7* WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



sessile, oblique bract near the middle; bracteoles glabrous, thick, leathery 

 broad ovate to sub-cordate, obtuse, entire or serrate, 7-13 nerved, when 

 young ovate acute, quite free and entire, about 1 inch long, but as the 

 flower matures they continue to grow until they often become 2 inches long 

 and 1 inch broad. Flowers large, somewhat trumpet-shaped, and brick-red ; 

 calyx urceolate, truncate, distinctly punctate with black dots ; petals obovate- 

 oblong, entire, 3-4 inches long, silky outside, prominently reticulated and 

 with black dots within meshes. Pollen-grains very large and possessing a 

 distinctive palisade exine, bearing long, linear, blunt spines (see Plate No. 53, 

 f. 1) ; ovary 5-celled, each cell with one ascending ovule ; capsule ovoid, 

 thick, woody, opening tardily near the apex ; seeds obovoid, covered with a 

 short brownish tomentum. 



Var. ft. Bracts of involucre lanceolate, 1 to 2 inches, and 4- to 1 inch 

 broad. 



Hawaii. Habitat. Originally collected by Nelson (the companion of 



Captain Cook) in the Hawaii Islands. Ee -discovered by Mr. E. 

 Meyer, three trees only being seen in the western end of Molakai, 

 which, however, could not be again found when looked for a few 

 years later. It bears the vernacular name of kokio. The variety, 

 Hillebrand explains, was found in the eastern end of Oahu, on the 

 hills of Makaku and Koko Head. Two trees only were seen. 



Citation of Specimens. I have seen no specimen of the variety in any 

 of the Herbaria examined by me. The typical form is represented both in 

 the Kew and British Museum Herbaria. The plant, needless to say, never has 

 in any way contributed to the production of the commercial cottons of the 

 world it is purely and simply a wild plant, and apparently a very rare one. 



Nomenclature. The above diagnostic characters have been 

 abstracted mainly from Hillebrand, amplified here and there 

 through personal inspection of specimens. Seemann explains 

 that the name was suggested through the resemblance of the 

 accrescent bracteoles to the basal fronds of Drynaria. Hillebrand 

 observes that the species is remarkable in the genus for its 

 bracts, red flowers, a woody capsule, and single shortly tomentose 

 seed. Most of these special characteristics are, however, by no 

 means confined to the present species, but occur in several 

 other members of the present section of the genus. Perhaps of 

 even greater importance is the position of the bracteoles, high up on 

 the calyx-tube. In this respect it recalls the East Tropical African 

 Thespesia. Thespesia Danis, Oliver, (' Hook. Ic. PI.' xnr. t. 1336) and the Philip- 

 pine Island T. campylosiplwn, Rolfe, ('Jour. Linn. Soc.' xxi., 308). 

 The suggestion may in fact be ventured that it is possible all three 

 may be found to constitute a new genus. In some aspects they 



