240 



MALVACEAE. 



1. Thespesia populnea (L.) Soland. 

 SEASIDE MAHOE. (Fig. 266.) An ever- 

 green shrub or a low tree. Leaves 

 leathery, ovate, 2'-6' long, acute or 

 acuminate, undulate, cordate; petioles 

 shorter than the blades ; peduncles stout, 

 shorter than the subtending petioles; 

 bractlets of the involucels linear, early 

 deciduous ; calyx cup-shaped, entire ; 

 petals 2'-3' long, yellow with a purple 

 base; capsule about 1-1' wide; seeds 

 veiny, appressed-pubescent. [Hibiscus 

 populneus L.] 



Recorded by Lefroy as growing prior 

 to 1879 in the cove at Clarence Hill and 

 elsewhere and by Hemsley as found at 

 St. George's. A tree 20 high was ob- 

 served in 1913 at Holly Lodge. Intro- 

 duced. Native of tropical America, where 

 it is a common seashore tree ; no evidence 

 is at hand to show that it exists in Ber- 

 muda now except as planted trees. 



Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench, OKRA, GUMBO, African, commonly 

 cultivated for its pods, is a somewhat hairy annual, 4-9 high, with petioled, 

 lobed and serrate leaves 4'-8' broad, solitary peduncled axillary yellow 

 flowers with a red center, the petals about 2' long, and ribbed, pointed pods 5'- 

 10' long, mucilaginous when cooked. [Hibiscus esculentus L.] 



Althaea rosea (L.) Cav., HOLLYHOCK, Chinese, is grown to some extent as 

 a garden flower, principally in double-flowered kinds, its petals of nearly all 

 colors. It has wandlike stems 4-8 high, rough cordate suborbicular angu- 

 lar-lobed, long-petioled leaves often 6' broad, the upper smaller, and sessile 

 axillary flowers 3'-5' broad. [Alcea rosea L.] 



Gossypium herbaceum L., COTTON, unknown in a truly wild condition, but 

 regarded by Sir George Watt as probably indigenous originally in Arabia and 

 Asia Minor, was cultivated and spun in Bermuda early in the history of the 

 colony. Cotton plants may still occasionally be seen in gardens, but no culti- 

 vation is attempted. 



Malvaviscus mollis DC., VELVETY MALVAVISCUS, Mexican, a stellate- 

 velvety shrub about 3 high, with long-petioled, broadly ovate, crenate and often 

 3-lobed leaves 3'-5' long, axillary peduncled flowers about 11' long, the narrow 

 sepals 4"-6" long, the corolla red, is often grown in gardens, and is some- 

 times seen about old houses. 



Lavatera trimestris L., HERBACEOUS LAVATEEA, of the Mediterranean 

 region, a branching, hairy-stemmed annual 2-5 high, with somewhat pubes- 

 cent, slender-petioled, broadly ovate, angular-lobed and serrate, acute leaves 

 2'-3' long, and axillary peduncled rose-colored flowers 2A'-4' broad, the 

 receptacle of the fruit expanded into a disk above the row of finely ridged 

 carpels, was grown in gardens at St. George's and on St. David's Island in 

 1914. 



Plagianthus pulchellus (Willd.) A. Gray, PRETTY PLAGIANTHUS, Austra- 

 lian, a large shrub, with lanceolate, crenate leaves about 3' long, acuminate 



