FLORA OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 141 



6. GOSSYPIUM Linn. [Mau.] 



Bracts 3, large, cordate. Calyx truncate or 5-lobed. Stamineal 

 column naked below the apex or rarely branching into many anther- 

 bearing filaments. Ovary 5-celled; cells many-ovuled. Style club- 

 shaped at the apex, 5-grooved, and with 5 stigmatic surfaces. Capsule 

 loculicidally dehiscing. Seeds subglobose or angled, densely pubes- 

 cent or glabrous, and with a long wool (cotton). Albumen thin or 

 none. Cotyledons strongly folded and enclosing the radicle in an auri- 

 cle as their base. Large herbs, or shrubs, sometimes, tree-like. 

 Leaves 3 - 9-lobed or rarely entire. Flowers large, white, yellow, or 

 purple. Bracts usually black-dotted, laciniate-toothed, or entire. Co- 

 tyledons usually black-dotted. 



A small genus, the species of which are very imperfectly distinguished as a general 

 thing; found in most tropical countries. 

 Leaves glabrous, or nearly so. 



Bracts large, deeply laciniate, 1. G. religiosum. 



Bracts large, nearly entire or crenate toothed, 2. G. Drynarioidet. 



Leaves canescent-tomentose, 3. G. tomentosum. 



1. G. RELIGIOSUM Linn. (Enum. No. 43.) Shrub. Upper leaves 

 3-lobed, lower ones 5-lobed, the lobes ovate, acute; leaves 2' -3' in 

 diameter, on petioles of about their length or shorter, faintly black- 

 dotted. Peduncles about 1' long. Bracts large, ovate, cordate, divided 

 at the apex in 10 - 12 lacineae which are as long as the entire part, 

 linear-lanceolate, and fine-pointed. Lobes of the calyx ovate, subulate, 

 acuminate, and, like the bracts, black-dotted. Capsule 1' long, rough- 

 ened by sunken dots. Seeds free from one another, glabrous and with 

 a fine white cotton. 



Probably introduced. 



2. G. DRYNARIOIDES Seem. (Enum. No. 44.) A glabrous shrub. 

 Leaves 5 -7-lobed, 3' long; lobes triangular, acute, green above, paler 

 and black-dotted beneath. Peduncles 4' -5' long, 1-flowered. Bracts 

 large, coriaceous, cordate-ovate, obtuse, sinuate-crenate, 10-12-nerved, 

 li'-2' long, l'-li' broad. Calyx 5-lobed. Petals obovate-oblong, 

 pubescent externally, 4' - 5' long. 



Hawaiian Islands. (Nelson, in Herb. Brit. Museum.) 



3. G. TOMENTOSUM Nutt. (Enum. No. 42.) Shrubby, 2 -6 

 high, much branched. Young branches, leaves, and bracts canes- 

 cently-tomentose. Leaves thickish, 2'-4 r in diameter, on petioles 

 l'-2' long, 3-5-lobed; lobes ovate-acuminate or acute, entire, more or 

 less black-dotted. Stipules cordate or ovate, acuminate. Peduncles 

 one-, rarely two-flowered. Bracts ovate-oblong, cordate at the base, 

 laciniate at the apex, the divisions ovate-lanceolate and entire, more or 



