Malvaceae-Bombaceae. 141 
scattered on the grassy hills, and is, perhaps, the largest known 
plant belonging to the Mallow tribe, reaching a height of eighty 
feet and a trunk of sixteen feet in circumference. 
In Honolulu the writer knows of only two specimens, one of 
which can be found in the grounds of the Board of Agriculture and 
Forestry, where it flowers and fruits profusely, and the other on Mrs. 
Jaeger's premises on King Street. 
It was evidently introduced and planted by Mr. Jaeger, the first 
commissioner of the above-mentioned board. In Honolulu the tree 
does not produce such large flowers as it is said to produce in its 
native home. 
As the tree is shapely in appearance, it is worthy of cultivation 
and should be planted in avenues. It is well suited for planting 
along roadsides, especially near the sea, where it could well replace 
the somber-looking Ironwood, as for example, in Kapiolani Park at 
Waikiki. It likes a humid climate and a saline atmosphere. It is 
easily propagated from seed and probably also from cuttings. 
BOMBACEAE 
Bombax Family. 
Of the Bombax Family, which contains about 100 species, widely 
distributed in the tropics, three genera and four species are cultivated 
in the Islands. They are all treated separately in the following 
chapters. 
Bombax Ceiba L. 
Cotton Tree. 
Bombax Ceiba is also a Cotton Tree, but usually of larger dimen- 
sions than Ceiba pentandra. Its trunk is very tall, often slender, and 
develops huge buttresses. Both trunk and branches are covered with 
stout, hard, conical spines. The branches are in whorls, the leaflets 
are digitate and deciduous. 
The very numerous flowers are fascicled at the end of the 
branches when the tree is bare of foliage. The capsule is ovoid, 
six to seven inches long, five-valved, and filled with a silky floss in 
which the smooth seeds are embedded. This deciduous tree occurs 
throughout the hotter forests of India and Burmah, and is widely 
distributed over Java and Sumatra. In India it ascends to an ele- 
vation of four thousand feet. The inner bark of Bombax Ceiba yields 
a good fibre, which is suitable for cordage, while the floss surround- 
