Boinbax.] Malvaceae. 159. 



Heart-wood hard, smooth, durable, dark red ; much used in carriage- 

 building at Colombo. 



Hermann has transposed the Sinhalese names of this and Hibiscus 

 tiliaceiis. 



Gossypiicni herhaceiiin, L. There is a specimen of Cotton, apparently 

 of this the commonly cultivated Indian species, in Hermann's Herb. 

 ( = F1. Zeyl. n. 267). Roxburgh gives his G. obtusifoliuiii as a native of 

 Ceylon (Fl. Ind. iii. 183) ; this appears to be also a form of G. Jierbaceiim, 

 but we have no native Cotton. Fl. Zeyl. n. 222, referred by Parlatore in 

 his monograph of the Cottons to G. religiosttin^ L. is Cochlospcnnum (q.v.). 



G. barbadeiise^ L. Forms of this, 'Sea Island Cotton,' 'Peruvian 

 Cotton,' &c., the remains of cultivation, are occasionally met with semi- 

 wild. 



Adansonia digiiata, L. (C. P. 1141). The Baobab trees at Mannar 

 have long been well known, and are said to have been introduced by the 

 Arabs. The tree is native to Trop. Africa. Roxburgh (Fl. Ind. iii. 164) 

 quotes a letter from Gen. Hay Macdowell, written in 1802, describing one 

 of these trees at Mantota (Mantai) nearly 50 ft. in circumference, and 

 stating that there were then many about that place. In 1890 I observed 

 only a few there, on the site of the ancient city of Tirukettisvaram, the 

 largest stem measured being 48 ft. in circumference at 6ft. from the ground. 

 On Mannar Island itself are several dozen, very conspicuous objects in 

 the low scrubby jungle, and Mr. M. S. Crawford, C.C.S., gives the circum- 

 ference of the largest stem (in 1890) as 61 ft. 9 in., whilst the tree is only 

 30 ft. high. The trees fruit freely, but, though the seeds germinate well, 

 no young plants are to be seen, being at once eaten off by cattle. The 

 Tamil names for the tree are Papparappul.i and Perukka, and the Roman 

 Catholics call it 'Judas' Bag' because the fruit contains 30 seeds. 



I have not seen naturalised trees elsewhere in Ceylon, but Moon 

 (Cat. 49) gives Jaffna, and Thwaites (Enum. 28) says 'naturalised in the 

 northj' There are specimens from Koenig in Brit. Mus. labelled by him 

 ' in sylvis zeylanicis solo arenoso arido,' no doubt from Mannar, and col- 

 lected in 1781. Specimens from Gardner in Herb. Perad. are labelled 

 ' Batticaloa(?) 1848,' and Tennent (Ceylon, ii. 627) mentions a large tree 

 at Puttalam in 1848, which was destroyed a few years later. 



The pulp round the seeds is agreeably acid and is eaten with buffalo 

 milk and sugar ; the leaves are excellent fodder for cattle. 



10. BOBIBAX, L. 



Large trees ; 1. digitate, deciduous ; fl. large, axillary, no 

 bracteoles ; cal. irregularly 2-3-lobed or truncate ; pet, 5, 

 distinct, twisted in aestivation, adnate to base of cal. ; stam. 

 indef., inserted on base of cal., all connate at very base and 

 adnate with pet., then combined into 5 bundles of 8 or 9 each 

 and a central bundle of 1 5 (forming a tube round ov. and base 

 of style), of which the five innermost are longer with larger 

 sinuate anth., other anth. reniform ; ov. 5-celled, with numerous 

 ovules in each cell, style 5 -fid at apex ; fruit a leathery 5-celled 

 capsule, loculicidally 5-valved ; seeds numerous, imbedded in 

 dense cottony wool. — Sp. lO ; 2 m Fl. B. Ind. 



