102 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Byttneriacee. 
24. BYTTNERIACEZ. 
This order, sometimes called Sterculiacee, includes plants agreeing in many respects 
among themselves, as well as with the following and the two last orders, but differing 
in some particulars so as to require subdivision into sections: they are chiefly found 
in the hot parts of Africa, America, and Asia. They extend as far north as 31° of lati- 
tude in India, and southward as far as New Holland and the Cape of Good Hope. 
_ The genera Sterculia, Byttneria, Pentapetes, Reidleia, Waltheria, and Melochia, are 
common to India, as well as to America, and the two first to other parts of the world; 
while Heretiera, Abroma, and Pterospermum, extend from the Moluccas and Indian 
Islands into the Peninsula, and southern parts of the province of Bengal. riolena, 
Wallichia, Microlena, and Kydia, are genera which have only been found in India; 
the last in every part, and the others in the forests which skirt Nepal and Kemaon. 
The species of Bytineriacee, which are found in the most northern parts of the 
plains of India, are Melochia. corchorifolia, an annual, which springs up during. the 
rainy season; Waltheria indica in the Deyra Doon; while of arboreous species, a 
yellow variety of Sterculia coccinea, S. villosa, and Kydia. calycina, are found in the 
tract of forest, which extends from Hurdwar to the Jumna, and as high as four 
thousand feet above the level of the sea, on the road from Rajpore toJurreepanee. But 
though the arboreous species are absent from the plains, those which have been intro- 
duced succeed remarkably well in the. Botanic Garden at Saharunpore; as Pteros- 
permum acerifolium, suberifolium and. semisagittatum, and. Abroma augusta ; the last would 
succeed in every part of India, as the climate of Saharunpore so far to the north is favour- 
able to it.. Guazuma ulmifolia, from America, is also now perfectly acclimated in many 
parts of India, as at Allahabad, and in the Saharunpore Botanic Garden. 
As the nearly allied order, JZalvacee, has. been shown to abound in, mucilage and in 
fibre useful for its tenacity, so. is it with many of the Bytineriacee, The young bark 
of Guazuma ulmifolia, abounding in mucilage, is used in Martinique to clarify sugar. 
The bark of Kydia. calycina is employed in the northern provinces of India for the same 
purpose, as well as Abelmoschus: moschatus, both abounding in mucilage. The gum 
Tragacanth, of Sierra Leone is produced, as we are informed by Dr. Lindley, by a 
species of Sterculia, which he has called S. Tragacantha. Sterculia urens, a native of 
the mountains on. the coast of Coromandel, as well as of Hindoosthan, yields a gum 
which is exceedingly like Zragacanth, and has been imported as such into England. 
' Sterculia guttata yields a bark, which the Malabars convert into a flaxy substance, of 
which the natives of Wynaad make a sort of clothing. ord, Fl. Ind. 3. p. 149. 
Microlena spectabilis yields fibres fit for rope-making, and Abroma augusta abounds in 
strong white fibres, which make a good substitute for hemp, and as. the plant 
succeeds well in every part of India, grows quickly, and yields annually two, three, 
or even four crops of cuttings fit for peeling; it is particularly recommended by Dr. 
Roxburgh for cultivation. As the seeds of Ster¢ulia chicka are eaten by the Brazilians, 
so 
