SECTION IV : G. VITIFOLIUM 257 



plant seems a distinct form, though closely allied to the present 

 species. The Indian specimen examined by me in the Kew Herbarium 

 (collected by Dr. Falconer at Saharanpur Botanic Gardens) would 

 seem to be possessed of glands, alternating with the bracteoles, each 

 covered by a bractlet (f. 3). (See Plates No. 1 [Frontispiece] and 

 No. 45.) 



The Vine-leaved cotton may be farther recognised by the following more 

 detailed description : Stems perennial, diffuse spreading, often strongly 

 angled and twisted, purple, minutely gland-dotted, when mature glabrous. 

 Leaves sub-glabrous above, pilose-tomentose below and with one large 

 gland .'(? occasionally three) beneath; ovate oblong, at most only sub- 

 cordate acute or acuminate, entire (45 f. 2) or 3-lobed (f. 1), occasionally even 

 obscurely 5-lobed, the lobes being on the apex and ascending, scarcely 

 spreading, but crowded, linear oblong, undulating ; stipules often large 

 oblique, ovate acute to linear lanceolate. Inflorescence axillary shoots 

 with long peduncles bearing one flower and one normal leaf (usually 3- 

 lobed) or the shoot elongated and bearing two or more flowers and leaves ; 

 pedicels short and prominently warted, furrowed, ending in external glands ; 

 bracteoles ovate-rotund, united very slightly by their auricles, acute, deeply 

 laciniate, the tips of the teeth almost awl-shaped ; three glands within the 

 bracteoles, in some of the forms protected by special structures named by 

 Cook as bractlets ; calyx large, sub-truncate or angled, many-veined, ciliate 

 on the margin, otherwise glabrous ; corolla almost shorter than the brac- 

 teoles, tomentose on the outer margins of the petals, convolvulate with 

 purple claws and purplish tinge. Fruit embraced and almost completely 

 enclosed by the accrescent membraneous bracteoles, ovate-rotund, shortly 

 beaked, 3- to 5-, usually 4-valved. Seeds five to ten in each cell, black, 

 naked, quite free, but bearing a long silky readily separable floss. 



Habitat. Possibly originally a native of Central and South Central 

 America to the Amazon basin, as also of the Lesser Antilles ; recently America, 

 distributed under cultivation to the Southern States of North 

 America, the West Indies, and Africa ; occasionally met with in 

 Egypt, India, the Celebes, Madagascar, Mauritius, &c. Frequently 

 mentioned as seen in a wild condition, but it is possible that with 

 better and more extensive material there may be found to be two 

 or more perfectly distinct species included under the present form. 

 Some of the publications enumerated above, such as Merian's Surinam 

 picture and Eumphius' Celebes plant, show the leaves too deeply 

 5-lobed (as in G. brasiliense) to be typical G. miifolium, but I leave 

 them here for the present, since this position is more correct than 

 under any other known species. 



Citation of Specimens. There are a few good examples of this plant hi the Speci- 

 Herbarium of the Eoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew, of which the following are mens. 

 the more important : CEYLON : a specimen collected by Dr. Scott which 



S 



