350 XXVI. MALvA-CE^. (Maxwell T. Masters.) [Eriodendron. 



DiSTEiB. A genus of about 3 species, most of tliem American, one occurs 

 in tropical Africa. 



1. E. anfractuosum, 2X7. Prod/r. i. 479 ; leaflets lanceolate cuspidate 

 entire or serrulate towards the point glaucous beneath. WaU. Cat. 1839; 

 W. & A. Prodr. i. 61 ; Wight Ic. t. 400 ; Grig. Not. iv. 533 ; Dalz. & Gibs. 

 Bomb. Fl. 22 ; Miq^. Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. 2. 166 ; Beddome FL Sylvat. Anal. 

 Gen. t. 4. Bombax pentandrum, lAnn. Sp. PL 989 ; Cav. Diss. v. 293, 1. 151 ; 

 Roocb. Fl. Ind. iii 165. B. orientale, Spreng. Syst. iii. 124. Ceiba pentandra, 

 Geertn. Fruct. ii. 244, t. 133 ; Ham. in Trans. lAnn. Soc. xv. 126. Erio- 

 dendron orientale, Steud. Nmnencl. 587 ; Thwaites Enum. 28. — Rheede Hort. 

 Mai. iii t. 49, 50; Rumph. Amh. i. t. 80. 



Forests throughout the hotter parts of India and Cetlok. — Disteie. S. America, 

 W. Indies, Trop. Africa? 



A tall tree, trunk straight, tapering, prickly when young ; branches horizontal, verti. 

 cillate. Leaflets 5-8, 3-4 by 1 in ; petioles at least as long as or longer than the leaf- 

 lets. Stipules small, caducous. Peduncles about 2 in., club-shaped, tufted, l-flowered. 

 Calyx I m , cup-shaped, 5-cleft, lobes roundish, glabrous on the, outside, slightly downy 

 within. Petals 5, oblong, connate at the base, downy externally, yellowish within, 

 twice the length of the calyx. Filaments shorter than the petals. Ovary conical; 

 style as long as the stamens, declinate, dilated above the contracted base, stigma ob- 

 scurely 5-lobed. Copsttfe oblong like a cucumber; septa membranous, tardily dehiscing. 

 Seeds numerous, subpyriform, black, glabrous. — Eoxbuigh doubts whether the Indian 

 species be the same as the West Indian, which latter is described with an irregular 

 truA, often ventricose or thicker above ; the shape of the fruit is also different. DC. 

 I.e. makes 3 varieties — 1. Indicum, above described, with flowers yellowish within ; 2. 

 Cariham/m, with rose coloured flowers ; 3. Africanum, to which no differential cha- 

 racters are assigned. In herbaria the specimens from the East and from the West do 

 not appear to differ. Planchon, however (in herb.), has suggested that the name E, 

 Bkeedii be given to the Indian form. 



18. CVZiI.i:»rXA, Wight. 



A tall tree. Leaves simple, scaly. Fkmers fascicled in the axils of the 

 leaves. Bracteoles 3-5, connate for nearly their whole length into a de- 

 ciduous cylindric tube, clothed, like the calyx, with peltate scales. Sepals 

 5, connate for nearly their whole length into a deciduous cylindric tuba 

 Petals 0. Staminal-tiiheft-cleit, divisions linear, exserted, declinate; anthers 

 small, subglobose, 1-celIed, clustered at intervals on the branches of the 

 staminal-tube. Ovary 5-celled, style elongate, very hairy, stigma capitate ; 

 ovules 2' in each ceU, superposed. Fruit globose, densely clothed with 

 spines, ultimately 5-valved. Seeds with a fleshy arU, albumen 0, cotyledons 

 fleshy unequal 



1. C. ezcelsa, Wight Ic. 1761, 2 ; Beddome Flor. Sylvat., Anal. Gm. 

 t. 4 ; Thwaites Enum. 28. Durio zeylanicus, Gardn. in Calc. Joum. Nat. 

 Hist. viii. 



Ijamally hills, Malabae, Wight; Cbtloh ; common in the central provinces, alt. 

 2500 ft., Thwaites. 



Leaves elliptic, acuminate, bright shining green above, silvery and densely scaly be- 

 neath. Flowers densely packed on contracted branches, short pcduncled, pointed at the 

 base. Fruit the size of a large orange. Seeds like a chestnut. 



19. DVXIXO, Linn. 



Trees. Leaves entire, leathery, closely penninerved, scaly, rarely hairy 

 beneath. Flowers in lateral cymes ; peduncles angular. Bracteoles 3, connaU) 



