Hibiscua. monadelpula dodecandria. 193 



terminal ; exterior cali/x eight or iiine-cleft. C((psules ten- 

 celled, five-v;ilveil ; the length oi the iiuicr calyx. 



Bain, (he Sanscrit name. 



Beiiff. Bola. 



Pariii. Rhetd. Mai. i. t. 80, 



Novella r('j)ens. Rninph. Ainh. ii.p. 222. 



Hibiscus filiocens. Lour. Cochin Ch. p. 50.9. 



A native of most parts of India ; found chiefly near the sea, 

 and on the banks of larije rivers,at no oreat distance from it; 

 growing to be a tree of considerable size, with a stout, crook- 

 ed trunk, or rather, like an immense bush, with numerous, 

 very crooked branches, spreading wide, close to the ground. 

 Flowering- time in Bengal the hot season, viz. March, April, 

 and May ; the se(;d ripens three or four months afterwards. 



Leaves alternate, petioled, round-cordate, pointed, minute- 

 ly crenulate, smooth above, hoary underneath ; about four 

 inches each way. Petioles an inch, or an inch and a half 

 long, round, downy. Stipnies opposite, obliquely oblong-. 

 Peduncles terminal, and from the exterior axills, two or 

 three- Howered. Pedicels clavate, downy. Floicers large, 

 campanulate, drooping,of a bright yellow, with the inside of 

 the bottom of the bell, dark crimson. Bractes opposite, ob- 

 liquely oblong-, very downy, caducous. Culif.r ; the e.xteiior 

 one deeply divided into seven, or ten lanceolate-conic seg-- 

 nients ; the inner one twin, the length of the exterior one ; 

 five-cleft, each division has a glandular protuberance. In 

 the Molucca plant, which has been blended with this, as one 

 species, the exterior calyx is ten-toothed, and about one third 

 or one fourth the length of the inner calyx, both are downy, 

 and permanent. Germ ovate, villous; ten-celled, each cell 

 containing- from five to eight ovula, attached to the inner 

 angle of the cells. Stir/ma five-lobed, clothed with clammy, 

 dark crimson filaments, with glandular heads. Capsule the 

 length of the inner calyx, ovate, acute, densely clothed w ith 

 stellate pubescence, of the size of a nutmeg-, ten-celled, five- 

 valved; that is, they open spontaneously into five, but may 



VOL. III. V 



