SILK OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 377 



hats, bottle cases, floating jackets, and many other domestic 

 articles. 



Serminiera Mcfpliroxtjlon, a prickly -branched, compound- 

 leaved tree of the same family, native of tropical Africa, has 

 pith-like wood similar to the Shola, and is used by the natives 

 for like purposes. 



Side-saddle Flower. — Sarracenia, a genus which gives its 

 name to a small family of plants (Sarraceniacese), consisting of 

 about 10 species, all with one exception natives of the Atlantic 

 side of North America. They grow in swampy places, and are 

 remarkable for their hollow leaves, which are generally upiight, 

 and rise from a central crown or a creeping stem. They are 

 tubular, varying in length from 2 to 6 feet or more, and have 

 a lid resembling the pitcher-plant of India, the width of the 

 mouth being from 1 to 2 inches in diameter. The inside of the 

 tube is lined with curious hairs, and it generally contains liquid 

 that seems to entice insects, many perishing in the fluid, w^hich 

 ultimately becomes putrid. The pistil of Sarracenia is curious, 

 being in the form of an open umbrella, with the stigmas at the 

 angles on the under-side of the margin. It is called Side- 

 saddle Flower, from the petals hanging down betv/een the 

 sepals of the calyx like a lady's riding-dress. 



Silk-cotton Trees, a name given to certain trees of the 

 Silk Cotton family (Bombace^). They are so called on account 

 of the seeds being involved in silky wool-like hairs firmly packed 

 in a capsular fruit ; when this opens the hairs expand and form 

 a considerable woolly mass. As they are not adhesive, and 

 moreover brittle, they cannot be spun, but are used for stuffing 

 cushions and the like. The trees are large, and are represented 

 in the tropics of both hemispheres. 



Silk-cotton Tree of the Amazon {Eriodendjvn Samauma), — 

 This is one of the buttress trees of the region of the Amazon, 

 some of the buttresses projecting 8 or 10 feet and only 4 or 5 

 feet high, while narrower ones rise to 20 or 30 feet in height, 

 and continue as ribs to a height of 40 or 50 feet. They are 

 from 6 inches to a foot in thickness, and are like w^ooden walls, 



