32 The Flowering Plants of Western India. 



The following are cultivated : 



If. rosasinensis, the shoe flower, jdsud. 



H. mutabilis, the changeable rose : Inconstanteamante (Portuguese) 

 the flowers change from white to red in the course of the day. 



H. subdariffa, roselle, red sorrel of the W. Indies. The jelly is 

 made from the red, fleshy calyx, and involucre. Lai dmbdri, patwd. 



H. esculentus, the vegetable bhendi. The vulgar, but very appro- 

 priate name of ' slip go down ' comes, I believe, from the Madras 

 Presidency. 



9. THESPESIA. 



T. populuea. A tree. Leaves heart-shaped, pointed, entire, 

 smooth ; flowers yellow, sometimes reddish with purple or 

 crimson centre, calyx 5-toothed, capsule oblong or roundish, 

 depressed, the calyx adherent. Bhendi, pimparui. 



An exceedingly common tree all about the coast, not growing well 

 at any distance from the sea. It is sometimes called the Indian 

 tulip tree, but the tulip tree proper (Liriodendron) belongs to the 

 Magnolia family. 



T. lampas, a shrub very like this, 3 or 4 feet high, has the leaves 

 3-lobed. Ran bhendi. Konkan and Ghauts. 



10. GOSSYPIUM. Cotton. 



G. Stoclcsii. Shrubby branching, leaves palmately 3 to 5 

 lobed, flowers small, yellow, involucre segments deeply and 

 irregularly cut, capsule ovoid, cotton yellow, adherent to the 

 seeds. 



H. looks on this as the parent type of all the forms of Indian 

 cotton. It is doubtful if it is found wild in Sindh ; pretty certain 

 that it is not in any other part of the Presidency. G. herbaceum, 

 the cultivated form of this, produces the varieties of Indian cotton, 

 Ttapds ; 0. barbadense, the American varieties. It was cultivated in 

 Egypt in very early times and found in India by Alexander the 

 Great. 



" Sir M. Noel told us of the dispute between him and the E. I. 

 Company, whether calico be linen or not, which he says it is, having 

 ever been esteemed so ; they say it is made of cotton wool, and grows 

 upon trees, not like flax or hemp. But it was carried against the 

 Company, though they stand out against the verdict." Pepys' Diary, 

 Feb. 27, 1664. So the Germans to this day call cotton Baumwolle, tree 

 wool. 



Althaea rosea, the hollyhock, seems to be the only common 

 garden flower of this order and tribe, not already mentioned : 

 " With foxgloves and gorgeous poppies, 



And gi eat -eyed hollyhocks, G. Macdonald. 



TRIBE EOMBACE.E. 



Trees with leathery sepals, not generally united ; stamens 

 not united or only slightly so ; otherwise like Malvece. 



