94 MALVACE^. [Thespesia. 



Common in sdl forests from Dehra Dun eastward along the base of 

 the hills. DiSTRiB, : Himalaya up to 4,000 ft., Bengal and south to 

 Ceylon ; also in Burma, Java and E. Trop. Africa. The fibre is some- 

 times used for binding loads of wood. 



la. GOSSYPIUM, Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. i. 343. 



Herbs, sbrubs or small trees. Leaves palmately lobed. Peduncles 

 axillary, usually 1-flowered, jointed. Flowers large, yellow, with, 

 or rarely withoat, a crimson centre,, or wholly purplish. Brac" 

 ifeo^e* 3, large, leafy, cordate, sprinkled like the calyx with black 

 glandular dots. Calyx truncate or slightly 5-toothed. Petals 

 convolute or spreading. Staminal-tube as in Sibiscus. Ovary 

 3-5-celled ; sii/le clavate, 3-5-grooved ; stigmas 8-5 ; ovules many 

 in each cell. Capsule loculicidally 3-5-valved. Seeds densely 

 clothed with woolly hairs. — Distributed over the warmer regions of 

 the world. 



The commercial importance of this genus demands clear and accurate 

 definitions of all the cultivated kinds of cotton, whether these be regarded 

 as species, varieties or hybrids. The chief difficulty met with in any 

 attempt to assign to each its correct position by means of botanical 

 diagnoses, is due, to a great extent, to the very ancient origin of some of 

 the cottons as cultivated plants, and to their tendency to variation by 

 hybridization. Further variability in regard to habit, structure and the 

 quality of the wool is brought about under different conditions of climate^ 

 soil and cultivation 



A great deal has been written on the subject of Indian cotton plants by the 

 earlier Indian botanists, e.g., Roxburgh, Wight, Eoyle and others, but in a 

 work of this kind it must suffice to refer the reader to their publications, 

 and to draw attention rather to the more important results of recent 

 investigations, and particularly to such|as are most directly concerned 

 with the cottons that are cultivated within the area of this flora. 



Professor Partalore, in his beautifully illustrated work " Le Specie dei- 

 Cotone " (Florence 1866) recognized seven distinct species, viz.: — 



Cr. arboreum, which includes Todaro's G. neglectum ; G. herbaceum ; 

 G. sandvicense ( = 6r. tomentosum, Nutt.); G. taitensejG. hir- 

 sutum ; G. barbadense (= Gr. niafitimum, Todaro) ; G. religiosum, 

 (= G. hrasiliense, Macf.). 



In the Flora of British India the cottons of India are grouped under 

 four species and five varieties, viz. : — G. Stocksii Mast.; G. herbaceum, 

 Linn., including varieties ohtusifolium Roxb. (sp.)» hirsutum Linn, (sp.), 

 religiosum Eoxb. (sp.), and vitifolium Eoxb. (sp.) ; G. barbadense, 

 Linn., including var. acuminatum Eoxb. (sp.) ; G. arboreum, Linn. 

 Gt Stoclisii is a straggling shrub growing wild onthe sea-coast of Sindh, 

 and believed by Dr. Masters and other authors to be the primitive form 



