Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1.djvu/148

 Hibiscus trionum — This species I found in considerable abundance in very dry gravelly soil near Cuddapah, in 1834. I have not since met with it in any other locality.

Abelrnoschus angulosus W. and A. Hymenocalyx variabilis, Zenker's Neelgherry plants. Had not this plant been previously named angulosus Dr. Zenker's specific name would have been most appropriate, as I find from numerous specimens collected on the Pulney mountains that it is a variable plant. There it grows to the height of several feet, the leading branches terminating in long dense spikes of large flowers. The fruit as represented in Zenker's figure seems to me much too long and tapering, and in that respect differs so much from my specimens that I should almost have been induced to consider them distinct species did they not agree well in every other respect. Abutilon Neelgerrense (Munro's M.S.S.) — Suffruticose, sub-glabrous : leaves roundish, deeply peltatocordate, acuminated, unequally crenato-dentate, whitish beneath: peduncles about the length of the petiols, several flowered, (2-8-10 Munro) corolla spreading, petals obovate, united below into a short tube, hairy at the orifice, tube of the stamens glabrous, carpels about 9, truncated, nearly twice the length of the lanceolate, acuminated, villous sepals. Neelgherries not unfrequent — Specimens of this fine species were communicated by Lieut. Munro, who found them in several localities. In the great size and form of its leaves it is closely allied to A. polyandrum, from which however, it is readily distinguished by its umbellate flowers, and more numerous carpels ; by this last mark it is equally distinguished from A. (Sida D. C.) umbellatum and A. (Sida) Leschenaultiana, which have umbellate flowers and 5-carpelled fruit.

This appears a very handsome species, the larger leaves exceeding in their smaller or transverse diameter 7½ inches. The fruit altogether resembles those of A. indicum, except in the carpels being fewer and less hairy ; the flowers too, nearly correspond except that in this, the petals are hairy at the base where their union ceases, and the tube of the stamens is glabrous, whereas in that, the filaments are very hairy and the corolla glabrous.

In addition to the preceding I have received a specimen of what appears a new genus, but unhappily too imperfect to admit of my attempting to characterize it. It has the involucrum of Pavonia, with the fruit of Abelrnoschus. It was sent along with several other plants from Goomsoor, by W. G. Davidson, Esq. but unfortunately so much injured in the drying as to be unfit for more minute examination and description.

1. Branch of Gossypium acuminatum, showing the flower and full grown capsule. 2. Staminal column, formed by the union of the filaments into a tube embracing the style. 3. Proper calyx, (enclosing the ovary) style, and stigma; the involucel leaves and corolla being removed to bring these parts into view. 4. Ovary cut vertically. 5. Mature pod open. 6. Seed and cotton. 7. Column of firmly adherent seeds. All natural size except the cut ovary, which is a little magnified.

1. Gossypium Barbadense— natural size. 2. Two detached stamens showing the one-celled anthers— magnified. 3. Ovary, style, and stigma, the calyx partly removed to show the ovary — natural size. 4. Ovary cut transversely— magnified. 5. Ripe capsule as it appears on first bursting, and before the valves have fully opened. Plate 28 b. Sea Island cotton. Same as the preceding, except— 9. The cotyledons removed and unrolled, radical inferior, and seen in the plate pointing towards the figure 9. Plate 28 c. Upland Georgian cotton, the same as the preceding, except— 8. A seed cut transversely —magnified.

 

This is a small order consisting almost entirely of tropical trees and shrubs, but remarkable for embracing among the number the largest tree yet known, namely, the Adansonia digitata. The prominent distinctive features between this and the neighbouring orders, Malvaceœ and Byttneriaceœ, is found in their anfractuose anthers and in the calyx, which in this, is campanulate or tubular from the union of the sepals, in these polysepalous from the sepals remaining altogether distinct, or only adherent at the base. In other respects they are so much alike, that Bartling ( ordines naturales &c. ) proposes to reunite the Bombaceœ with Malvaceœ, as a section only of the latter order, while Dr. Lindley on the other hand, following Endlicher, thinks them more justly referable to Byttneriaceœ, of which, in his arrangement, they accordingly form a portion. Between such authorities I presume not to decide, and shall therefore follow the beaten track by continuing to adopt the arrangement of our Prodromus, according to which the Bombaceae form a distinct order intermediate between these two, leaving to future and abler Botanists, the task of determining which is right. In habit they are mostly arborious or shrubby, 