36 



valvate sestivation of true Malvaceae ; they are also known by their pentadel- 

 phous stamens. The Hand plant of Mexico (Cheirostemon) owes its name 

 to this latter circumstance ; its five bundles of stamens being thick, coloured, 

 and all turned to one side, so as to resemble a paw with five claws. 



Geography. The station seems to be the hottest parts of the world; 

 for the Plagianthus of Forster, referred here by M. Decandolle, probably 

 does not belong to the order. The principal part of the species are South 

 American or West Indian ; a few Helicteres, one Eriodendron, one Bombax, 

 and the Durio, being all that are recorded from the East Indies, and Adan- 

 sonia and Ophelus being the only African plants of the order. 



Properties. These, like Malvacese, are mucilaginous plants, having 

 no known deleterious properties. Bombax pentandrum, the Cotton Tree 

 of India, yields a gum, which is given in conjunction with spices in certain 

 stages of bowel complaints. Ainslie, 2. 97. The largest tree in the world 

 is the Adansonia, or Baobab Tree, the trunk of which has been found with 

 a diameter of 30 feet; but its height is not in proportion. " It is emollient 

 and mucilaginous in all its parts. The leaves dried and reduced to powder 

 constitute Lalo, a favourite article with the Africans, which they mix daily 

 with their food, for the purpose of diminishing the excessive perspiration to 

 which they are subject in those climates ; and even Europeans find it service- 

 able in cases of diarrhoea, fevers, and other maladies. The fruit is, perhaps, 

 the most useful part of the tree. Its pulp is slightly acid and agreeable, 

 and frequently eaten ; while the juice is expressed from it, mixed with 

 sugar, and constitutes a drink, which is valued as a specific in putrid and 

 pestilential fevers." Hooker Bot. Mag. 2792. The dried pulp is mixed with 

 water, and administered, in Egypt, in dysentery. It is chiefly composed of a 

 gum, like Gum Senegal, a sugary matter, starch, and an acid which appears 

 to be the malic. Delile, Cent. 12. The fruit of the Durian is considered one 

 of the most delicious productions of nature ; it is remarkably foetid, and 

 therefore disagreeable to those who are unaccustomed to it, but it universally 

 becomes in the end a favourite article of the dessert. It is found in the 

 islands of the Indian Archipelago, where it is cultivated extensively ; see 

 Hort. Trans. 5, 106. The seeds of many of the species are enveloped in 

 long hairs, like those of the true Cotton : it is found, however, that they 

 cannot be manufactured, in consequence of no adhesion existing between 

 the hairs. This is said to arise from the hairs being perfectly smooth, 

 and destitute of certain asperities found upon the hairs of the true Cotton, 

 to which that plant owes its valuable properties. The woolly coat of the 

 seeds of the Aiiwre de Paina (Chorisia speciosa), and several species of 

 Eriodendron and Bombax, is employed in different countries for stuffing 

 cushions, and for similar domestic purposes. PI. Us. 63. Helicteres 

 Sacarolha, called by the latter name only in Brazil, is used against venereal 

 disorders: a decoction of the root is administered. It is supposed that its 

 cflTects depend upon its mucilaginous properties. Ibid. 64. 



Examples. Bombax, Matisia, Montezuma, Eriodendron. 



XXVII. STERCULIACE^. 



S'lERcuLiACEiE, Vent. Malm. 2. 91.' (I7!)9.) — HF.BMANViACEi^, Juss ByttnC- 



RiACEvF., Brtmn in Flinders, 2. 54i). {1814) ; Kunth. /)i.v.s. p.O". (1822) ; Dec. Prodr. 

 1. 48). (1824); Aug. St. Ilil. Fl. Bras. mer. 1. KW. (1(527); a section o/Malvawse, 



Diagnosis. Polypetalous dicotyledons, with hypogynous monadel- 

 phous stamens, concrete carpella, an ovarium of several cells, and the pla- 



