G16 BURMA, ITS PEOPLE AND PRODUCTIOXS. 



This is an extremely iisoful genus of plants. The calicos, pods, and leaves 

 of many species are edible and wholesome, and almost all species yield a long and 

 strong fibre, excellent for ropes or for making paper. When grown for fibre, the 

 plants should be cut in flower and at once steeped ; but this process should be more 

 carefully carried out than is usually done, as steeping vegetable fibre in a tropical 

 climate greatly impairs its strength and caxises discoloration. The mucilaginous 

 juice of many species is used in refining sugar, by Asiatics who object to the use 

 of blood for that purpose. The flowers of H. Eom-sinemis yield a juice which 

 dyes leather black. 



Thespesia, Correa da Serra. 



Bradeoles 5-8 or fewer, rarely wanting, deciduous. Calyx truncate, minutely 

 5-toothed or parted. Corolla convolute. Staminal tube 5-toothed at apex. Ovary 

 5-4-celled, with few ovules in each cell. Style furrowed, club-shaped, entire, or 

 5-toothed. Trees or shrubs, with entire or shortly-lobed leaves. Flowers large, 

 yellow. 



T. (Hibiscus) populxea. T. Common in the beacli and tidal forests from 



iribiscus popiiliii'oides, Eoxb. Chittagong to Tenasserim and the Andamans. 

 T. macroj/liylla, Bl. Ava, Bhamo and Sabado. The Nicobars. 



All younger parts and unripe capsules covered with rusty-coloured scales. Leaves 

 glabrous. The occurrence of this salt-loving tree in Ava is unique, and requires 

 explanation. Brine springs are numerous in Prome and Ava, and may possibly account 

 for such an exceptional re-appearance of a shore-plant in the interior of Burma. 

 "Wood brown, strong, durable (Kurz). 



T. LAMPAS, Dalz. Mixed forests all over Burma. 



JI. fetralociilaris, Koxb. 

 Amusa Zollinycri, Alef. 



All younger parts, and usually the leaves beneath, shortly stellate tomentose. 

 Unripe capsules densely hirsute. A meagre shrub. 



GossYPiuir, Linnaux. 



Braeteoles 3, Iciify, cordate. Calyx truncate, or shortly 5-cleft. Staminal eohmm 

 bearing numerous filaments outside. Ovary 5-celled, with several ovules iu each cell. 

 Style club-shaped, furrowed, witli doeurrent stigmas. Seeds woolly or glabrous. 

 Herbs, shrubs, or small trees, with lobed, rarely entire, leaves. Flowers large, yellow 

 or purple. Calyx and capsule usually black-dotted. 



* G. HEEBACEUM, L. var. a and /3 much cultivated all over Burma, and often 



■^7-j_ seen as wild in deserted toungyas and neglected lands. 



Annual. Seeds free, clothed with firmly adhering silky down. 



var. a herlaeeum, L. ; G. hirsutum, Koxb. ; G. Barhadense, Wight. Lobes of 

 leaves acuminate. 



var. ji hirsutum, L. ; G. obtusifulium, Roxb. ; G. /lerhaceum, Wight. Leaves 

 with usually blunt lobes, the upper ones often undivided, with or without a gland on 

 the midrib beneath. Involucre-leaflets entire or serrate. Capsules wlien ripe green. 

 Cotton white. 



Dr. Mason writes of the cotton grown in Burma: "By far the finest-looking 

 native cotton I have seen in India is that cultivated by the Bed Karens. The plants 

 grow more than twice the height of those seen in Toung-ngoo, close bv. It may be 

 attributed to two causes. Much less rain falls on the table-land inhabited by the Bed 

 Karens, than in Toung-ngoo, and it is entirely a limestone soil, which Mr. I'iddington 

 said was the next best soil for the plant. 



"Mr. Blundell introduced the ]ilant which produces the Pernambuoo, Peruvian, 

 Bahia or South Sea Island cotton, and ilajor Macfarquliar raised such a fine article at 

 Tavoy from it, that the Committee of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of 

 Calcutta were unwilling to believe it the production of that species. They reported : 



