XIX. MALVACEJ] 



Bonibax] 



4. BOMBAX, Linn.; 

 M. Brit. Ind. i. 349. 



Deciduous trees with 

 digitate glabrous leaves. 

 Peduncles axillary, 1- 

 flowered, congregated 

 at the ends of ^branch- 

 lets. Calj^x leathery, 

 cup-shaped, splitting 

 irregularly. Staminal 

 tube shortj divided into 

 numerous filaments, 

 longer than tube, each 

 bearing a 1 -celled an- 

 ther. Ovary 5-celled, 

 ovules numerous. Cap- 

 sule loculicidal, 5- 

 valved, inside thickly 

 clothed with long silky 

 hairs, in which the 

 seeds are embedded in 

 dense wool. Cotyledons 

 much folded, enclosing 

 the radicle, albumen 

 thin. Species 40-50, 

 chiefly in Central and 

 South America, a few 

 in Africa. 



1. B. malabari- 

 cum, DC. ; Wight 111. 

 t. 29 ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. 

 t. 82.—- Syn. B. licpta- 

 ])hyUt{mj Cav. ; Boxb. 

 Cor. pi. t. 247. The 

 Cotton tree, Vern. 

 Simal, shembal ^Bmd,; 

 Idel, Kol; b^mjar jMb.i\ ; 

 Btirla, sauri, Kan. ; 

 Btmjhaj buraga, Tel. ; 

 llJacUy Tarn. Mai.; 

 Let pan ^ Burm. 



A very large tree, stem generally with large buttresses at the base, wood 

 white, very soft, turning dark on exposure. Branches in whorls of 5-7 

 spreading nearly horizontally, the stem of young trees covered with sharp 

 conical prickles. Leaflets 5 or 7, lanceolate, 4-8 in. long, common petiole as 

 long as or longer than leaflets. Fl. appearing before the leaves, large, scarlet 

 occasionally white, calyx inside silky tomentose. Petals 2-3 in. long, stellate^ 

 tomentose on both faces. Filaments about 70, much longer than staminal 

 column, the 5 inner stout, forked at the top, each branch bearing an anther 

 some intermediate ones simple, the numerous outer ones at the base united in 

 5 clusters. Anthers long, afterwards twisted. Capsule oblong, hard, woody 

 4-5 m. long. Seeds glabrous, embedded in silky wool. ' 



Subhimalayan tract, from the Indus eastward, ascending to 3,500 ft. Common in 

 both peninsulas and often cultivated. Leafless from December until April. FL 

 KortrinsS? "^^'^ ^^'^^' ^^■^' ^^^"^ ^^ Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, Queensland and 



tx?' f' "^nP? "S^^^^- ^^- m^- ?^^' \' '^^' ^^' Burma, Andamans, Malay Peninsula, 

 Western Grliats, Xanara. Trunk without prickles, branches armed with prickles or un- 



i'i 



Fig. 36.— Eriodendron anfractuosum, DC. I. 



