BOMBACB^. 87 



the flower belongs to j8, the leaf (/. 1) resembles y. — Hibiscus, Sw. — A spreading tree 

 (size of a horse-chestnut-tree : Al.) ; involucel 8"'-12"', calyx li"-2", petals 4" long. — 

 This species, hitherto confounded with the preceding, is distinguished chiefly by its large 

 flowers, and by the seeds covered with a dense villous down. Its petals in the early morning 

 are of a pale-primrose colour, and become orange-coloured and deep-red as the day advances. 

 It is variable in the division of the involucel, like the preceding : its teeth, however, are in 

 most instances shorter, and all or some of them often 3-4 times exceeded by the campanu- 

 late tube. 



a. Petals obovate; capsule ovate-globose, bluntish.— H. elatus, Macf. — H. tiliaceus, 

 Tuss. (El. 2. t. 5), seems from the colour of the petals to be the same, though in the figure 

 the flowers have the size of P. tiliaceum. — Petals nearly 2" broad above ; capsule 1" long, 

 10'" broad. 



;8. macrooarpum. Petals oblong ; capsule ovate-oblong, somewhat pointed. — P. elatum. 

 Rich. 0««.— -Petals 10"'-13"' broad above; capsule 15"'-16"' long, 8"'-9"' broad. 



7?. ahutiloides, G. Don. Leaves green on both sides, or glaucous beneath, at length 

 glabrate beneath, crenate or obsoletely toothed. — Hibiscus, W. — This plant, of which I 

 know only the younger state before its flowering, is cultivated in the Botanical Garden of 

 Bath, in Jamaica, as the tree which produces the celebrated Cuba-bast, and living specimens 

 of it are now to be seen in the Kew Gardens : the Cuba-bast-plant however, observed at 

 Havanna by Mr. Christie, specimens of which are contained in the Economic Museum at 

 Kew, is P. elatum, o, itself. 



Has. Jamaica !, Uacf. (fi), Pd. {$), Al. (a, ;3), March {a, $, y), Wils. (/3, y), in the lower 

 hills and plains of the interior districts, from S. Thomas in the Vale to Westmoreland, e. g. 

 Moueague, where o is common in Phoenix Park, Alex. ; Dove-hall in the hills of S. Thomas 

 <fi),Al.; [Cuba!]. 



17. THESPESIA, Corr. 



Calyx 5-raucronate, ti-uucate, surrounded by a caducous, 3-leaved involucel. Style simple, 

 with 5 distinct stigmas, which are decurrent along its glabrous, thickened top. Fruit 

 leathery, indehiscent, 5-celled : seeds several in each cell, large. — Trees ; leaves quite entire ; 

 pedicels axillary. 



61. T. populnea, Corr. Glabrous, scaly; leaves cordate, deltoid, and pointleted; pedi- 

 cels eq^ualling the petiole. — Cav. Diss. t. 56./. 1. — Hibiscus, L. — Involuoel-leaves lanceolate, 

 disappearing at the expansion of the flower, equalling the calyx ; calyx 6'" long and as broad 

 at the top; petals yellowish-purple, variegated, obovate-oblong, 2i" long; fruit globose, 

 16'" diam. ; seeds 4"' long, trigonal-obovate, striate, glabrate, but villous at the base and at 

 the angles. — Hab. JaAaica !, Dist., March, Wils., along the seacoast ; Caribbean Islands ; 

 [Guadeloupe 1 ; East Indies !, North Coast of Australia !, New South Wales ; Senegambia I]. 



XXVI. BOMBACEiE. 



Character of Malvaeecs ; but column divided usually above into 5 or more parcels, and 

 poUen smooth. Anthers unilocular, or, if apparently bilocular, the cells joined at the top. 



The mucilaginous properties are the same as in Mahacea. The soft, spongy wood of 

 several Bombaceous trees (e.g. Corkwood from Ochroma, the bark of which yields fibre) 

 and the wool, which envelopes the seeds in some of them, are employed for technical pur- 

 poses. 



1. PACHIRA, Aubl. 

 (Carolinea, L.fil.) 



Calyx truncate, or sinuate. Column, divided above into a great many filaments: anthers 

 incumbent, unilocular. Capsule 5-locular, locuJicidal: seeds many, glabrous. — Trees; leaves 

 palmate; Aovrers axillary, large ; ^etais tomentose. 



1. P. aquatica, Au6l. Leaflets glabrous 5 (-9), elliptical-oblong, obovate-oblong, or 

 elliptical-lanceolate, subsessile; calyx truncate, warty-rugose; petals linear; eolmn divided 

 alove into 10, geminate, exterior, and 5 interior bundles of filaments, each dichotomous, 

 and bearing 10-30 geminate organs ; anthers linear, recurved ; stigma obsoletely 5-lobed.— 

 Tuss. Fl. 4. t. 3. 4.— P. grandiflora, Tuss. : perhaps a correct name, as Aublet's figure 



