MA L VA CEA E. 99 



An undershrub up to 4 ft. high, with conspicuous yellow 



flowers. Vern. Tel. Kondapatli. 



H. esculentus, L., is the " okra " or " bendekai " plant, commonly 

 cultivated for its capsules, which are eaten as a vegetable. H. 

 Sabdariffa, L., is the Roselle plant, cultivated for its fleshy 

 enlarged red calyx, which is eaten in tarts or made into a jelly. 

 H. cannabinus, L.,is the Deccan hemp, cultivated for its valuable 

 fibre. H. mntabilis, L., H. Kyrincus, L., H. Rom-sinensis, L.,and 

 H. radiatus, L., are cultivated as garden plants. 



10. Bombax, Linn. 



Trees with buttressed trunks, clear of branches for a long 

 distance from the ground. Leaves digitate ; stipules small. 

 Flowers out before the leaves appear, clustered towards the ends 

 of the branchlets ; bracteoles 0. Calyx leathery, cup-shaped, 

 irregularly lobed. Petals 5, oblong obovate or linear. Stamens 

 polyadelphous, very numerous ; filaments often combined so that 

 the cells appear to be 2 instead of 1. Ovary 5-celled ; ovules 

 numerous in each cell ; style clavate, divided into 5 spreading 

 stigmatic branches at the top. Capsule dehiscing by 5 leathery 

 or woody deciduous valves. Seeds smooth, globose, imbedded in 

 long white wool ; albumen scanty ; cotyledons crumpled. 



Flowers about 3 in. long ; stamens normally 80 in all, in 5 phalanges of 

 12 opposite the petals, with 10 thin ones behind and 5 large central 

 double ones alternate with the petals, filaments flat ; tree reaching 130 ft. 

 in height ; trunk with hard conical prickles ; leaflets lanceolate, long- 



(about 1 in.) petioluled ; capsule velvety 1. malabaricum. 



Flowers 5-7 in. long ; stamens about 600, in 5 phalanges opposite to the 

 petals, filaments threadlike ; trees reaching 40 ft. in height : 



Leaflets obovate, cuspidate, petiolules under '3 in. long; trunk 

 iinarmed ; branchlets sometimes prickly ; capsule glabrous 



2. insigne. 



Leaflets lanceolate, acuminate, sessile ; trunk with prickles in clusters 

 of 1-12 ; capsule velvety 3. scopulorion. 



1. BOMBAX MALABARICUM, DC. ; F. B. I. i. 349 : W. & A. 61 ; Wt. 

 111. t. 29 ; Bedd. Fl. t. 82. B. heptaphyllum, Roxb. Cor. 

 PI. iii. t. 247. 



In all forest Districts, occasionally in open country, often 



cultivated. The Red Cotton tree. 



