ERIODENDRON ANFRACTUOSUM. D. C.
Bombax pentand rum, L. Gossampinus Rumphii,Sch. Ceiba pentandra, Ga-rtn. and End.
Shwet shimool, . BEgu. Paniala, Pania, MALEAL. "White cotton tree, ENG. Putim, Imbool, .
Ilattian, Seed simal, 11n. Elavum maram, . . TASI. Shernielait, . . MAHR. Pur, Buruga, . . TEL.
There are six species of this genus of plants ; five of them are natives of America, but all are known by the name of wool or cotton trees. They are large trees, with a spongy wood, which Is used for little besides making canoes in the districts where they grow. This one only grows in Asia and Africa ; it attains a height of 150 feet or more. But there are two varieties described, the one growing in the East Indies, and the other in Guinea, which differ chiefly in the colour of their flowers. The Indian variety, E. (a) Indicum, lias flowers yellowish inside and white outside ; whilst that of Guinea, E. (b) Afric,anum, has large crimson flowers. The Guinea tree is one of the
largest and talleat of the forest trees, and the trunk is employed for making the largest-sized canoes. This is an elegant tree in Ceylon ; it is very common up to an elevation of 2000 feet, and is common on the Coromandel coast. The leaves fall during the cold season, and the blossoms appear in February before the leaveS. It grows in many pa.rts of the Dekhan, but is not cotninon on the 13ombay side, save in some parts of Kandesh. The trunk is perfectly straight. Jts light wood is employed by the toymakers or Muchi race, and is likewise used for making rafts and floats. The seeds are numerous, smooth, black, and enveloped in a very fine soft silky wool. The gutn is termed Iluttian ka gond, and is given in solution with spices in bowel complaints.—O'Sh.; Ainslie ; Gibson ; Wight ; Riddell; Cleghorn ; Voigt ; Thwaires.