Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1.djvu/162

 laris, 5 valvis. Semina lana pericarpii obducta. — Americanæ foliis digitato-compositis, floribus magnis albis.

E. leiantherum DC.

Calyx irregulariter 5 fidus. Petala erecta. Tubus stamineus basi ampliatus, apice in crura 5 divisus, antherosomata lunata flexuosa 2 — 3 distincta gerenfia. Stigmata connexa in stigma capitato-subrotundum. Capsula 5 locularis, 5 valvis, cortice crasso duro rugoso, basi dehiscens. Semina lanæ immersa. — Indica foliis digitato-compositis, floribus minoribus flaventibus. G. Rumphii (Bombax pentandrum orientale Auct.).

Calyx subtruncatus irregulariter ad basin usque rumpens. Petala tandem revoluto-recurva. Tubus stamineus pluriserialis, in phalanges poly-1. monostemones plures divisus, cruribus (phalangis divisiones ultimæ) simplicibus. Antheræ extrorsum affixæ reniformes, interiorum staminum geminatæ majores, exteriorum simplices minores. Stigmata in lobos 5 radiatim-posita. Cetera Eriodendri. — Indicaæ foliis digitato-compositis, floribus speciosis coccineis.

S. insignis (Bombax insigne Wall.). S. malabarica (Bombax heptaphyllum Roxb.)

Calyx irregulariter 3—5 fidus extus eglandulosus. Petala 5 patentia v. reflexa. Tubus stamineus in phalanges polystemones 5 — v. plures divisus, cruribus 2 fidis. Antherae erectæ oblongæ, loculis confiuentibus marginalibus 1 loculares. Stigmata in capitulum 5 sulcatum coadunata. Capsula 5 locularis, 5 valvis, placentis incrassatis. Semina lana pericarpica obducta — Americanæ, foliis digitatis, floribus spicatis, albidis. ''B. Ceiba L. B. Munguba Mart. etc''.

1. Bombax Malabaricum— natural size. 2. A flower, the corolla removed to show the calyx and stamens. 3. Portion of the same removed from the calyx, showing the short tube formed by the union of the base of the filaments round the ovary. 4 and 5. Anthers. 6. Ovary style and stigma. 7- Ovary cut transversely — all more or less magnified. 8. Full grown capsule before bursting, 9. Mature capsule burst.

 

A large and very complex order, consisting almost entirely of tropical plants, and presenting every variety of form of vegetation, from the slender creeping herb up to the most stately trees.

In their fructification different groops present so great variations in form that some Botanists have proposed dividing them into four or five distinct orders,but generally, as they all agree in having a valvate oestivation, 2-celled anthers, and similarity of sensible properties, it seems preferable to keep them together as a single order, distributed into sections, such as Sterculieae, Byttnerieae, Hermannieae, Dombeyaceae, &c. To the sections proposed by DeCandolle, Endlicher, as already stated, adds two, referred by most other Botanists to the last order, namely Helictereae and Bombaceae. Under Bombaceae I have already presented a summary of Bartling's arrangement, and will here in preference to attempting to give a general view of the whole order present the characters first of Endlicher's three sections, and subsections so far as they refer to the Indian flora, and then complete the view by adding from other sources those which are left, as yet, untouched by Endlicher, merely premising, that the whole are essentially characterized, by having a wholly superior ovarium of several carpels combined into a solid pistil with the 