice communicated to the Agricultural Society 
of India, states that the cotton improves the nearer it is to 
the sea-coast ; and also that the same plant is annually cut 
down, and springs up again, so as to bear a erop for 
twenty or thirty years in succession. 
6. G. religiosum. Perennial. Stem 3-4 feet, branches 
and petioles a little velyetty, hirsute towards the apex, and 
loaded with black points, Leaves cordate, superior 3-lobed, 
inferior 5-lobed, deeply divided, lobes ovate-acuminate, 
- entire pubescent (some of the lower ones ovate-acuminate), 
one to three glands, Stipules lanceolate deciduous (cordate 
acuminate. Row.) Flowers large fulvous, peduncles short, 
dotted. Leaflets of the exterior calyw large, cordate acumi- 
nate, deeply laciniate, hairy and dotted. Capsule ovate 
acuminate, dotted, 3, 4, or 5-celled. Seeds black, covered 
with firmly-adhering, short tawny fur, under the long 
tawny-coloured wool.—Swartz. Observ. Bot. p. 267. Rowb. 
’ Fl. Indica. 3, p, 185. 
Sir James Smith says, “ what Linneus intended by 
G. religivsum is rather doubtful ; that in his herbarium ap- 
pears to be G. Barbadense.” Rees Cycl. The distinguishing 
characteristic of what is at present considered snch, is the 
bearing ¢awny instead of white cotton; but there is consi- 
derable difficulty in ascertaining whether only one or more 
species have such, or whether the colour is sufficiently per- 
manent to allow of its being depended on as a specific 
character, There are certainly two distinct localities for 
it, one China, the other Siam. Swartz described the 
species from plants cultivated in Jamaica from seed sent 
from China, under the name of Nankin cotton. Dr. Rox. 
burgh also describes from cotton introduced into Bengal, 
and called Nankeen cotton. Specimens, in Dr. Lindley’s 
Herbariam, from the neighbourhood of Macao, with tawny 
cotton, show the species to be very distinct from the other 
cultivated cottons. A specimen in the British Museum, 
brought from Otaheite by the Forsters, and marked G. reli- 
giosum, much dotted, and with small globular acuminated 
capsules and tawny cotton, resembles that from Macao, A 
specimen from the Sandwich Islands, with downy-looking 
dotted velvetty leaves, also belongs to this species, and is 
marked G. religiosum. In America and the West-Indies the 
tawny-coloured cotton seems to be generally considered the 
produce of Siam. Lamarck alludes to areddish-coloured cot- 
ton from Siam, and mentions that inthe Antilles asimilar kind 
is cultivated, called “ Cotonnier de Siam.” Rohr has three 
species, “ Cotonnier de Siam a duvet brun;” “ Coton 
lisse de Siam brun ;” “ Cotonnier de Siam couronné brun.” 
Cavanilles describes his G. religiosum as being from the 
Cape of Good Hope, but with very white wool ; and refers 
to it G. tricuspidatum of Lamarck, believed to be from the’ 
warm parts of America, Poiret, Dict. des Sc. Nat, also 
o 2 unites’ 
e 
