410 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



suggests some doubts as to the wild condition of this 

 ])lant/ which Parlatore believes to be G Mrsutiim, 

 Linnseus. Hemsley,^ in his catalogvie of Mexican plants, 

 merely says of a Gofisypium which he calls harhadense, 

 " wild and cultivated " He gives no proof of the former 

 condition. Macfadyen^ mentions three forms wild and 

 cultivated in Jamaica. He attributes specific names to 

 them, and adds that they possibly all may be included 

 in Linnaeus' G. hirsutmn. Grisebach^ admits that one 

 species, G. harhadense, is wild in the West Indies. As 

 to the specific distinctions, he declares himself unable to 

 establish them with certainty 



With regard to New Gi-enada, Triana^ describes a 

 Gossypium which he calls G. harhadense, LinniBus, and 

 which he says is " cultivated and half wild along the 

 Rio Seco, in the province of Bogota, and in the valley of 

 the Cauca near Call;" and he adds a variety, hirsutum, 

 growing (he does not say whether spontaneously or no) 

 along the Rio Seco. I cannot discover any similar asser- 

 tion for Peru, Guiana, and Brazil;^ but the flora of Chili, 

 published by CI. Gay,' mentions a Gossypium, "almost 

 wild in the province of Copiapo," which the writer 

 attributes to the variety G. peruvianuin, Cavanilles. 

 Now, this author does not say the plant is wild, and 

 Parlatore classes it with G. religiosum, Linnfeus. 



An important variety of cultivation is that of the 

 cotton with long silky down, called by Anglo-Americans 

 sea island, or long staple cotton, which Parlatore ranks 

 with G. harhadense, Linnseus. It is considered to be of 

 American origin, but no one has seen it wild. 



In conclusion, if historical records are positive in all 

 that concerns the use of cotton in America from a time 

 far earlier than the arrival of Europeans, the natuial 



' Nascitur in calidis humidisque cultis prcccipue locis (Hernandez, 

 Novce Ilispanice Thesaurus, -p. 308). 



* Hcmsley, Biologia Centrali-Amc-rirana, i. p. 123. 



* Macfadyen, Flora of Jamaica, p. 72. 



* Giisebach, Flora of Brit. W. Ivdia Is., p. 86. 



* Ti'iana and Planchon, Prodr. Fl. Novo-Granatensis, p. 170. 



* The Malvaceae have not yet appeared in the Flora Brasiliensis, 

 7 CI. Gay, Flora Chilena, i. p. 312. 



