232 



BiGNOXIA. 



5esamum. 



BOMBAX. 



Hibiscus. 



ISLAND OF CEYLON. 



frnit are of no value, and are chiefly devoured by the bats ; 

 fometimes are gathered before they are ripe, and left to ripen 

 under heaps of rice, and then eaten. 



Indica, Rheed. Malab. i. tab. 45. Rait H'lji. ii. 1741, a lofty, but 

 not fpreading tree ; loves fandy places ; its fruit of a great lize, 

 oblong and flat; the leaves ufeful in dying black. 



Orientate^ Burni. Zeyl. tab. 38, fig. i. This is an annual, 

 cultivated in Italy, in early times, on account of the feed, 

 from which abundance of oil ufed to be exprcfled. It is 

 thought, that no vegetable contains fuch a quantity. Arrian 

 frequently mentions the feeds or its oil •'••, as a great article of 

 commerce from India, and the other eaftern regions. It was 

 nfcd both as a food, and in medicine t . Rumphius, v. p. 204, 

 tab. 76, defcribes another Sefajnum iifed for the fame purpofes, 

 nniverfally cultivated in India. 



Pentandrum, Rumpb. i. tab. 80. Pajiia Paniala, Rheede, 

 iii. tab. 49, 50, 51, pod of the wool-bearing tree, Gerard^ 

 1552, a tree that grows to the fize of our walnut; bears long 

 pods filled with feeds, wrapped in a fine fliort down, too fliort 

 for fpinning; but after being drefled is of great ufe in fluffing 

 beds and the like. The wood is excellent for making palings, 

 and other fences. 



B. Ceiba, Jacq. Am. p. 192, tab. 176, bears a long pod, with a 

 prickly coat; common to both worlds. 



Populneus, Ruinph. ii. tab. 74. H. Roja Sinetifn, iv. tab. 8. 

 This Flos Fejlalis, as it is called, is the ornament of every 



* Arrian, Mar. Erythr. ii. p. 150. 



t Pliii. lib. xviii. c. 10. lib. xxiii. c. 4. 



fcafl, 



