98 MALVACEJE. [Bombax. 



5-7-lobed. Petals obovate. Stamens \n 5 bundles opposite the^^ 

 petals, divided above into mimerons filaments ; anthers reniforro, 

 1-celled. Ovary S-celled ; style clavate ; stigmas 5 ; ovules many 

 in each cell. Capsule loculicidally 5-valved ; valves leathery, woolly 

 within. /Seeds woolly, albumen scanty. Species about 40, mostly 

 tropical American. 



B. malabaricum, DC. Prod. i. 479 ; W. & A. Prod. 61 ; Boyle III. 101 ; 



Brand. For. Fl. 31 ; F, B. I. i, 349; Watt E. D. B. heptaphyllum, Cav. ; 



Boxh ; Fl. Ind. ii, 167 ; Salmalia malaharica, Scliott. and Endl.; D. & G. 



Bomh. Fl. 22. Vem. Semal. (Silk Cotton-tree.) 



A large handsome deciduoris soft-wooded tree with a straight buttressed 

 trunk, and wide-spreading branches in whorls. Young stem andibranches 

 covered with hard conical prickles. Leaves large, spreading, glabrous, ; 

 leaflets 5-7, lanceolate acuminate, tapering below, 6-12-in. long, quite 

 entire; petiole longer than the leaflets ; secondary petioles 1 in.; stipules 

 small, caducous. Flowers large, numerous, crimson or yellowish, on short 

 thick pedicels, clustered towards the ends of the branches. Calyx cup- 

 shaped, smooth outside, silky within ; margin slightly lobed, deciduous 

 with the corolla and stamens. Petals 5,!oblong, recurved above, fleshy, 

 twice as long as the stamens. Stamens many, filaments pink, anthers 

 brown. Ovari/ conical, glabrous ; s^t/Je longer than the stamens. Capsule 

 4-5 in. long, oblong, downy, green ; valves silky within. Seeds many, 

 obovate smooth, enveloped in dense silky hairs. 



Common in forests, especially along the base of the Himalaya. Distrib.: 

 Outer Himalaya, up to 3,000 ft., and throughout the hotter parts' of India 

 to Burma and Ceylon : also in Java and Sumatra. A rapid-growing tree, 

 attaining under favourable conditions a height of 150 ft., with a girth of 

 40 ft,; the tree is leafless between Nov. and April ; flowers during Feb. 

 and March, and the fruit ripens in April and May. The wood is durable' 

 under water J the silk surrounding the seeds is much used for stuffing 

 pillows ; the gum (mochras) and root imusla) are medicinal, and the calyx 

 of the flower-buds is eaten as a vegetable. For particulars regarding, 

 these and other useful products see Watt's Dictionary. 



XXII.— STEKCULIACEJ). 



Heebs, shrubs, or trees ; herbaceous portions more or less stellate- 

 pubescent. Bark usually abounding in mucilage, inner fibrous. Leaves 

 alternate, stipulate, simple lobed or digitate. Injiorescence axillary 

 01- terminal, usually cymose. Flowers regular (except in Selicteres) 

 1-or 2-sexual. Sepals 5, more or less connate. Petals 5 or 0. 

 Stamens usually many, or arranged along the edges of a cup or tube 

 with intervening staminodes, Ant1ier'Q%\\^ 2, parallel or divergent. 

 Ovary free, 2-5-celled, rarely of one carpel {Waltheria)^ sessile or 

 stalked ; styles consolidated, or as many as the cells of the ovary ; 



