----- Byltneriaceae calyx persistent. Petals with the claws concavely vaulted, ( concavo.
fornicatisJ sometimes aborting. Anthers 2-celled. Seeds often albuminous.
------Hermanniaceae calyx persistent; Stamens 5. Anthers 2-celled extrorse. Albumen
between farinacious and fleshy. Embryo curved.
------ Dombeyaceae calyx persistent. Petals flat. Stamens monadelphous, some definite
multiple of the number of the petals. Anthers adnate, 2-celled extrorse. Albumen fleshy.
------Malvaceae — Calyx persistent. Stamens monadelphous. Anthers 1-celled. Under
this last the Bombaceae are arranged on account of their 1-celled anthers.
To this class Von Martins adds Depterocarpeae, and Lindley Lythrariece. In so large
an assemblage presenting so few and so slight modifications of structure, it is not to be wondered
at that Botanists should have found it difficult to determine the limits of each of its
subdivisions, since in truth the peculiarities of the above orders are scarcely greater than
we meet with in sections of other orders, and yet, the varieties of habit met with in each are
such as renders it in every way desirable that they should be distinguished; while the number
of species referable to each subdivision, makes it preferable to distinguish them under a separate
name rather than to unite the whole under a single denomination. This has successfully
accomplished, by classing them under one common name, and distributing the minor groups
under so many others.
G eographical D istribution. The Bombaceae properly so called constitute but a small
order. They are all tropical plants, for the most part large trees, and most abound in America:
those of Asia being limited to a few genera, with rarely more than two species to each—three
or four only are found in Africa, among which however, is that most extraordinary of trees, the
Colossus of the vegetable kingdom, the Adansonia digitata, a tree, which has been estimated
to live thousands of years, and the trunk of which is said sometimes to attain the astonishing
circumference of 80 or 90 feet, and to afford in its hollow, when decayed' by age or disease,
accommodation for several families. The cotton trees of this country afford the most genuine
examples of the order. Helicteres 1-sora, a very common shrub in India, readily distinguished
by its curiously twisted fruit, I look upon, as above remarked, as less meriting a place here,
though generally referred to the order. The Durian so celebrated on account of its fine flavoured
but excessively foetid fruit, is a representative of the order peculiar to the eastern
shores of the Bay of Bengal, but totally unknown on the_western, though our genera are all
found on the other coast, and more or less copiously scattered all over India.
P roperties and U ses. Musilagenous and emollient properties are common to the whole
of the Columniferae. The juice of the roots of Bombax ceiba, an American tree, is said to be
aperient, while the bark of the tree is emetiG. Blume (medical plants of Java) states that the
bark of the root of B. Malabarica is emetic, and is employed as such in Java. The Eriodem
dr on anfractuosum or Bombax pentandrum, produces a gum which is esteemed fpr its medicinal
properties in this country, but being usually administered in combination with aromatics, it
is probably indebted to them for much of its supposed virtue. The woolly cotton which envelopes
the seed of both these, species is remarkable for its softness, and is much and deservedly
esteemed for making cushions and bedding, owing to its freedom from any tendency to become
lumpy and uneven by getting impacted into hard knots. Various attempts have been made to
fabricate it into cloth, but hitherto without success, except a.sort of very loose texture, which
the committee of the Society of Arts, to whom some specimens were sent,pronounced only fit for
quilting Lady’s muffs and boas, but thought, that for such purposes it was superior to woollen
or common cotton stuffs, the looseness of its texture rendering it an excellent non-conductor,
while its extreme lightness supplied the other desiderata required in an article employed for
such a purpose.
The Adansonia digitata is in high esteem among the Africans—all its parts abound with a
thick mucilaginous juice, which they draw by tapping, and use in various ways. The wild bees
perforate and form cavities in its young wood, which is very soft and tender, for the purpose of
lodging their honey, which is much sought after. The young leaves dried and powdered constitute
the Alo of the negroes, which they use as a condiment, and suppose that it moderates
excessive perspiration. The fruit, which somewhat resembles a citron in shape, is filled
with a redish spongy pulp, of a sweetish acid taste, enveloping the seed, of which agreeable
and refreshing acidulous drinks are prepared, and employed as a cooling beverage in the fevers
so frequent in Senegal: mixed with tamarinds it is considered by the natives a certain cure
for dysentery, while the gum is equally prized as a remedy against heat of urine. As this tree
is not uncommon in India now, and as I can bear testimony to the correctness of the description
of the sensible qualities of the pulp, it seems desirable that it should be subjected to some trials
to ascertain whether the curative properties attributed to this substance, not by vulgar report
only, but by attentive medical men, who have had many opportunities of observing its effects
and have themselves used it, are such as they describe. According to the predominating
theories of the day, all these intestinal affections are attributed to an inflammatory or sub-
inflammatory state of the lining membranes of the intestines, for which acidulous emollient
drinks are strongly recommended. Such a combination of acidulous and aperient emollients
seem therefore well suited to fulfil the indications of cure laid down for the treatment of the
milder forms of these complaints, and which,according to the French school, are the only certain
ones in the cure of these diseases so frequent in hot countries and seasons. We are indebted
to Dr. Louis Frank, a French physician, who witnessed the mode of treatment pursued in dysentery
in the caravans travelling from Nubia to Cairo, and had in that situation an opportunity
of observing the good effects of the remedy, which he afterwards most successfully adopted,
for much of the information we possess regarding the medical properties of the fruit of the
Boabab tree. I extract his account as given in Merat’s and DeLens’ Dictionnaire Universel de
Mat: Medicale, of the method of using it for the cure of dysentery.
On the first appearance of the disease the patient restricts himself to a very spare diet,
using for drink a weak decoction of tamarinds. If the disease does not speedily abate he then
has recourse to the fruit of the Boabab, which some precede by small doses of rhubarb. It is
the spongy redish friable substance of the fruit that is used. If there is no amendment at the
end of a few days, a paste is made of the powdered bark of the fruit mixed with water, of which
about the size of a chesnut is given several times in the course of the day3 and sometimes a
drink is prepared of the torrified seeds, of which the patient takes repeated doses daily.
In one ease of dysentery of twenty-five days standing, in which Dr. Frank prescribed this
fruit “ it cured as if by enchantment.”—Many other patients were thus treated with equal success.
The following interesting account of this tree was drawn up by Dr. Hooker, and published
in the Botanical Magazine, Nos. 2791—92.
“ The A dansonia digitata, E thiopian S our G ourd, Monkiey Bread, or B aobab, is a
native of Senegal. I t is said likewise to be found in Egypt and Abyssinia, and is besides cultivated
in many of the warmer parts of the world. There seems to be no question that it is the
largest known tree; the diameter of the trunk, Adanson says, being sometimes no less than
thirty feet. Although it has been introduced into Britain, according to the Hortus Kewensis
so long ago as the year 1724, by William Sherard, Esq. yet, as may be supposed, so vast a tree
is not likely, in our stoves, to arrive at that' size, when its flowers and fruit may be expected.
Hence. I trust, that representations of so great a rarity, taken, in part, from drawings made in
India, and kindly lent to me by Major General Hardwicke, and in part, from specimens of the
fruit and flowers sent to me in spirits, by Mr. Guilding, from St. Vincent, may be generally
acceptable to the Botanical world.
Adanson, during his visit to Senegal, has given a full and interesting account of this tree
and, certainly, not the least striking circumstances respecting it are, its enormous size, and its
great age, whence it has been called t( Arbre de mille Ans,” and whence too, Humboldt has
been led to speak of it as, “ the oldest organic monument o f our planet.” Its trunk, indeed
great as is its diameter, has a height by no means proportionable to its breadth. Adanson calculates
as follows: That a tree of
I year old is I in. or I | in. diameter, 5
2 0 .......................... ...............15
3 0 ......................... 9 .............. 22
1 0 0 ........................ .. 4 . . . . ...............29
1000 ........................ 14 . . . . ...............58
2400*?................. .. 18 . . . . ..............64
5150 . . . . . . . . . . . i,. 30 . . . ,