402 OUIGXN or CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



in painting.^ The amotto, a small tree of the order 

 BixacesBj grows wild in the West Indies,^ and over a 

 great part of the continent of America between the 

 tropics. Herbaria and floras abound in indications of 

 locality, but do not generally specify whether the species 

 is cultivated, wild, or naturalized. I note, however^ that 

 it is said to be indigenous by Seemann on the north- 

 west coast of Mexico and Panama, by Triana in New 

 Granada, by Meyer in Dutch Guiana, and by Piso and 

 Claussen in Brazil.* With such a vast area, it is not 

 surprising that the species has many names in American 

 languages ; that of the Brazilians, urucu, is the origin of 

 rocou. 



It was not very necessary to plant this tree in order 

 to obtain its product ; nevertheless Piso relates that the 

 Brazilians, in the sixteenth century, were not content 

 with the wild plant, and in Jamaica, in the seventeenth 

 century, the plantations of Bixa were common. It was 

 one of the first species transported from America to the 

 south of Asia and to Africa. It has become so entirely 

 naturalized, that Roxburgh * believed it to be indigenous 

 in India 



Cotton — Gossypiv/tn herhaceum, LinuEeus. 



When, in 1855, 1 sought the origin of the cultivated 

 cottons,^ there was still great uncertainty as to the dis- 

 tinction of the species. Since then two excellent works 

 have appeared in Italy, upon which we can rely ; one by 

 Parlatore,^ formerly director of the botanical gardens at 

 Florence, the other by Todaro,' of JPalermo. These two 



• Sloane, Jamaica, n. p. 53. 



' Sloane, ibid. ; Clos, Arm. 8c. Nat., 4th series, vol. viii. p. 260 ; 

 Grisebaoh, Fl. of Brit. W. Ind. Is., p. 20. 



' Seemann, Bot. of Herald., ^^.-70, 268; Triana and Planchon, Prodr. 

 Fl. Novo-Gramat., p. 94; Meyer, Esseqneho, p. 202; Piso, Hist. Nat. 

 Brasil, edit. 1648, p. 65 ; Claussen, in Clos, vbi supra. 



• Eoxburgh, FL Ind., ii. p. 581 j Oliver, Fl. Trap. Africa,!, p. 114. 

 ' 04ogr. Bot. Bais., p. 971. 



• Parlatore, Le Specie dei Ootow', text in 4to, plates in folio, Florence, 

 1866. 



' Todaro, Relazlone della Coltura dei Coioni in If alia, segnita da una 

 Monorjraphia del Genero Gossypium, text large 8to, plates in folio, Home 

 and Palermo, 1877-78 ; a work preceded by several others of less im- 

 portance, which were known to Parlatore. 



