Mibiscu..] XXII. MALVACE^. 131 



In Central America the fibre is known as " majagu," and in Bengal as " bola,'' and being little 

 affeeted by moisture is therefore selected by surveyors for measuring lines. The Queensland 

 blacks at one time used the roots and young growth of this tree for food. In the West Indies, 

 in times of scarcity of bread-fruit, the mucilaginous bark is said to be sucked for food. 



Wood close-grained, colour invisible green, beautifully marked, easy to work, and takes a good 

 pohsh ; supposed by some to resemble Pollard oak.— Bailey's Cat. Ql. M'oods, No. 19. 



11. LAGUNARIA, G. Don. 



(After Andreas Laguna.) 



Bracteoles 3 or 4, broad and united at the b'ase, often very deciduous. Calyx 

 very shortly 5-lobed. Staminal column bearing numerous filaments on the 

 outside below the 5-crenate summit. Ovary 5-celled, with several ovules in each 

 cell. Style clavate at the top, with 5 distinct ovate radiating stigmas. Capsule 

 loculicidally 5-valved, the endocarp villous inside and separating from the pericarp. 

 Seeds reniform, thick, glabrous. — A tree. Leaves entire, sprinkled or curved, 

 with scurfy scales. Flowers large, axillary, on short thick pedicels. 



The genus, scarcely perhaps sufficiently distinct from Hibiscus, is limited to a single species, 

 represented, however, by two distinct varieties — one Australian, the other peculiar to Norfolk 

 Island. — Ben til. 



1. Ii. Fatersoni (after "Colonel Paterson), Don, Gen. Syst. i. 485, var. 

 hracteuta ; Benth. Fl. Avstr. i. 218. A tree, the young parts and inflorescence 

 more or less covered with minute scurfy scales, but otherwise glabrous. Leaves 

 petiolate, oblong or broadly lanceolate, rarely ovate-oblong, 3 to 4in. long, entire, 

 somewhat coriaceous, white underneath when young, glabrous and pale-green on 

 both sides when full grown, the scales of the under surface almost disappearing. 

 Pedicels very short and angular. Bracteoles 3 to 5, very obtuse, united in a 

 broad, shortly-lobed eup, usually persistent at the time of flowering in the Austra- 

 lian variety, but sometimes even these falling off early. Calyx 4 to 5 lines long. 

 Petals narrow, above l-Jin. long, slightly tomentose outside. 



Hab.: Port Denison, Port Cowper, Cumberland Islands. 



The Norfolk Island form (Hibiscus Patersonius, Andr. Bot. Eep. t. 286; H. Fatersoni, DC. 

 Prod. i. 454 ; Laguncea Patersonia, Bot. Mag. t. 769 ; L. squaniea, Vent. Jard. Malm. t. 42) is 

 much more scaly-tomentose, the leaves are broader and very white underneath, and the 

 bracteoles fall off at so very early a stage that they have always been said to be entirely wanting. 

 I had, on that account, at first considered the Australian plant as distinct, but I have since seen 

 the bracts on very young buds of the Norfolk Island one, and observe them to be here and there 

 very deciduous on Australian specimens, and the other characters, although as far as hitherto 

 known constant, may not be sufficient to distinguish the two as more than varieties or 

 races. — Benth. 



Wood firm, close in grain, nearly white, and easy to work. — Bailey's Cat. Ql. Woods, No. 20. 



12. FUGOSIA, Juss. 



(After Bernard Cienfuegos.) 



Bracteoles 3, distinct and narrow, or several united in a 3 to 6-toothed 

 involucre. Calyx 5-Iobed. Staminal column bearing numerous filaments on the 

 outside, below the truncate or 5-toothed summit, or rarely quite to the top. 

 Ovary 3 to 5-celled, with 3 or more ovules in each. Style thickened towards the 

 top, grooved or divided into short, erect lobes, with decurrent stigmas. Capsule 

 loculicidally 3 to 5-valved. Seeds obovoid-globular or slightly reniform, usually 

 pubescent or woolly. Cotyledons much folded over the radicle. — Shrubs or under- 

 shrubs, with the habit of Hibiscus, but usually more glabrous. Leaves entire or 

 lobed, rarely divided. Stipules small or subulate and deciduous. Flowers usually 

 large, yellow or purple. Calyx often marked with black dots, but not the 

 cotyledons. 



The genus comprises several species from tropical and subtropical regions of America, and one 

 from Africa, but none from Asia. It is very nearly allied on the one hand to Hibiscus, on the 

 other to Gosaypium, differing frort) the former chiefly in the style, frojn the latter in the 

 bracteoles; — Benth. 



