144 WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



Descrip- hairs, which only partially fall off with maturity; leaves ovate 

 rotund (in main shape), not very deeply cordate, lobes 5-7 (rarely 3), 

 ovate oblong, acuminate, sinus between the lobes narrow and often 

 thrown up in folds, one gland on central vein below ; inflorescence 

 sometimes forming proliferous lateral shoots (an important departure 

 from the specific condition and a direct consequence of special 

 selection doubtless) ; bracteoles relatively small, ovate acute, deeply 

 toothed (never rotund or sub-reniform as in G. Tierbaceum) ; calyx 

 obscurely toothed, teeth rounded ; capsule ovate acute, usually 4-celled 

 and with 8 seeds in each cell ; seeds much smaller, more definitely and 

 compactly formed than in the wild plant, and fuzz very short, usually 

 ashy-grey in colour. (See Plates Nos. 21 and 22.) 



Western Habitat. Cultivated in a belt of country that fringes the west 



coast of India from the Eann of Each through Kathiawar and 

 Gujarat to the Southern Maratha country and South India. Varthema 

 (' Travels, &c.,' 1510) speaks of the cotton of Cambay being much 

 exported ; he also says Bengal cotton is sent to Mecca, and in a 

 footnote mentions the cotton of Burma. Mandelslo (' Voyages and 

 Travels to the East Indies,' 1638-40) makes frequent mention of the 

 cotton of Gujarat and Agra, but not in such a way as to allow any 

 opinions being formed regarding the species. Eohr (' Observ. sur la 

 Cult, du Cot.' 1807, pp. 62-4) classes this as one of his two forms of 

 ' Nun's Cotton,' both of which he procured from India (the other was 

 G. arbor enm). He describes the present plant as having obtuse 

 leaves, and says that he procured the seed originally from Cambay 

 and was growing it in Sainte-Croix (the Antilles) in 1787. He 

 further says that he had supplied the Eoyal Gardens of Copenhagen 

 with fresh seed for experimental cultivation. There is thus nothing 

 to prevent its having similarly been carried to Ceylon, perhaps by 

 the Dutch. 



Linnean Citation of Specimens. It is perhaps the most useful course to enumerate 



specimen, the collections of this plant as far as possible under the names of the chief 

 races. Since this, however, is not always possible, there remains an exten- 

 sive series that might be mentioned under the present heading. Perhaps 

 the most instructive specimen is that in the Linnean Herbarium (London) 

 named hirsutum, and which was procured from Surat. (See Plate No. 21 A.) 

 It would most probably be described as Gujarat deshi cotton. In the 

 British Museum Herbarium there are many interesting examples, of which 

 the following may be specially mentioned : Hove's specimen from Dholca 

 Ahmedabad collected in 1787. (See Plate No. 21, f. B.) Colonel R. H. Bed- 

 dome's uppam, collected at Kurnool ; a specimen contributed in 1785 

 by the Moravian missionaries at the Nicobar Islands. This is a somewhat 



