Order 20. Malvacecz. 33 



1. KYDIA. Involucre of 4 to 6 bracts, increasing with the 

 fruit ; stamens united below, above divided into 5 bundles, 

 each bearing 3 anthers, style 3 cleft, stigmas 3, capsule roundish 

 3-valved. 



2. BOMBAX. Involucre none, stamens in 5 bundles below, 

 above divided into many filaments, stigmas 5, capsule 5- 

 valved, seeds woolly. 



3. ERIODENDRON. Like the last, but each bundle of stamens 

 bears only 2 or 3 anthers, stigma 1, obscurely 5-lobed. 



1. KYDIA. 



* K. calycina. Leaves rounded cordate, closely felted 

 beneath, flowers in panicles, white, pink, or pale yellow, small, 

 involucre segments oblong, downy, capsule size of a pea, 

 hidden in the calyx. Wdrang, bhoti, potdri. 



Common on the Ghauts (!>.) Kennery forests ((?.). I was un- 

 fortunate enough never to find it. " The fruit ripens in the cold 

 season, and hangs on the tree for months, conspicuous by the brown, 

 shining calyx and involucel " (Brandis). Tropical Hymalayas 



2. BOMBAX. 



B. maldbaricum (Salmalia M. D.). Trunk and branches all 

 covered with stout, hard prickles, leaflets 5 to 7, narrowing afc 

 both ends, petioled ; flowers very numerous, large, deep red, 

 calyx unequally lobed, fleshy ; capsule woody when ripe, felted 

 inside, full of silky cotton. Shewa, Mocha. 



The well-known silk cotton tree, exceedingly common in the 

 Konkan, less so elsewhere. Nothing can he more beautiful than the 

 cotton shaken slowly out of a ripe capsule till it forms a downy 

 heap. It makes very good pillows. "The Ceiba's crimson pomp " 

 is Heber's description of the flowers. The gum is called Mocha ras. 

 (Dymock.) In the W. Indies it is looked on with superstitious respect 

 as the haunt of evil spirits. (Kingsley.) 



3. ERIODENDRON. 



E. anqfractuosum. A tree with a general resemblance to 

 the last, but less prickly ; leaflets 5 to 8, peduncles 2 inches 

 long, club-shaped ; flowers like the last, but of a dirty white ; 

 capsule and seeds like the last. ShameUla, 'bhujaridhaman. 



Khandeish and Konkan, but not common, I believe. To this tribe 

 also belongs Adansonia digitata, the fantastic-looking tree with 

 immense swollen trunks, which never fail to attract the attention of 

 newcomers to Bombay. Ihe flowers are very large, white, and very 

 handsome. It is found in various places up the coast and elsewhere, 



D 



