Bombacea.] THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. | 101 
Maurice cotton, from Tanjore. Dr. Roxburgh was of opi- 
nion, that it succeeds better in the more elevated, dryer, | from the want of specimens, to ascertain whether they 
and less fertile soil of Coromandel, than in Bengal. are entitled to the distinction, or should only be considered 
G. vitifolium is cultivated in Brazil, according to M. St. | varieties. 6, peruvianum, figured by Cavanilles, tab. 168, 
Hilaire, in the province of Mines, near Rio de Janeiro, | js nearly allied to his G. vitifolium, at tab. 167; and the 
and also in other parts, according to M,Gaudichaud. M., | seeds are black and free from fur. G.7racemosum is sup- 
Martius adduces, among the common plants of the province, posed to afford the cotton of Porto Rico. Specimens of 
this and some other species, as G. herbacewm and G. barba- | other species may be seen in the British Museum, which it 
dense, Without specimens or a full description, it is impos- | js difficult to know where to refer, as one from the Sand- 
sible to know to what plants these names refer, nor the | wich Islands, which is very large, with shining coriaceous 
plant which Dr. Roxburgh describes under this name, | leaves, and large entire cordate-acuminate leaflets of the 
having seed clothed with firmly-adhering short greenish | exterior calyx: flowers having a bilabiate appearance, with 
gray down, under the long fine white wool, respecting | 9 very long style. 
which, however, he himself appears uncertain, as he does 
not mention it in his enumeration of the number of distinct 
species he had been able to make out, 
Several other species are enumerated; but it is impossible, 
23. BOMBACEZ. 
The Bombacee, closely allied in structure and properties to the last order, are chiefly. 
confined to the warmer parts of South America and the West Indies; but several species 
of Helicteres have been discovered by Dr. Wallich within the Burhmese territories, and 
others are found in China. In India, some of the same genera are found, but only a 
few species of each. Bombar Malabaricum referred to B. heptaphyllum by Dr. Rox- 
burgh, and Helicteres Isora, extend from one end of India to the other, particularly 
along the foot of the Himalaya. Eriodendrom anfractuosum is confined to the Peninsula, 
and Durio zibethinus, or Durian tree, remarkable for having fruit foetid in smell, and 
delicious in taste, is found only in Penang, and the islands of the Indian Archipelago. 
Adansonia digitata, an African plant, must have been long introduced into India, as 
large trees of it exist at Allahabad ; also in the Peninsula, and in the island of Ceylon. 
The plants of this family, allied to the Malvacee in structure, are equally so 
in properties, as many are mucilaginous, and the inner bark of others affords 
material for cordage ; while the silky cotton, which envelopes the seeds of Bomba, 
and some other genera, is employed in stuffing cushions and pillows, as it is unfit for 
the purposes of spinning. Several species of Bombax have, in the relations of travellers, 
been called the cotton-tree ; and hence some confusion has resulted, as these have been 
mistaken for the true tree cotton, Gossypium arboreum. The wood of Bombax malabaricum 
is white, light, and spongy, frequently used in India for floating rafts. An astringent 
gum-resin is yielded by this tree, called mochrus, which, as well as the young roots, 
called mooslee-suffed, are considered very strengthening. The natives of India, like those 
of Europe in former times, believing that external signs point out the properses a 
by plants, consider that the twisted fruit of Helicteres Tsora, soompi ine it is useful, 
and they therefore prescribe it in pains of the bowels. eect digitata, - — 
tree, though not a native, is quite at home in India. It is emollient and mucilaginous 
in all its parts. The leaves dried and reduced to powder, neces “mye mane daily 
by the Africans to diminish excessive perspiration. — seed slightly anh and 
agreeable, is frequently eaten, while the expressed juice, mixed with sugar, is valued 
as an antiseptic drink.—Hooker Bot. Mag. 2792. 
24, ByTTNERIACE#. 
