STERCULIACEAE. — FIRMIANA 377 



Wilson has seen only one cultivated specimen of this tree, the origin of which 

 is unknown to him. The Chinese called it the " Peng-kou " tree. A picture of 

 this tree will be found under No. 440 of the collection of Wilson's photographs 

 and in his Vegetation of Western China, No. 479. 



FIRMIANA Marsili. 



Firmiana simplex F. N. Meyer in U. S. Dept. Agric. Bur. PI. Indust. 

 CCIV. 56 {Agric. Explor. Orchards China) (1911). 



Hibiscus simplex Linnaeus, Spec. ed. 2, II. 977 (1763). 



Sterculia platanifolia Linnaeus f., Suppl. 423 (1781). — De CandoUe, 



Prodr. 1. 483 (1824). — Ben tham, Fl. Hongk. 36 (1861). — Kurz in Jour. 



Bat. XI. 193 (1873). — Debeaux in Act. Soc. Linn. Bordeaux, XXX. 73 



(Fl. Shanghai, 21) (1875), XXXIII. 36 (Fl. Tientsin, 13) (1879).— 



Hemsley in Jour. Linn. Soc. XXIII. 90 (1886). — Shirasawa, Ico7i. Ess. 



For. Jap. II. t. 51, figs. 10-34 (1908). — Dunn & Tutcher in Kew Bull. 



Misc. Inform, add. ser. X. 49 (Fl. Kwangtung & Hongk.) (1912). — 



Leveill6, Fl. Kouy-Tcheou, 406 (1915). 

 Sterculia tomentosa Thunberg, Icon. PI. Jap. IV. t. 8 (1802). 

 Firmiana chinensis Medicus ex Steudel, Nomencl. 814 (pro synon.) (1821). 

 Firmiana platanifolia Schott & Endlicher, Meletem. Bot. 33 (1832). — Diels 



in Bot. Jahrb. XXIX. 470 (1900). 

 Sterculia pyriformis Bunge in Mem. Sav. £tr. Acad. Sci. St. Petersbourg, II. 



83 (Enum. PI. Chin. Bor. 9) (1835). 



Western Hupeh: Patung Hsien, roadsides, alt. 800 m., July and 

 December 1907 (No. 667; tree 16 m. tall, 2 m. girth, flowers yellowish, 

 fruit straw-yellow); Ichang, alt. 30-1000 m., June 1907 (No. 2587; 

 tree 5-16 m., girth 0.3-1 m.) ; same locality, July 1900 (Veitch Exped, 

 No. 1254). Formosa: Tamsui, A. Henry (No. 1387). Shantung: 

 Tsingtau, 1900, Zimmermann (No. 463). 



This is a slender tree with smooth gray-green bark and whorled branches and 

 is very common at low altitudes in Hupeh and Szech'uan. The leaves may be 

 glabrous or more or less densely covered with pale tomentum on the under side. 

 Colloquially it is known as Wu-tung, and the fibrous bark is used for making coarse 

 cordage. 



Pictures of this tree will be found under Nos. 519 and 0263 of the collection 

 of Wilson's photographs and also in his Vegetation of Western China, No. 480. 



