223 



retained its old leaves, the remainder of the crown being entirely 

 bare or showing clusters of flowers or young pods, while at the 

 same time the younger tree represented in our Figure 6 — a tree 

 growing on the grounds of the New Providence Asylum — was 

 laden with nearly mature pods and showed no leaves at all. 

 Sometimes, according to Mrs. Anthony (/. c), a silk-cotton tree 

 at Nassau may omit entirely the shedding of its leaves during 

 the winter. The bark of the Cciba is covered when young with 

 coarse, sharp-pointed, conical or pyramidal tubercles or spines. 



Figure 5. Tubercles or spines on the base of a young Ceiba pentandra at 

 Nassau, Bahamas. 



as represented in our Figure 5, but in the older trees these 

 spines, as a rule, are scarcely found unless near the ends of the 

 younger branches, though in this respect the trees show a good 

 deal of individual variation. 



Ceiba pentandra is now widely distributed in the tropics, oc- 



