MALVACK.F 



[ Bo i ill a jr. 



Weight, 40 to 45 Ibs. per cubic foot according to Brandis ; our specimens give 38 Ibs. 

 as an average. The wood is used for house-buildiug, ploughs and oars, and for carving. 

 The inner bark gives a fibre. 



Ibs. 



C 1177. Ahiri Reserve, Central Provinces 37 



C 1163. 33 



3154. Saharanpur . . 45 



4. BOMBAX, Linn. 



1. B. malabaricum, DC. ; Hook. Fl. Ind. i. 349 ; Beddome t. 82 ; 

 Brandis 31 ; Kurz i. 130; Gamble 10. B. heptaphyllum, Cav.; Roxb. Fl. 

 Ind. iii. 167. The Cotton Tree. Vern. Simbal, Hazara ; Sfiirlan, Sutlej ; 

 Semul, shembal, semur, pagun, somr } Hind., Beiig. Bouro, Uriya; Bolchu, 

 Garo; Sxnglu, Lepcha ; Burga, bu>gu, faraffa,Te\.', Illaram, puld, Tarn.; 

 Katu-imbul, Ciugh. ; Wallaiki, Gondi ; Ka/seori, Bhil ; Lapaing, Magh ; 

 Letpan, Burra. 



A very large deciduous tree, with branches in whorls, spreading hori- 

 zontally, and stem with buttresses at base. Bark grey, when young with 

 conical prickles with corky base, when old with long, irregular, vertical 

 cracks. Wood white when fresh cut, turning dark on exposure, very 

 soft, perishable; no heartwood ; no annual rings. Pores scanty, very 

 large, often oval and divided into compartments. Medullary rays fine 

 to broad, numerous, not prominent. Pores prominent on a vertical 

 section. 



Throughout India and Burma. 



Growth fa^t. Our specimens shew 3 to 7 rings, averaging 4| per inch of radius. 



Weight : 23 to 24 Ibs. according to Brandis, For. Fl., 28 Ibs. Burma List of 1862, 

 No. 5 ; our specimens vary from 17 to 32 Ibs. the average being nearly 23 Ibs., the 

 Bengal and Assam specimens being lighter than those from the Central Provinces. 

 The value of P is between 642 and 697 (Cunningham), The wood is not durable, 

 except under water, when it lasts tolerably well ; it is used for planking, packing cases 

 and tea-boxes, toys, scabbards, fishing floats, coffins, and the lining of wells. In 

 Bengal and Burma the trunk is often hollowed out to make canoes. It gives a brown 

 gum used in native medicine, regarding which Captain Campbell says : " The collec- 

 tion of Semul gum commences in March and is continued till June ; it sells in the 

 Kumaun Bhabar at one anna per seer, and is used as a medicine; it is not exported 

 from Kumaun." The cotton which surrounds the seeds is employed to stuff pillows 

 and quilts. 



The Semul tree seeds very freely every year, and seedlings come up abundantly 

 and grow very rapidly. It is easily reproduced by cuttings. 



Ibs. 



2. B. insigne, Wall.; Hook. Fl Ind. i. 349; Kurz i. 130. Veru. 

 Scffinl, Ihuia, Buig.; Sattu, Magh. 



A large tree, trunk without prickles. Structure similar to that of 

 B. malabaricum t but pores smaller and more scanty. 



Chittagong, Burma and tht- Andaman Islands. 



