72 THALAMlFLOIl.t:. 



at the base, cordate, inciso-dentate. Stigmata 3-5. 

 Capsule 3-5-celled, many-seeded : seeds bearing a to- 

 rn entose wool. 



Name, supposed to be derived from GOSSYPION or XYLON, a 

 plant described by Pliny as a native of Upper Egypt, the pods 

 of which furnished the wool, of which the garments of the 

 Egyptian priests were made. 



1. Gossypium Brasiliense. Chain- Cotton. 



Subglabrous, leaves 4- rarely 3- or 5-lobed tri- 

 glandulose beneath, leaflets of the involucellum 3 

 laciniated with a black depressed glandule at the base 

 of each, capsule 3-celled, seeds adhering. 



HAB. Cultivated and_wild. 



FL. May November. 



A shrub, usually 4-5 feet in height: branches spreading, 

 glabrous, rough with small black papillary inequalities. Leaves 

 4-5-, rarely 3-lobed, with the middle lobe the largest, acumi- 

 nate, cordate at the base, 5-nerved with the 3 middle nerves 

 uniglandulose near the base, punctate with black dots (especially 

 along the under surface of the nerves), glabrous above, pubes- 

 cent with minutely twisted hairs beneath : petiole nigro-papil- 

 lose, glabrous. Stipules lineari-lanceolate, deciduous. Peduncle 

 axillary, solitary, 1 -flowered, coloured on one side, nigro-papil- 

 lose, glabrous, articulated and furnished with a pair of irregular 

 leaflike bracteas. Involucellum 3-partite nearly to the base ; 

 divisions ovate, lacerato-dentate, green, subglabrous, nigro-pa- 

 pillose, veined, membranaceous, with a large black depressed 

 gland at their base. Flowers yellow, changing, as they fade, 

 to a pale rose red. Calyx obscurely 4-5-toothed, nigro-papil- 

 lose. Petals obovate, with the sides unequal, veined, glandu- 

 loso-punctulated, minutely puberulous externally. Anthers 

 yellow ; pollen hispidulous (under the microscope). Ovary 

 conical, glabrous, nigro-papillose : style length of the column 

 of the stamens, 3-sided, white with black dots : stigma 3-fid, 

 expanded. Capsule ovate, 3-celled, 3-valved: seeds several, 

 closely adhering together, ovate, black ; cotton white. 



This species is that which is most esteemed ; the cotton being 

 white and silky, and having a long staple, and separating readily 

 from the seeds, which adhere firmly together. The seeds in 

 G. HIRSUTUM also adhere together in this manner, but the dif- 

 ference is too great in many other important points, to allow of 

 the plant before us being referred to that species. It is proba- 

 ble that this variety was brought from Brazil, as it was known 

 in the time of Sloane, as well as in that of Edwards, by the name 

 of Brazilian cotton. " The Brazilian cotton tree," says the 



