182 



WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



Hybrids. 



Hindi 

 Weed of 

 Egypt. 



It has been crossed with a very long staple Egyptian cotton, with the 

 result of a long staple early maturity stock having been produced 

 (see pp. 223-4). But moqui differs botanically only very slightly 

 from the molango cotton (see p. 231), except that the latter has been 

 hybridised possibly with G. hirsutum, or has been derived from var. 

 niger.ia, not var. Jamaica. 



I am disposed, however, to accept the ' Hindi weed ' of Egypt 

 as but an older acclimatised (and possibly recessive) hybrid of the 

 moqui (or perhaps rather of the ridargua of Senegal) than the 

 moqui presently grown. Botanically the two plants can with diffi- 

 culty be separated. To the circumstance of the ' Hindi weed ' 

 being a ferine hybrid, possibly possessed of a strain of G. vitifolium, 

 is due the fact that small linear obtuse bractlets are often present 

 although the glands (they are supposed to protect) seem frequently 

 absent or imperfectly formed. The following interesting passage 

 from Mr. Balls' letter that accompanies his specimens of this plant 

 I may take the liberty of here giving : ' The plant labelled " Hindi " 

 is of especial interest out here because it is a worthless " weed " 

 cotton which is very common in the fields among other cottons and 

 reduces their commercial value. It hybridises with the others and 

 the Mendelian splitting forms from the cross are very common, 

 and also go under the name of " Hindi," though they are usually 

 very tall up to three metres. " Hindi " itself is about one metre high, 

 and except in its seed reminds me of American Uplands.' The other 

 stocks alluded to by Mr. W. Lawrence Balls, with which the ' Hindi 

 weed ' hybridises, are, I presume, the abassi, mit afifi, and other 

 Egyptian cottons which, from the specimens supplied to me under 

 these names, I have no doubt are races of G. peruvianum (see p. 224). 

 This is in itself a circumstance, therefore, of interest, since some of 

 these (or corresponding races at least) have originated very possibly 

 in what is, to all intents and purposes, the very country of the moqui 

 cotton. And it may be added that from the time of Eohr downwards 

 the indigenous or long acclimatised cottons of South and Central 

 America are described as Indian cottons, hence very possibly the 

 King's Im- origin of the name 'Hindi' cotton. Lastly it may be here added 

 that King's Improved (see Plate No. 31 B) is a cotton so closely 

 allied to the other special forms mentioned above that there would 

 seem little doubt of its being one of the most highly cultivated states 

 (a hybrid very possibly) of G. punctatum, var. Jamaica. (Cf. under 

 Uplands p. 233.) 



proved. 



