SECTION II.: GUJARAT LONG STAPLE 143 



specimens that I recognise as very possibly Indian plants. One of 

 these bears two specimens : the right-hand one (shown on Plate 

 "No. 24, f. C) is, I have little doubt, G. herbaceum, obtained very 

 likely from the Levant, and the left-hand one (shown on Plate No. 19, 

 f. A) closely matches the Deccan plant just mentioned. Linnaeus, 

 accepting both as one plant apparently, wrote on the sheet ' barba- 

 dense ? ', and Smith corrected that into ' hirsutum ' ; but both deter- 

 minations are equally incorrect. I believe the examples mentioned 

 (Deccan and Linnean) are representative of G. obtusifolium, Roxb. 



The plant occurs both wild and cultivated in India and Africa, 

 and stands every chance to have been one of the most important Indian 

 strains, if not the most important, in the production of the best African 

 cultivated cottons of these countries. The leaf, as shown by Eox- cotton, 

 burgh's picture, is, however, distincly 5-lobed, and the plant as 

 known to me varies considerably in the degree of serration of the 

 bracteoles. In the wild or self-sown plant of India the bracteoles 

 are much more entire than in the corresponding plant in Africa, but 

 it is possible that the variation in this direction is more a conse- 

 quence of hybridisation and adaptation to environment than of 

 specific characteristics. The bracteoles in the Indian plant bring to 

 mind, in shape and attitude, those of G. arboreum, and in the African 

 those of G. Kirkii. 



Having briefly indicated the chief areas of this species, it may 

 now be desirable to discuss the more easily recognised manifestations 

 that exist : 



23. Var. Wightiana, Watt: Tod., Belaz. Cult, del Cotoni (1877), 

 141-6, t. iv., /. 1-9; G. HIBSUTUM, Linn., Syst. Nat. n. (1767) 

 462, et Herb., sed non Sp. PL ; G. HIBSUTUM, Lam., Encycl. n., 

 134 (in part] ; G. HIBSUTUM, DC., Prod. 1824, i., 456 (non Linn, 

 et excl. synn.) ; G. HEBBACEUM, Linn., (and in descriptive note 

 G. OBTUSIFOLIUM, Boxb.), Wight, Ic., t. 9; G. HEBBACEUM, 

 Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afri. 1868 i., 211 (in part) ; Max. T. Masters, 

 Fl. Br. Ind. i. 1874, 346 (in part) ; G. HEBBACEUM, Engler (non 

 Linn.), Die Pflanz. Ost. Af. dc., 1895, 386-7 ; Mollison, Text- 

 book Ind. Agri. in. (1901), 215-24 ; G. HEBBACEUM, Aliotta,Riv. 

 Grit. Gen. Goss. (in part) 19, 0367. 



The so-called Long Staple Cottons of India ; Gujarat cotton. 

 Cultivated annual cotton ; shrubs 1 to 4 or even 6 feet high ; Gujarat 



whole plant coated with both stellate and long, spreading, simple 



