22 



XXVI. STERCULIACE^E. 

 1. SALMALIA, Schott. & Endl. 



1. MALABARICA. A large tree, trunk prickly ; leaves palmate ; 

 leaflets 5 to 7, acuminated at both ends ; flowers large bright red, 

 appearing in February, when the tree is without leaves ; fruit oblong- 

 obtuse, full of silky cotton. Very common. Syn. Bornbax mala- 

 baricum, DC.; B heptaphyllum, Cav. ; Roxb. Hort. Beng., Cor. t. 

 247 ; B ceiba, Burm. Fl Ind. ; Gossampinus rubra, Ham. in Linn. 

 Trans. Rheede Mai. iii, t. 52. The bark is said to be emetic, 

 and the honey of the flowers purgative and emetic ; but this is 

 denied by Mr. O'Shaughnessy and others. 



2. ERIODENDRON, DC.; GOSSYMPIUM, Schott. & Endl. 



1. ANFRACTUOSUM, DC. A tree something like the preceding, 

 with prickly trunk and palmate leaves; flowers drooping, of a dingy 

 white; fruit like Salmalia. Syn. Bombax pentandrum, Linn.; 

 Roxb. Fl Ind. iii, 165; Ceiba, Gaertn. t. 133; Gossampium, 

 Rumph. Arab. t. 80 ; Gossampinus alba. Ham. loc. cit. Grows in 

 Khandeish. Native name " Shameula." 



NOTE. The glutinous sap is applied to parts effected by rheumatism, and the 

 cottony seeds are used as a soporific pillow in the Philippines (Adams). 



3. HELICTERES, Linn. 



1 . ISORA, Linn. A shrub, with roundish toothed and acuminate 

 leaves, and bright red flowers ; carpels 5-twisted, like a screw. 

 Common in the hilly parts of the Concan and Deccan. Syn. II 

 -Roxburghii, Don. in Mill. Diet. Native names " Kewun" 

 and " Muradsing"; the fruit is used by the natives medicinally, 

 but its qualities are fanciful, though safe. 



4. HERITIERA, Art. 



1 . LITTORALIS DRYANDER, in Ait. Hort , Kew., iii, 546. A tree 

 with alternate oval entire leaves, and axillary panicles of small red 

 flowers; said in Grah. Cat., fide Nimmo, to grow in the S. Concan, 

 but we have failed to find it. Syn. Balanopteris tothila, Gaertn. 

 fr. t. 99 ; Rheede Mai. vi, t. 21 ; Rumph. Amb. iii, t. 63. 



5. STERCULIA, Linn. 



1. VILLOSA, Roxb. Fl Ind. iii, 153. A tree; leaves palmately 

 5 to 7-lobed ; lobes acuminated tomentose and velvetty beneath ; 



