Hibiscus. < MALVACEE (Harv.) 175 
why Turczaninow has referred this plant to Kosteletskya ; of which it does not pos- 
sess the solitary seeds. 
15. H. pusillus (Thunb. Cap. p. 550.) ; dwarf, hispid or glabres- 
cent; stems decumbent, sub-simple; leaves on short petioles, poly- 
morphous (ovate, or tricuspidate, or 3-lobed, or tripartite) sharply and 
coarsely serrate, rigid, nearly glabrous, with prominent nerves and veins, 
coarsely reticulate; stipules setaceo-subulate, spreading; peduncles 
axillary, longer than the leaves, jointed below the flower; involucre of 
about 10 subulate leaflets, half as long as the acuminate, stellato-pu- 
bescent calyx-lobes ; capsules glabrous, seeds woolly. Harv. Thes. t. 73. 
H. gossypinus, L, & Z. ! 307, non Thunb. H. serratus, B. Mey. ! 
Has. Near the Zwartkops and Sondag rivers, Uit. LZ. @Z./ Graaf Reynet and 
Somerset, Mrs. F. W. Barber! Macallisberg, Burke / (Herb. T.C.D., Hook., Sond.). 
Root thick and | voody, throwing up several stems 6-12 inches long or more ; the 
larger specimens branching. Leaves 1-1} inch long, extremely variable in shape 
and cutting, but always thick and rigid and sharply toothed ; rarely stellato-pubes- 
cent, mostly sub-glabrous. The flowers are rather large, crimson or deep rosy-purple, 
rarely varying to orange or yellow, and appear throughout the summer. 
16. H. atromarginatus (E. & Z.! No. 308.) ; laxly hispid or gla- 
brescent ; branches slender, virgate ; leaves petiolate, 3-5 parted, with 
narrow, linear-lanceolate or cuneate, entire or jagged or pinnatifid lobes ; 
stipules setaceous, stiff; peduncles axillary, many times longer than 
the leaves, one-flowered ; invol. of 10-12 subulate, rigid, pungent, 
leaflets, half as long as the linear-lanceolate, acuminate calyx-lobes ; 
seeds clothed with long, silky hairs. H. lasiospermus, E, Mey. H. macro- 
calyx, Garke ! 
Has. Caffirland £. 4 Z./ Drege! Crocodile River and Macallisberg, Burke. 
Somerset, Mrs. F. W. Barber / Natal, Miss Owen / (Herb. T.C.D., Hook., Sond.) 
A graceful suffrutex, with distant, digitate leaves and large flowers on long pe- 
duncles. The petals are either yellow, or purple, or pale with dark purple bases. 
E. & Z. say that the leaves have black nt, whence the specific name ; this 
character may be obvious on the living plant, but is not so on our dried specimens. 
17. H. gossypinus (Thunb. Cap. p. 549.) ; shrubby, the rod-like 
branches and short resins densely setose baci Ei pt rigid hairs ; 
leaves ovate or elliptical, obtuse, serrulate, pubescent on the upper, to- 
mentose on the lower surface ; stipules setaceous ; peduncles axillary, 
longer than the leaves, jointed and swollen below the flower, densely 
tomentose ; invol. of 10-12 filiform, hairy leaflets, shorter than the 
lanceolate, rufo-tomentose calyx lobes ; capsule obtuse ; seeds clothed 
with long hairs. DC. Prod. 1 p. 453. H. ferrugineus, E, & Z.! an 
Cav.? H.fuscus,Garkel 
Has. Near the Luris River, Thunberg/ Kat River, £.d Z./ South Africa, 
Drege! Port Natal, Gueinzius! Sanderson! (Herb. T.C.D., Hook., Sond.) . 
A tall shrub, with long, straight, simple branches; the pubescence generally __ 
dark red-brown. Flowers small, yellow ; the petals externally stellate-hairy. eos 
