298 



WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



Brazil and 



Guiana. 



Speci- 

 mens. 



of the conglomeration. Wool abundant, usually very fine, silky, and of a 

 milky-white, but the yield to acre seems poor. The individual cells (of cotton) 

 in this species are straighter and less frequently spirally twisted than is the 

 case with almost any other species. They much resemble, in their natural 

 state, cotton that has been subjected to chemical treatment, such as merceris- 

 ing. Moreover, the wool is more immediately and completely influenced by 

 treatment with cuoxam than appears to be the case with the staple of any 

 other species (see pp. 39-40 and 307). 



Habitat. Indigenous to South America, more especially Brazil 

 and Guiana. Marcgraf speaks of it as growing in damp and warm 

 places, but especially on cultivated ground. Spruce (see under 

 G. peruvianum, p. 215) says he had never seen it wild, and that it is 

 nowhere the common cotton of the Indians. Cultivated in China, 

 Japan, India (twice mentioned as wild), Malaya, Polynesia, Africa 

 (often spoken of as wild), Mascarene Islands, Central and South 

 America and the West Indies. Koster (' Travels in Brazil,' 1816, 

 p. 368) says ' I have seen some species of wild cotton, of which, 

 however, as I have neither note nor specimen I cannot pretend to 

 give a description.' 



Citation of Specimens. The following, assorted geographically, are some 

 of the more interesting examples of this plant seen by me in the Kew, Edin- 

 burgh, and Glasgow Herbaria : CHINA : Hainan, Dr. A. Henry, n. 8,305 

 (leaves broader than usual). JAPAN : Zollinger. INDIA : South Ind., Herb. Bottl. 

 (named G. vitifolium) ; Concan, Stocks, in Herb. Hook, f . and T.T. ; 

 Calcutta, Herb. Hort. Bot. ; Bajputana, Duthie, n. 4,560 (' apparently 

 wild ' in Mewara, where it is called ban Jcultri) ; G. nigrum, Ham., in 

 Wight Herb., n. 177 and (Edin.), also Wight and Arnott Herb. (Glasgow). 

 MALAYA: Cambodia, Pierre, n. 802; Labuan, F. W. Burbidge ; Borneo, 

 Sarawak, Haviland and Hose, n. 3,356, Java, &c. POLYNESIA : Fiji Islands, 

 Seemann, nn. 29 and 30 (incorrectly named G. peruvianum, Cav.) ; Vavav, 

 Tonga Islands, C. S. Crosby; Savage Islands, Veitch. AFRICA: Eastern 

 Division : Luabo Kiver (Livingstone's Exp.), 1858, contrib. by Sir J. Kirk. 

 (' Cotton Grown by the Natives ') ; also Highlands of Batoka ; Central 

 Division : Tanganika, Lieut. Cameron ; Lake Nyassa (East Side), Bev. W. P. 

 Johnson ; Western Division : Lagos, H. Miller, 1876, n. 28 ; Niger Exped- 

 Fernando Po, Vogel, n. 20, 1843; Angola, Welwitsch, nn. 5,228, 5,230 

 (said to be abundant and wild on the drier slopes, also cultivated about 

 villages) ; Dutch East Africa : collected W. Busse, n. 184 ; Mr. Broun has 

 recently contributed, from Khartoum, a remarkable example, said to be 

 known as Nyam-nyam cotton, and which has the leaves broad and less 

 deeply segmented than is customary. MASCARENE ISLANDS : Madagascar : 

 Boivin (Nossi Be, 1847-52) ; Bodriguez, Balfour (Transit of Venus 

 Exped.). AMERICA: Guatemala, S. Watson, n. 29; French Guiana (Herb. 

 Sagot, n. 1,268) ; Para, B. Spruce, n. 159 (1849) ; Brazil, Dr. A. Glaziou, 

 n. 8,880, also W. J. Burchell, n. 6,755 ; Paraguay, Gibery, n. 1,025. WEST 

 INDIES : Cuba : Cienfuegos District, B. Combs, n. 609 ; Jamaica, St. Mary's 



