224 



curring not only in the West Indies and Central and South 

 America, but also in the East Indies and tropical Africa. Tax- 

 onomists in attempts to separate specifically the forms growing 

 in these widely separated regions seem able to find no distinctive 

 characters more important than slight differences in the color of 

 the flowers. Varietal and even specific names have been applied 

 to forms of this tree from different parts of the world, but the 

 practically unanimous opinion of botanists at the present day is 



Figure 6. Ceiba penlandra in fruit ; on the grounds of the New Providence 

 Asylum, Nassau, Bahamas. Photograph taken in the first week of March, 1905. 



that they represent only a single species. It can hardly be sup- 

 posed that the tree is really indigenous in all these regions, and 

 the question as to its original home thus becomes of interest. 

 The Index Ketucnsis gives its range (under the name Eriodejidron 

 anfractuosuni) as " As. et Afr. trop.," and the idea that the tree 

 is an introduction in tropical America has occasionally found 

 favor in other works. That the tree has been extensively planted 

 in the American tropics is undeniable and its rapid growth and 



