200 XXV. MALVACE/E (MASTERS). [Hibiscus. 



or hastate at the base, ovate acuminate or somewhat 5-angled or lobed with 

 deltoid pointed lobes, coarsely crenate- serrate, tomentose and hispid. Lpper 

 leaves narrower, smaller, often hastate. Peduncles solitary, axillary, 1- 

 flowered, jointed above the middle, equal to or exceeding the leaves, some- 

 times aggregated into a terminal pseudo-raceme, the leaves of which fill 

 off soon/ Epicalyx of about 10 distinct, filiform, ciliolate segments, shorter 

 than the broadly cup-shaped 5-cleft calyx, whose lobes are broadly lanceo- 

 late. Corolla purple, more than twice the size of the calyx. Capsule ovoid, 

 beaked, hispid, shorter than the calyx. Seeds with a very few, short, stel- 

 late hairs. — H. keterotrichus, E. Mev. Plant. Drege. H. ascendent, Don, Gen. 

 Syst. i. 482. H. variabilis, Garcke in Pet. Mossamb. Bot. i. 125. H. ri- 

 besireJoV'tis, Guill. et Perr. Fl. Seneg. i. 53. H. ccesius, Garcke in Pet. Mos- 

 samb. Bot. i. 125 ? 



Upper Guinea, Bon ! Senegal, Perrottet ! 



Nile Land. AJadi, S/jeke and Grant I 



Mozamb. Distr. Tette, Peters ! Drs. Kirk and Metier ! Querimba, Peters. 



The plant is also found in the Canary and Cape de Verde Islands, in Natal and S. Africa, 

 and is subject to considerable variation iu minor points. Dr. Kirk's specimens from Senna 

 differ in their prostrate habit and smaller leaves. Perrottet's H. ribesuefolius, authentic 

 specimens of which exist in the British Museum, seems to be a small variety, with a more- 

 branching habit aud smaller leaves than the type. 



12. H. rhabdotospermus, Garcke in Bot. Zeit. 1849, 839. Peren- 

 nial (?) with a suffruticose, erect, downy, somewhat villosa stem. Leafstalks 

 2-4 in. long, as long as or longer than the blades. Stipules linear-subulate, 

 pilose ; leaf-blades cordate ovate acute or ovate-lanceolate, slightly downy 

 above, more so beneath, palmately 5-7-nerved, coarsely dentate. Peduncles 

 axillary, 1-3 in. long, simple or usually cvmosely branched with a small leaf 

 occupying the place of one of the lateral Mowers. Epicalyx of 15-20 linear- 

 ciliolate, distinct segments, half the length of the bell-shaped 5-cleft calyx. 

 Calyx-lobes lanceolate, gradually acuminate, downy. Flowers yellow, an 

 inch or more across, larger than the calyx. Capsule woody, ovate, acumi- 

 nate, loculicidally 5-valved ; valves ciliate, as long as the persistent calyx. 

 Seeds brownish, with a few stellate hairs.—//, cordatus, Hochst. in Webb, 

 Prag. Fl. iEthiop. 45. 



Nile Land. Kordofan, Kotschy ! 



Mozamb. Distr. Lupata, Zambezi, Dr. Kirk! 



13. H. articulatus, Hochst. in Rich. Fl. Abyss, i. 66. Rootstock per- 

 ennial, fusiform, bearing at the summit a number of herbaceous or some- 

 what woody, erect or spreading, scantily pilose branches, 4-6 in. in length. 

 Leaves on very short 8talks ; "rongh on the upper surface, bristly beneath, 

 polymorphous, lower ones roundish, upper ones palmately 3-5-parted; seg- 

 ments oblong-lanceolate, irregularly serrate. Stipules liguliform, persistent. 

 Peduncles solitary, axillary, often 'as long as the nearly sessile floral leaves. 

 Epicalyx of 8-10 distinct, liguliform, ciliolate segments. Calyx campanu- 

 late, 5-partcd, its 5 lobes oblong-lanceolate or acuminate, exceeding the epi- 

 calyx. Corolla yellow, li-2 iu. diam., twice the size of the epicalyx. Cap- 

 sule oblong-ovoid, slightly pointed, its 5 valves downy and hispid along their 

 edges. Seeds smooth.— if. amotheroides ? Webb, Frag. Fl. /Ethiop. 47- 



