174 MALVACE® (Harv.) _ (Hibiscus. 
*** Involucel 8-12 leaved. Seeds woolly, hairy, silky or pubescent. Root peren- 
nial; stem shrubby or fruticulose. (Sp. 13-18.) 
13. H. exthiopieus (Linn.); dwarf, stellato-hispid ; stems curved, 
decumbent, subsimple ; leaves longer than their petioles, elliptic-obo- 
vate, elliptical or oblong, sub-truncate, 5-7-toothed or sub-entire, 3-5- 
nerved, stellately hispid, especially on the ribs and at the margin ; sti- 
pules narrow-linear, herbaceous; peduncles axillary, mostly longer 
than the leaf, hispid and jointed below the flower ; invol. of 10-12 
narrow-lanceolate or subulate, ciliate leaflets, shorter than the acumi- 
nate, laxly setose and ciliate calyx-lobes ; capsules nearly glabrous, » 
the seeds minutely pubescent. DC. Prod. 1. p. 451. Log Z1 393- Cav. 
Dis. t. 61. f. 1. Thunb. Fl. Cup. 548. aot” 
® 
Var. 8. ovatus; caulescent, leaves elliptical or ellipti¢-ovate, sub- 
entire, laxly hispid or glabrescent. H. ovatus, EH. & Z.! 304- Cav. 
Dis. t. 50. f. 3? Drege! 95t1. 
Var. y. helvolus; caulescent ; flowers orange ; leaves broadly ellip- 
tical or oblong, hispid; invol. leaflets often lanceolate. #H. helvolus, 
H. dlipticus, and H. propinquus, E. Mey. ! H. asperifolius E. & Z.! 306. 
Var. 8. diversifolius; leaves varying from obovate to ovate, lan- 
ceolate or linear, on the same stem; smaller and more glabrous than 
_ the other varieties. H. ovatus, 8. angustifolius, E. § Z. 1 304, 6 parte. 
Drege, 7327 | 
& Has. On grassy hills thro tthe Colony, and extending to Port Natal. (Herb. 
one TO. D.; Hook., in aye = olony, and exte: Z 0! 243 
eh) er) small suffruticose perennial, 3-6 inches, or rarely a foot high, and mostly pro- 
: tr "02 eumbent ; varying greatly in pubescence and in the form of its leaves. the 
above qoatert syncs nonyms Meyer's H. helvolus is the most unlike the ordinary form, 
but through H. ellipticus and propinguus it is brought near H. ovatus, E. &Z., and 
80 passes into the common ethiopicus. Var. 5, is from ct ghey and much de- 
pauperated. Flowers (except in var. -y.) bright yellow, with a dark centre. 
_ W& EH malacospermus (E. Mey.); dwarf, stellato-hispid: stem 
curved, sub-simple ; leaves i oe ag ase and narrow, linear ot 
: tinear-lanceolate, entire, or remotely toothed and cut, prominently 3-5- 
ribbed, the ribs and margins stellato-hispid ; stipules linear-subulate, 
rigid, spreading ; peduncles axillary, elongate, hispid and jointed be- 
_ Tow the flower; invol. of 10-12 subulate, strongly 3-ribbed ciliate 
ets, more than half as long as the setose, acuminate calyx-lobes ; 
es nearly glabrous, seeds densely albo-tomentose. H. malacosper- 
HE. tridentatus, E.| Mey.! H. microcarpus, Garke. Kostelets- 
! Bull. Mosc. 1858. p. 192. 3 
bd Ps 
Port Natal, Drege / Miss Owen / Modder-river and 
(Herb. T.C.D., Hook., Sond:). es 
but a larger, stronger and more rigid plant ; the 
Seeds 
