N. 0. MALVACEiE. 195 



oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, attenuated at base, entire or sinu- 

 ate at the margins. Flowers white, solitary, axilllary, pendu- 

 lous, long-peduncled (often more than 12 in.). Bracteoles 2. 

 Calyx thick, coriaceous, fleshy, cup-shaped, 5-cleft, tomentose (?) 

 externally and clodded with silky hairs internally. Petals 

 obovate, adnate below, to the stamens. Stami rial-tube thick, 

 dividing above into numerous filaments ; anthers long, linear, 

 reniform or contorted, 1-celled. Ovary ovoid. Style long, 

 filiform, divided at summit into as many radiating stigmas as 

 there are cells to the ovary. Cells of ovary 5 -10. Fruit pen- 

 dulous, oblong-obovoid, downy, woody, brownish-green, indchis- 

 cent, 8-12 in. long. Seeds about 30, kidney-shaped, brown, 

 immersed in tough fibres and a mealy, reddish fawn-coloured, 

 slightly acid pulp, which becomes powdery as the pulp matures. 



Trimen says the Roman Catholics call it " Judas' Bag," be- 

 cause the fruit contains 30 seeds." Mr. Crawford of Ceylon Civil 

 Service gives the circumference of the largest stem (in 1890) as 

 61 ft. 9 in., whilst the tree is only 30 ft. high. A tree at Put- 

 talam, in Ceylon, is mentioned by Emerson Tennent as being 

 70 ft. in height and 46 ft. in girth (1848). In the village of 

 Matunga (Bombay), in 1896, along the principal road going to 

 Sion Hill, there was a large tree on the left hand side, of a 

 similar enormous size. In the Thana District, 1 have seen several 

 such trees in a Mahomedan graveyard on the right hand side 

 while going from Thana by the Corset public Road to the Colset 

 Bunder. Similar trees are mentioned as growing in Bengal. 

 Originally, a Native of Tropical Africa, it was introduced into 

 India and Ceylon by Arabian traders. It is now a naturalized 

 plant, and grows all over India, along the coast of Gujrat, 

 Central Provinces, Bengal. Into Ceylon also it was introduced 

 by the Arabs. The Baobab trees, at Mannar have long been 

 well-known. 



The disproportionately large, short trunk is remarkable. 

 The wood is pale-coloured, soft and porous. It is said by Lisboa 

 that the pulp is refrigerent and diuretic. The bark has been 

 proposed as a substitute for quinine. Its liber affords excellent 

 fibre. The pulp of the fibres is used for paper-manufacture. 



