100 FLORA OF MADRAS. \Bombax. 



A very conspicuous tree, of gigantic size in favourable 

 localities, flowering when bare of leaves in the hot season. 

 The wood is soft and perishable, but is more durable under 

 water, and is therefore in use for sea-going boats. It gives 

 a gum and an exudation used in medicine. The cotton 

 surrounding the seeds is used for stuffing pillows, but is not 

 so good as that of Eriodendron. Vern. Hind. Simal ; 

 Ur. Buroh; Tel. Buraga ; Tarn., Mai. Ilavu ; Mar. Sayar; 

 Kan. Burla, Sauri. 



2. BOMBAX INSIGNE, Wall. ; F. B. I. i. 349. 



Anamalai Hills (Wight). 



3. BOMBAX SCOPULORUM, Dunn. -B. insigne, Bourd. Trees Trav. 

 45 (no* o/ Wall.). 



Travancore Hills, on rocks. 



A small tree resembling B. malabaricum, but never attain- 

 ing its size. Wood soft and white. Vern. Tarn., Mai. 

 Kal ilavu, Parei ilavu. 



11. Eriodendron, DC. 



Trees ; trunk prickly when young ; branches whorled. Leaves 

 digitate, deciduous ; stipules small. Flowers tufted, in the axils 

 of leaves or appearing before them ; bracteoles 0. Calyx cam- 

 panulate, 5-toothed. Petals oblanceolate. Staminal tube short, 

 dividing into 5 filiform branches, each bearing at the top 2 or 3 

 sinuous anthers. Ovary 5-celled ; ovules many in each cell ; 

 style dilated into a shortly 5-lobed stigma. Fruit an oblong 

 coriaceous 5-valved capsule woolly within. Seeds black, globose, 

 enveloped in silky cotton : cotyledons crumpled. 



ERIODENDRON PENTANDRUM, Kurz. Eriodendron anfractuosum, 

 DC. ; F. B. I. i. 350 ; W. & A. 61 ; Wt. Ic. t. 400. 



A tall tree with smooth green stem and horizontal branches ; 



leaflets 5-8, 3-4 in. long, petiolules very short ; flowers white 



or yellowish, T5-2 in. across ; capsule cylindric, 4-5 in. long, 



green. 



Not indigenous but naturalized on the W. Coast and often 



planted there and elsewhere. 



The White Cotton tree, giving the " Kapok " cotton used for 



pillows and cushions, and of better quality than that of 



Bombax. Vern. Tarn. Panji; Mai. Panya. 



