ALABASTRA PHILIPPINENSIA, III. 
345 
Part of Buzeta’s note 20 is also given. “Los indios conocian antes de la con- 
quista el algodon, pero ignoraban el uso que podfan hacer de sus prodigiosos 
capullos : dos clases de plantas lo producen ; unas son tan crecidas eomo grandes 
perales, pero el algodon que dan estos arboles, es basto y solo se emplea para almo- 
hadas, colchoncillos, y para fabricar mantas, lonas para velas de buques y alguno 
que otro tejido ordinario. La otra clase de algodon es la que se cultiva y es 
mucho mas pequena que la primera erece hasta la altura de tres pies.” 
Under G. arboreum Linn., Sir George Watt 22 has cited a plate in the Sloane 
herbarium, 165: fig. 212, as from Camel’s collection. This would imply Philip- 
pine origin, and a date at the end of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th 
century. Doctor A. B. Rendle and Mr. Edmund Baker, of the British Museum 
of Natural History, have examined the plate, and find nothing to justify the 
opinion that it was in any way connected with Camel. The latter has a brief 
reference to cotton. “Gossipium, seu Xylum, Indis Bulac. Herbaceum & Arbo- 
reum,” followed by a short statement of its medicinal properties. 28 
THYMELAEACEAE. 
PI M ELEA Banks & Solander. 
Pimelea phil ippinensis sp. nov. 
Suffrutex : inflorescentiis, superioribus exceptis, longiter pedunculatis, 
bracteis 4 basin versus coalitis involucratis ; floribus circiter 20, breviter 
pedicellatis ; receptacnlo anguste tubnloso, supra ovarium post" anthesin 
circumscisso-deciduo ; sepalis 4, imbricatis, ovatis, obtusis, parvis; petalis 
nullis; staminibus 2, filamentis brevissimis, sepalis exterioribus opposi- 
tis ; ovario uniloculare, uniovulato : foliis oppositis vel alternis, sub- 
sessilibus, oblanceolatis vel oblongo-oblanceolatis. 
Inflorescences simulating flowers, borne on peduncles of various lengths 
up to 5 cm, or the uppermost nearly sessile; bracts 4, over 1 cm long, 
free for about two-thirds of the distance to the base, thence forming a 
cup containing about 20 flowers, the lobes lanceolate, subacute ; the 
flowers not maturing simultaneously, borne on pedicels about 1 mm 
long: receptacle white, at anthesis, forming a slender tube 8 mm long 
and somewhat dilated at the apex, the portion above the ovary falling 
after anthesis; sepals 4, imbricate, ovate, obtuse, about 0.7 mm long; 
petals none; stamens 2, the filaments not exceeding 0.5 mm, borne at 
the base of the outer sepals at the throat of the receptacle; anthers 0.4 
mm long, 2-celled; ovary about 1.5 mm long, 1-celled, with one pendulous 
anatropous ovule; style 5 mm long, the subcapitate stigma opposite the 
anthers; seeds about 2 mm long, the black testa crustaceous, embryo 
straight, the fleshy cotyledons about 1 mm long the radicle 0.4 mm long, 
albumen none. 
Probably an annual, suffrutescent, glabrous throughout, 20 to 30 cm 
high, branched : leaves opposite or alternate, petioles wanting or less than 
26 Dice. Islas Filip. 1 (1850) 203, 204. 
27 L. c. 84. 
28 Ray Hist. PI. 3: (1704) App. 80. 
