ON THE BOMBAX CEIBA. 
75 
stamens, each an inch and a half in length, concave ; upper surface dull yellow striped 
with red ; under surface, deep brown red. Stamens five, monadelphous at the base, free at 
the top. Anthers inserted 
by the middle, kidney- 
shaped, having a long ta- 
pering point, opening by 
a transverse chink. Cap- 
sule large, turbinate, con- 
cave at the end, five-celled, 
five-valved, woody. Cells 
many-seeded. Seeds en- 
veloped in a silky cotton. 
The genus was founded 
by Linnaeus, the name 
being derived from Bom- 
byx, one of the Greek 
names for cotton, because 
the seed-pods of this and 
other species are filled with 
a fine soft and silky down, 
not unlike that produced 
in the pods of the various 
species of Gossypium. The 
threads of the Bornbax , 
however, differ from those 
of the true Cotton ( Gossy- 
pium ) in being entirely 
destitute of hooks, so that they cannot be made by spinning to adhere permanently together ; 
the down is therefore never used for clothing, but the poorest inhabitants collect it for the 
purpose of stuffing cushions, pillows, and beds ; but it is generally believed that an effluvium 
is emitted, which is detrimental to the health of those who sleep upon beds so filled. This 
tree is the Bornbax aculeatum of our nurseries and gardens, the Bornbax quinatum of 
Jacq. Amer. and the Ceiba of the natives of South America. 
The trees produce very large timber, but the wood is so soft and porous, that it is 
little esteemed ; it is however said to bear exposure to the weather for a considerable time, 
if after being sawn into boards, it be well saturated with lime-water ; it is also cut into 
laths for roofing houses, is manufactured into bowls and heading for hogsheads ; but the 
chief purpose for which it is used is making canoes, and in many instances the large trunks 
merely hollowed out answer the purpose admirably. In Columbus’s first voyage it was 
related that a canoe was seen at the Island of Cuba, made of one of these trees, which was 
ninety-five palms long, of a proportionate width, and capable of holding one hundred and 
fifty men, and it is stated that the canoes 
at present made from the Bornbax in the 
West Indies are capable of carrying twenty 
or twenty-five tons. 
When the trees become old and decayed, 
they become the resort of a large handsome 
insect, usually called the Macaca Beetle, 
which deposits its eggs in the decaying wood; 
on this the young grubs feed, until they 
become full grown ; they are then as large 
as a man’s thumb, plump, and of a pale ash colour. The natives collect these, and when 
gutted and fried, they are esteemed even by some Europeans as a great delicacy. 
The Bornbax Ceiba, which flowered at Chatsworth in November, 1848, grows in 
the border, not far from the centre of the large conservatory, and where the roots are 
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