INDIAN HEMPS, OR THOSE SO CALLED. 253 
usually mentioned in the exports from Calcutta under the name 
of Hemp, but alsoas Sunn. The plant may be distinguished by 
its flowers being of a bright yellow colour, and of the form of 
the Pea and of the Laburnum, while the leaves are entire and 
lanceolate. 
The Ambaree (Hibiscus cannabinus), Mesta paut of Bengal, 
and Palungoo of Madras, is also very generally cultivated all 
over India, and exported of very good quality from the west side 
of that country. Its leaves are both entire and lobed, its flowers 
are large, and in shape resemble those of the Mallow, the Holly- 
hock, and the Cotton plant, of a sulphur-yellow colour with a 
dark brown centre. The fibre of this plant is, like that of Jute, 
sometimes called paut, and also Indian Hemp. It is often con- 
founded with that of the Sunn, as it is one of the kinds of 
Brown Hemp of Bombay, though the two plants differ much 
from each other. 
In the exports from the different Presidencies of India, it is 
very difficult to distinguish these two different kinds of fibre, 
inasmuch as the same name, Hemp, is applied to the exports 
from all the three Presidencies ; but we believe, speaking gene- 
rally, that the Sunn (Crotalaria juncea) is chiefly exported from 
all the three Presidencies, and one kind of Brown Hemp (Hidis- 
cus cannabinus), along with the other kind, Taag, from Bombay. 
Or Matvacrous AND OTHER FiIsRE-YIELDING PLaAnts. 
As many plants have flowers and seed-vessels which closely 
resemble the Mallow, they have been united by botanists intoa 
natural family of plants, which they have called Malvaceae, or 
Mallow-worts. Some other families, such as the Tiliacee just 
described, and the Sterculiacee and Byttneriacee, to be imme- 
- diately noticed, having also a considerable resemblance to each 
other and to the Malvacee, have been further grouped into a 
larger class which has been called Malvales. These groupings 
are interesting to us, inasmuch as they bring together, though 
in these different families, a number of plants which resemble 
each other in properties ; for the greater number of the species 
not only abound in mucilage, but their barks in fibres which 
are manufactured into cordage. Of these, numerous instances 
will be mentioned in the following pages, but still more will 
