g. Bombax ( Villofus ) foliis quinque-angularibus villofis, 
caule geniculato. Silk Cotton with five-cornered hairy 
leaves, and a jointed fialk. 
The firft and fecond forts grow naturally in both In- 
dies, where they arrive to a great magnitude, being 
fome of the tailed: trees in thofe countries ; but the 
wood is very light, and not much valued, except for 
making of canoes, which is the chief ufe made of 
them. Their trunks are fo large, as when hollowed, 
to make very large ones. In Columbus’s firft voyage 
it was reported, there was a canoe feen at the ifland 
of Cuba, made of the hollowed trunk of one of thefe 
trees, which was ninety-five palms long, and of a 
proportional width, which would contain a hundred 
and fifty men : and fome modern writers have af- 
firmed, that there are trees of thefe forts now grow- 
ing in the Weft-Indies, fo large, as not to be fathom- 
ed by fixteen men, and fotall as that an arrow cannot 
be fhot to their top. 
Thefe trees generally grow with very ftrait ftems ; 
thofe of the firft fort are clofely armed with fhort 
ftrong fpines, but the fecond hath very frnooth ftems, 
which in the young plants are of a bright green, but 
after a few years, they are covered with a grey, or 
Afh-coloured bark, which turns to a brown as the 
trees grow older : they feldom put out any fide 
branches till they arrive to a confiderable height, un- 
lefs their leading fhoot be broken or injured. The 
branches toward their top are garnifhed with leaves 
compofed of five, feven, or nine oblong frnooth lobes, 
which are fpear-fhaped, and join to one center at 
their bafe, where they adhere to the long foot-ftalk. 
Thefe fall away every year, fo that for fome time the 
trees are naked, and before the new leaves come out, 
the flower-buds appear at the end of the branches, 
and foon after the flowers expand, which are com- 
pofed of five oblong purple petals, with a great num- 
ber of ftamina in the center ; when thefe fall off, they 
are fucceeded by oval fruit larger than a fwan’s egg, 
having a thick ligneous cover, which, when ripe, 
opens in five parts, and is full of a dark Ihort cot- 
ton, inclofing many roundifh feeds as large as fmall 
Peafe. 
The down which is inclofed in thefe feed-veffels is 
feldom ufed, except by the poorer inhabitants to fluff 
pillows or chairs, but it is generally thought to be 
unwholefome to lie upon. 
Thefe two fpecies have been fuppofed the fame by 
many writers on natural hiftory, who have affirmed, 
that the young trees only have prickles on their 
trunks, and as they grow old, their trunks become 
frnooth ; but from many years experience I can affirm, 
that the feeds which have been fent me of the two 
forts, have always produced plants of the different 
kinds for which they were lent, and continue the 
fame in plants, which are more than twenty years 
growth. 
There was a few years paft a fine plant of another 
fort in the garden of the late Duke of Richmond, at 
Goodwood, which was raifed from feeds that came 
from the Eaft-Indies. The ftem of this was very ftrait 
and frnooth; the leaves were produced round the 
top upon very long foot-ftalks, each being compofed 
of feven or nine long, narrow, filky, fmall lobes, 
joined at their bafe to the foot-ftalk, in the fame man- 
ner as thofe of the two former, but they were much 
longer, and reflexed backward, fo that at firft fight 
it appeared very different from either of them. This 
may be the fpecies, titled by Jacquin, Bombax flori- 
ribus pentandris, foliis feptenatis. Amer. 26. 
The third fort was fent me from the Spanilh Weft- 
Indies, where it grows naturally, but I do not know 
to what fize ; the plants which have been raifed here, 
have foft herbaceous ftalks very full of joints, and 
do not appear as if they would become woody, for 
the plants of feveral years growth have foft pithy 
ftems. The leaves come out on long hairy foot- 
ftalks toward the top of the plants ; thefe have the 
appearance of thofe of the Mallow-tree, but are 
larger, and of a thicker confiftence ; on their under 
fide are covered with a fhort, brown, hairy down, and 
are cut on their edges into five angles. Thefe plants 
have not as yet flowered in England, nor have I re- 
ceived any information what flower they produce; 
but by the pods and feeds, it appears evidently to be 
ot this genus'. The down inclofed in thefe pods, is 
of a fine purple colour •, and I have been informed 
that the inhabitants of the countries where the trees 
grow naturally, fpin it, and work it into garments, 
which they wear without dyeing it of any other 
colour. 
I received a few years fince, a few pods of another 
fort from Panama, which were not fo large as thofe of 
the common, but were rounder. The down of thefe 
was red, but the plants raifed from the feeds were fo 
like thofe of the third fort, as not to be diftinguifhed 
from them, fo 1 doubt of their being diftimft fpecies. 
I alfo received fome feeds from Siam, which produced 
plants of the fame kind, fo that thefe trees may be 
common to many of the hot countries. 
The plants are propagated by feeds, which muft be 
fown on a hot-bed in the fpring ; if the feeds are good, 
the plants will appear in a month, and thofe of the 
two firft forts will be ftrong enough to tranfplant in a 
month after, when they fliould be each planted in a 
fmall pot, filled with frelh loamy earth, and plunged 
into a moderate hot-bed of tanners bark, being care- 
ful to fliade them from the fun till they have taken 
frefh root ; after which they ifiould have a large fhare 
of air admitted to them when tlie weather is warm, to 
prevent their being drawn up weak ; they muft alfo be 
frequently refrefhed with water, which muft not be 
given in large quantities, efpecially the third fort, 
whofe ftalks are very fubject to rot with much moil- 
ture. In this bed they may remain till autumn (pro- 
vided there is room for the plants under the glaffes) 
but if the heat of the bed declines, the tan fliould be 
ftirred up, and frelh added to it; and if the plants have 
filled the pots with their roots, they fliould be fluffed 
into pots a little larger; but there muft be care taken 
not to over-pot them, for nothing is more injurious 
to thefe plants, than to, be put into large pots* in 
which they will never thrive. In the autumn they 
muft be removed into the bark-ftove, where they 
muft conftantly remain, being too tender to thrive in 
this country in any other fituation. In winter they 
muft have but little wet, efpecially if they call their 
leaves ; but in the fummer they fhould be frequently 
refrefhed with water, and in warm weather muft have 
plenty of frelh air admitted to them. With this ma- 
nagement the plants will make great progrefs, and 
in a few years ; will reach the glaffes on the top 
ot the ftove, efpecially if the building is not pretty 
lofty. 
The plants make an agreeable variety in a large ftove 
where they have room to grow, their leaves having 
a different appearance from molt other plants ; but 
as they are feveral years old before they flower in the 
countries where they grow naturally, there is little 
hopes of their producing any in England. 
BONDUC See Guilandina. 
B O N T I A. Lin. Gen. Plant. 709. Plum. Nov. Gem 
23. Hort. Elth. 49. Barbadoes Wild Olive* 
The Characters are, 
It hath a j, mall eredt empalement , which is quinquifid and 
■permanent. 'The flower is of the ringent kind , having a 
long cylindrical tube , gaping at the brim ; the upper lip 
is ereit and indented , the lower lip is trifid and turns 
backward. It hath four awl-Jhaped ftamina , which arO 
as long as the petal , and incline to the upper lip , two of 
them being longer than the other , having Jingle fumnits. 
In the center is fituated the oval ger men, Supporting a fen- 
der ftyle the length of the ftamina , crowned by a bifid ob- 
tufe ftigma . The germen afterward becomes an oval berry 
with one cell , including a nut of the fame form. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the fecond fefliori 
of .Linnaeus’s fourteenth ciafs, intit led Didynamia 
Angiofpermia, the flower having two long and two 
fhort ftamina, and the feeds are included jn a cover. 
.The 
