BOMBAX 



MALABARICUM 



Semul 



THE SILK-COTTON TREE 



Expensive 



Methods 



Unnecessary. 



Peasant 

 Industry. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 487-02. 

 Silk-cotton 

 Tree. 



Gum. 



Fibre Floss. 



Silk- 

 cottons. 



Food. 



Medicine. 



fashion of jute) is perhaps of even more interest than its exception- 

 ally high merit as a textile. Expensive decorticating and degumming 

 machinery and methods are thereby rendered unnecessary. It is thus 

 possible that the fibre could be turned out at a price that would not only 

 undersell rhea, but for certain purposes compete with flax, if not with 

 jute itself. At all events the cultivation and separation of a crudely 

 cleaned fibre of great merit might easily enough be accomplished by 

 even the poorest agriculturist. While rhea must of necessity command 

 capital and enterprise, risa can be developed by the peasant. Indian and 

 English newspapers and periodicals have meantime been flooded with 

 the usual quinquennial dose of the will-o'-the-wisp controversy on the 

 favourable or unfavourable aspects of rhea cultivation in India. Hardly 

 a word has been said in commendation of this interesting fibre, which 

 thus seems destined once more to lapse into oblivion. 



BOMBAX MALABARICUM, DC.; Fl. Br. Ind., i., 349 ; Gamble, 

 Man. Ind. Timbs., 90 ; Pharmacog. Ind., i., 215 ; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb., 

 i., 120 ; Duthie, Fl. Upper Gang. Plain, i., 98 ; MALVACEAE. The Red 

 Silk-cotton Tree, semul, pagun, roJeto-simul, simbal, bouro, semar, sdur, 

 sdvara, mundla buraga-chettu, puld, burla, sdlmali, letpan, etc., etc. A 

 large deciduous tree common throughout the hotter forests of India, 

 Burma and Ceylon. 



The tree yields a dark-brown GUM which is sold in the bazars under the 

 name mdcha-ras. Another vernacular name for the gum is supdri-ka-phul, 

 " produce of the betel-palm," the name supdri being said to be given to the 

 blunt thorns of Sontbax by children who masticate them instead of the fruits 

 of A-reen Catechu, (the true supdri). The gum only exudes from portions of the 

 bark which have been injured by decay or insects, for incisions in the healthy 

 bark do not cause it to flow. It is collected from March to June, and is used 

 as a katira or hog-gum. Moodeen Sheriff (Mat. Med. Mad., 1891, 61) says there 

 are three market qualities of semul gum, of which the first fetches Rs. 12 per 

 maund, and the third Rs. 8. The gum is used in medicine. It is very astringent 

 and is used by both Hindus and Muhammadans in diarrhoea, dysentery and 

 menorrhagia. 



The inner bark of the tree yields a good FIBRE suitable for cordage, and 

 the seeds afford the so-called red silk-cotton or semul-cotton, a fibre too short 

 and too soft to be spun, but useful in stuffing pillows, etc. It has also been 

 talked of as a paper-fibre. The smoothness of the floss is believed to prevent 

 its felting, and hence in the textile industries it could only be employed to mix 

 with other fibres in order to impart a silky gloss. Its only important utilisa- 

 tion, however, is in upholstery. But it should be observed that Buchanan- 

 Hamilton and other writers have considered it as apt to deteriorate and become 

 lumpy, distinct defects in upholstery. There are four plants which may be said 



to be the silk-COtton plants of India, viz: (1) Eriodenilron aiifraetuosutn, DC.; 

 (2) Bombax imtlnlmricitni, DC. ; (3) Cofhlosjiernntm f*Mi/j*iirm . DC. ; (4) 



< vi/o/ro/i yiyuHteti, K. Br. [For further information see Calotropis, pp. 207-8.] 

 The flower-buds of Bontbax constitute an article of FOOD, being eaten as a 

 pot-herb. Some years ago it was reported that the estimated amount annually 

 consumed in the Central Provinces was 5,000 maunds (Nicholl, Exc. Rept., 

 1878-9). The root of the young tree (semul-musla) is said to be a MEDICINE 

 and used as an alterative ; it is made into a confection with sugar and ghi and 

 administered as an aphrodisiac or as a restorative in phthisis. The young fruits 

 (mardti-moggu) are stimulant, diuretic, tonic, and expectorant. The wholesale 

 price is quoted for Madras as about Rs. 3 per maund. The TIMBER is not very 

 durable, except under water. It is used for planking, packing-cases, toys, 

 fishing-floats, coffins, the lining of wells, etc. It is also sometimes made into 

 canoes and water-troughs. The tree is called the yama-druma or tree of the 

 infernal regions or of the god of death, because it makes a great show of flowers 

 and produces no fruit fit to eat. The cotton is made into tinder, and the wood 



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