BOMBAX JENMANI OLIV. = B. CAEOLINOIDES DONN. 335 



specimens of Carolinea minor in Herb, Mus. Brit., leaves no doubt 

 as to the identity of the two ; and the earliest name for the plant 

 must therefore be restored, whatever rule as to priority may be 

 adopted. 



The resemblance of the flowers to I'aclura, to which Prof. Oliver 

 refers, '-■■ had impressed Sims, and induced him to name it Carolinea 

 minor — the name Carolinea being now abandoned in favour of the 

 earlier Parhira. But Alexander Anderson, who knew the plant 

 alive, called it B. Carolinoides, and this name, first published by 

 Donn, must stand. Sims's description may be cited : — 



" We received this elegant shrub from Messrs. Loddigcs & Sons, 

 under the name of Bombax Carolinoides, an appellation given to it 

 by Dr. Anderson, of the Botanic Garden at St. Vincent's, who was 

 induced to refer it to that genus because its seeds are enveloped in 

 a fine brown cottony substance. But it is so exact a representation 

 in miniature of Carolinea insitjnis, the same truncated calyx, linear 

 fleshy petals, and singularly branched filaments, that we cannot 

 consent to separate it from that genus and refer it to Bombax, with 

 the other species of which it has so much less affinity. . . Carolinea 

 minor, according to Dr. Anderson, is a native of Guiana, growing 

 on the borders of rivers, and forming a very elegant tree ; but is 

 not common even there. The fruit, he says, is about the size of 

 that of Bombax Ceiba, is a woody capsule, one-celled, with five 

 valves, and numerous kidney-shaped seeds disposed in five rows, 

 and enveloped in fine brown cotton. Mr. Loddiges received the 

 seed of this tree several years ago from Dr. Anderson, and has now 

 several fine healthy-looking plants " (Bot. Mag. t. 1412). The date 

 of its introduction by Anderson, according to Aiton (Hort. Kew. 

 ed. 2, iv. 195), was 1798. We have in the British Museum two 

 sheets from Anderson, sent by him to Banks and Lambert respect- 

 ively : the Banksian sheet has a full description in Anderson's 

 writing, beginning, "An genus novum ? Flores Carolinae et semine 

 Bombacis." These seem to be the only ones existing from Anderson 

 in European herbaria ; the description in DC. Prod. i. 478 is taken 

 from Sims's figure and one of the Mexican drawings of Mocino and 

 Sasse, which does not entirely agree with it, and Dr. K. Schumann 

 (Fl. Bras. xii. 3, 225) says, " Quid sit Fachira minor Sims nescio." 

 He suggests that it may be identical with his B. Poissonianurn , but 

 this can hardly be. 



Two other names retained under Fachira in Mr. Jackson's Index 

 must also disappear. P. Barrigon Seem, has been referred by 

 Decaisne to Bombax, and is also entered by Mr. Jackson under that 

 genus ; "P. longifolia Hook. Bot. Mag. 4549," was a slip for P. macro- 

 carpa, under which name the species is (/. r.) described, and which 

 (as Mr. Jackson notes) first appeared in Walpers Piepert. i. 329. 



* "The plant is interesting as entirely Fachira, almost the common 

 P. aquatica Aubl., in appearance of the flower, while the capsule is that of a 

 typical Bombax.'^ — Oliv. I.e. 



