GUTTIFEBALES. 



547 



century. The culture of cotton in Nortli America dates from almost 

 the first settlements in the Southern States, and the cotton crop is now- 

 more valuable than the product of any other single cultivated plant iu 

 the United States. It is extensively cultivated in the West Indies, 

 Brazil, Egypt, and India. 



The fibre of cotton consists of greatly elongated hairs (trichomes), 

 ■which develop in great numbers upon the outer surface of the seed- 

 coats ; these are at first cylindrical, but upon drying, as the seed-pod 

 approaches maturity, they collapse and appear flat and more or less 

 bent and twisted. 



Some East and West Indian trees of the genus Bomhax produce an 

 abundance of a similar fibre, which is fine and silky, hence the trees 

 are known as Silk Trees. It is said, however, that the fibre cannot be 

 woven, and it is at present only used for stuffing cushions, etc. 



The bast fibres of the steins of some species are useful. Species of 

 Sida in India, China, and Australia, of Playianthus iu New Zealand, 

 and of Thespesia and Hibiscus in tropical 

 America, are thus used ; from the last the 

 fibre called Cuba Bast is obtained. 



Hibiscus esculentus, the Okra or Gumbo 

 of tropical America, produces mucilaginous 

 edible pods, which are much used in the 

 Southern United States. 



Species of Burio in the Malay Archipel- 

 ago, and of Matina iu New Granada, fur- 

 nish the inhabitants of those countries with 

 valuable fruits. The wood of most of the 

 species of the order is very soft and com- 

 pressible ; this is particularly the case with 

 a West Indian tree, Oehroma Lagopus, whose wood, known as Cork 

 Wood, has been used as a substitute for cork. 



The Baobab Tree of tropical Africa is remarkable for the enormous 

 size of its rounded spreading top and the thickness of its short stem. 



Among the more common ornamental plants of the order are Mallows 

 (Maha), Bose Mallow {Hibiscus), Hollyhock {Althma}, Oallirhoe, etc. , 



600.— Cohort XXXII. Guttiferales. Flowers actino- 

 morphic ; stamens indefinite ; oyary superior, three- to many- 

 celled. 



Order Chlsenacese. — A few shrubs and trees of Madagascar. 



Order Dipterooarpeae. — Tropical trees (rarely shrubs), about 112 in 

 number, the most important of which is Dryobalanops Camphora, the 

 Kapor or Camphor Tree of Borneo and Sumatra, which attains a height 

 of forty metres (130 ft.), and yields a hard red timber used in boat- 

 building. Its resin is called Sumatra Camphor, and is much used in 

 China and Japan. 



Fig. 520.— Flower diagram 

 of Gordonia Laaianthvs. 



