Cochlospermum.] VII. BIXINE^E. 17 



ally one-celled. Ovules parietal, generally numerous. Seeds with fleshy 

 albumen ; embryo axile, with broad foliaceous cotyledons. Gen. PI. i. 

 122 ; Eoyle 111. 73 ; Wight 111. i. 36, 38. 



Flowers bisexual ; petals large. 



Seeds covered with cotton ; leaves palmate . . 1. Cochlospermum. 



Seeds naked ; leaves entire ..... 2. Bixa. 

 Flower dioecious ; petals none. 



Ovary 2-8-celled ; styles 2 or more. ... 3. Flacourtia. 



,. Ovary 1 -celled ; style 1 4. Xylosma. 



1. COCHLOSPERMUM, Kunth. 



Flowers bisexual. Sepals 5, deciduous. Petals 5, contorted in bud. 

 Stamens indefinite, inserted on a disc without glands ; anther-cells open- 

 ing with a short slit at the top. Ovary with numerous ovules on 3 to 5 

 parietal placentas. Style one, filiform ; stigma toothed. Capsules 3-5- 

 valved. Seeds numerous, cochleate ; testa hard, woolly ; embryo curved. 



1. C. Gossypium, DC. ; W. & A. Prodr. 87 j Hook. Fl. Ind. i. 190. 

 Syn. Bomhax gossypinum, Linn. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 169. Vern. Kumbi, 

 N.W.P. Gabdi, Bandelkhand and Central Provinces. 



A soft-wooded tree. Leaves alternate, large, near the ends of branches, 

 on long thick petioles, palmately 5-lobed ; lobes acuminate, grey-tomentose 

 beneath ; stipules linear, caducous. Flowers on terminal panicles, large, 

 3-4 in. across, bright yellow, rachis and pedicels covered with grey 

 pubescence. Sepals broad -oval unequal, covered with a grey silky down, 

 margin white-ciliate. Petals spreading, obovate, emarginate or irregu- 

 larly cleft, with numerous parallel veins. Filaments filiform, shorter 

 than petals ; anthers linear, acuminate. Fruit in bunches, capsules oval, 

 nearly the size of a goose-egg, 5-valved, divided by incomplete dissepi- 

 ments. Seeds numerous, covered with a soft silky woolly substance. 



Dry stony hills along the foot of the North-West Himalaya from the Sutlej 

 to the Sardah, ascending to 3000 ft. Behar, Bandelkhand, Central Provinces, 

 Dekkan and eastern districts of the Peninsula. Deciduous ; the new leaves 

 appear in May. Flowers from February to April ; the fruit ripens in June 

 and July. A small tree, with short thick spreading branches, the younger 

 branches marked with great scars of the fallen leaves and fruit-stalks. Wood 

 soft and light, not much used. A clear white gum (Katira) exudes from the 

 bark. Bellows for iron-smelting are made of the leaves. 



2. BIXA, Linn. 



Flowers bisexual. Sepals 5, imbricate, deciduous. Petals 5, large, 

 contorted in the bud. Stamens indefinite, inserted on a thick torus below 

 the ovary j anthers oblong, opening at the apex with two short slits. 

 Style filiform ; stigma minutely 2-lobed. Capsule coriaceous, one-celled, 

 two-valved, with numerous seeds on parietal placentas along the middle 

 of each valve. Seeds obovoid on a thick funicle, covered with a farin- 

 aceous red pulp ; embryo large ; cotyledons flat. 



1. B. Orellana, Linn, j Wight 111. t. 17; Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 581 ; W. & A. 

 Prodr. 31; Hook. Fl. Ind. i. 190. Arnotto. Vern. Latkan. (Thidin, Burm.) 



B 



