WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



Descrip- 

 tion. 



Akese 

 cotton. 



cottons, and apparently in many other countries as well. These may 

 be grouped into two sets : (a) those which belong to G. arboreum 

 and (6) those that more appropriately should be assigned a position 

 under G. Nanking. Perhaps the best representative of the former is 

 var. sanguined, and of the second var. rubicunda. The Indian 

 manifestations of what may be called var. sanguinea approximate, 

 however, almost more closely to the typical G. arboreum than to the 

 special African form described by Hasskarl. It may serve the 

 purpose of the present work, therefore, to deal with both the Indian 

 and African forms collectively, the more so since they are but 

 varieties, perhaps only cultivated races (certainly not species), and 

 blend almost imperceptibly from the one to the other. (See Plate 

 No. 9.) 



The special variety sanguinea is distinguished from G. arboreum proper 

 by the following : Stems, twigs, and petioles finer, and also the blade of 

 leaf thinner in texture, more hairy and more distinctly purple than that 

 already described. Leaves also larger, lobes usually broader and sometimes 

 scarcely constricted. Bracteoles very much larger, more deeply and acutely 

 gashed. Flowers purple, with darker throats. Calyx very often distinctly 

 five-toothed. Capsule almost linear and much acuminate. Seeds with grey 

 or only slightly greenish velvet ; floss longer and superior in quality to that 

 of G. arboreum proper. 



Habitat. Africa. 



Citation of Specimens. AFRICA : Upper Guinea. Dr. Irving, n. 3, 

 Abbeokuta (ATtese Cotton collected in Feb. 1855, in flower), in this the 

 bracteoles are large (at least half the length of the corolla), pronouncedly 

 toothed, the leaves a little more hairy and the lobes narrower than in the 

 corresponding Indian examples, so also the capsule is oblong, acuminate, and 

 the glands at the base of the calyx are covered with longish hairs. The 

 same plant was collected by Dr. W. B. Baikie in West Tropical Africa 

 (Niger), and also by Barter (n. 1182) in the Niger Valley. Of this sample 

 Dr. Barter very properly remarks that the staple is long and good. 



The African plants would thus seem to manifest a further development, 

 possibly a strain of hybridisation, and in consequence are superior to the 

 Indian arboreous stocks, as staple yielders. A specimen collected by Dr. W. 

 Eowland, near Lagos (West Tropical Africa), has the leaves and bracts very 

 large and the calyx five-toothed. There does not appear to be any Abyssinian 

 specimens of G. arboreum in the Kew Herbarium. ARABIA: Hedjchas 

 Prov, Dr. W. Schimper, n. 1025 a form of G. arboreum which, like 

 some of the African and Indian examples, shows an approximation to 

 G. neglectum, Tod. 



Turning now to the INDIAN series, many of which might be more 

 correctly described as red-flowered races of var. neglecta than of sanguinea, 

 the most remarkable specimens seen by me are Dr. Buchanan-Hamilton's, 

 n. 1549, preserved in the Edinburgh Herbarium (see Plate No. 9), to which 

 reference has been made above. Professor Middleton collected a good 

 specimen in a garden at Baroda, where it was given the name of Nurma. 



