XXXVII. STERCULIACE.E. 283 



To the normal monogjnous or digynous species of Playianthm have been joined Philippodendron, of 

 Poiteau, a plant remarkable for the tenacity of its liber fibres. 1 Malvacefe are essentially tropical, diminish- 

 ing rapidly as they recede from the equator, and they are more numerous in the northern tropics and in 

 America than in the Old World. 



An emollient mucilage abounds in most of the species ; some contain free acids, and are employed as 

 refreshing drinks ; others are classed among stimulants, on account of a contained hydrocarbon, which 

 acts on the mucilage. The seeds contain a fixed oil, and their testa is often woolly ; the bark of many is 

 very tenacious. The leaves and flowers of Mallows (Malva sylvestris and rottmdifolia), the root and 

 flowers of Guimauve (Althcea afficinalis) and of Althrea rosea are emollients. Those Malvacece which 

 have acid juice are principally the white and red Ketmies, Oscilles de Guinee (Hibiscus Sabdariffa and 

 diyitattis), natives of tropical Africa, but now cultivated throughout the tropics on account of the free 

 oxalic acid which exists in their mucilage. H. esculentus is a widely diffused tropical annual ; its green 

 capsule is largely consumed, either by dissolving its mucilage in boiling water, to thicken soups, or else 

 cooked and seasoned. The root of the Indian Pavonia odorata is aromatic and a febrifuge. That of Sida 

 lanceolata is praised by the Indians as a stomachic. Hibiscus Abelmoschus is an annual herb, a native of India 

 and Egypt, which has been introduced into the Antilles ; its seeds (graina d'Ambretta) have a powerful musky 

 principle, used by perfumers. Hibiscus Rosa- Sinensis contains a colouring principle in its flowers which 

 the Chinese make use of to blacken their shoes and eyebrows. Althcea Cannabina, a native of South 

 Europe, has tenacious fibres like hemp, as which it is used. The genus Gossypium consists of herbs or 

 shrubs, whose capsule contains numerous ovoid seeds with a spongy testa covered witli woolly hairs called 

 Cotton, easily spun, and the source of an immense commerce between the two worlds. These plants are 

 indigenous throughout the tropics, but their cultivation has been gradually extended into temperate 

 latitudes. The principal species, G. herbacctim, from Upper Egypt ; G. arboreum and religiosum, from 

 India ; G. peruviamim and Mrsutum, from the New World, &c., are as yet imperfectly defined. Cotton 

 was known in Egypt in the earliest times. Cotton seeds further yield by expression a fixed oil, 

 which is used for burning, cattle food, and for the manufacture of soap. Among Bombacefe, the Durian 

 produces a large foetid fruit, the flavour of which is pronounced to be unequalled, after habit has over- 

 come its disgusting smell. The Baobab has an oblong fruit, the size of a melon, filled with acidulous 

 white pulp, much sought by the negros as a preservative from dysentery ; its bark is a febrifuge. 



Bombaccce are all arborescent, and principally tropical, and include some of the largest trees in the 

 Vegetable Kingdom ; as Bombax, Adansonia, Pachira, Durio, Neesia, &c. The most remarkable is the 

 Baobab (Adansonia digitata), a tree of tropical Africa, introduced into Asia and America ; the thickness 

 of its trunk is enormous, sometimes attaining 100 feet in circumference. Adanson observed in the Cape 

 de Verd Islands Baobabs which had been measured by travellers three centuries before, and from the 

 little growth they had made during that period he calculated that their age must be more than 6,000 

 years. [Such estimates are altogether fallacious ; the Baobab is now well known to be a very fast- 

 growing and short-lived tree. ED.] 



XXXVII. STERCULIACE^E. 



(STERCULIACE^E, Ventenat. STERCULIACE^E ET BUTTNERIACE^E, Endlicher.) 



CALYX 5~4-3-mmms, valvate. COROLLA 0, or PETALS as many as the calyx- lobes, 

 hypogynous. STAMENS equal and opposite to the petals, or multiple, often mixed with 

 staminodes opposite to the calyx-lobes ; filaments variously coherent', anthers extrorse. 

 CARPELS distinct or more or less united. OVULES ascending or horizontal, anatropous 

 cr orthotropous. FRUIT usually a capsule. EMBRYO straight or arched, albuminous or 

 exalbuminous. 



1 No more so than the other species of Playianthus. ED. 



