60 Plants Collected in Paraguay. 



blood-red at the base, and lighter red above, making a ver}^ showy 

 flower. The cal3''x lobes have 5 green nerves upon them, alternating 

 with as many white stripes. Staminate column with 6 or t rows 

 of stamens some distance apart; anthers red, stigmas some distance 

 above the highest row of stamens, umbella-shaped from below, and 

 with 5 broad, downy-edged lobes. The bark of this plant strips off 

 like flax and splits into clean, fine fibres, and could doubtless be used 

 in making textile fabrics, certainly as good for that purpose as that 

 of our cotton plant, which, it is said, is now used in this way. 



HilbiscilS flircellatus, "Desr., Lam. Encyc, iii, 358. Ex descr. 

 H. Diodon, D.C., Prod., i, 449? 



Asuncion (682). April. 



Strongly resembles H. cisplatiniis, and with an equally showy 

 flower. It is often cultivated in gardens at Asuncion. When it 

 first opens the corolla is rose-red, but soon after fully expanding it 

 turns a pure white. 



Cienfugosia sulpliiarea (St. Hil.), Garcke, Bonpl., viii, 148. 

 Fugosia Drummondii, A. Gray, PI. Wriglit, 23. 



Pilcomayo River (929). February. 



A shrubby, smooth-stemmed plant about 3 dm. high, with a tough, 

 thick root, and many stems springing from it, which are somewhat 

 decumbent at the base. Corolla sulphur-yellow, with a brown eye 

 at the base inside, about 1^ cm. broad when expanded. Calyx 

 smaller, deeply divided, the lobes lanceolate, 3-5 nerved, and they, 

 the bracteoles, and the pods marked by rows of black dots. Bracte- 

 oles 8. Leaves broadly ovate, palmately t-nerved, irregularly cre- 

 nate-dentate, occasionally with small lobes, on petioles 1-2 cm. long. 

 Capsule glabrous, 5 celled, cells 2-seeded. Peduncles 2-8 cm. long. 



This occurs in Texas and also in Southern Brazil. 



Gossypiiim maritiinuiii, Tod., Osserv. Cot., 83. 



Pilcomayo River (918). March. 



The native cotton of Paraguay. It is supposed to have been 

 originally introduced into the country, but it certainly grows now 

 spontaneously. I found it quite abundant about the Falls of the 

 Pilcomayo, not only in old Indian encampments, but in thickets 

 upon the campos. There it flourishes with great vigor, growing 

 often to the height of 2 or 3 m., sometimes bearing 10 or 15 bolls 

 upon one stem. Although the staple of the wild plant is not as long 



