On the Persian Cotton Tree. 215 
The second species is the Gossyp1UM RELICI- 
osum; which is, likewise, a native of India; and a 
tree, or, at least, a high shrub; but why Linnzus 
dignified it with, so singular a specific name, I shall 
leave the learned Asiatic Society in Bengal to de- 
termine; as they must know if it be used for any 
religious purpose by the Bramins. This species of 
cotton is said to be that which is cultivated by the 
French in Martinico. 
The third is the G, BARBADENSE, a species of 
biennial cotton shrub, cultivated in our British 
island of Barbadoes; from which it obtains its spe- 
cific name. I believe it is likewise the same species 
which is cultivated in Jamaica. 
__ The fourth is the G. nirnsurum; an American 
perennial cotton shrub in the warmer provinces, 
but annual in the colder; as is sometimes the case 
with plants in climates where their roots lose their 
vegetating power by winter frost. 
The fifth and last species is the G. HERBA- 
ceEUM, or G. ANNUUM; an annual cotton plant; 
which rises to the height of three or four feet, and 
is sown and reaped, like corn, twice a-year in hot 
countries, and once a-year in colder climates, It 
bears a large yellow flower with a purple centre, and 
fruit about the size of a walnut containing the 
cotton. 
This is the famous Pers1an Corton, properly 
the subject of the paper; although a slight mention 
