MALVACEAE 



MALVACEAE MALLOW FAMILY 



Hibiscus moscheutos, L. 



Rose Swamp Rose Mallow, 



Swamp Mallow, 



August-September Mallow Rose, 



Water Mallow, 

 Sea Hollyhock. 



Hibiscus: an old Greek and Latin name of unknown 



meaning. 

 Moscheutos: Latin for musk. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: salt bogs. 



THE PLANT: erect, four to five feet high; the stem cane- 

 like, woody below, with short, soft hairs. 



THE LEAVES: olive-green; alternate; ovate or ovate-lan- 

 ceolate; three to seven inches long; above, green and hair- 

 less or with few short soft hairs; below densely coated with 

 soft, white hairs; acute or acuminate at the apex; on long 

 petioles; conspicuously dentate or serrate, and the lowest 

 three-lobed; palmately veined. 



THE FLOWERS: four to six inches broad, clustered on stout 

 pedicels at the top of the stem, only one opening at a time; 

 the five petals imbricated in the bud; petals broad, con- 

 spicuously veined, with or without a crimson base; sta- 

 mens numerous united in a column, conspicuously white. 

 Albinos have been found. 



When in bloom, one of the most showy plants of the 

 Island, for a mass of the magnificent, large flowers on the 

 edge of a blue pond causes one's heart to thrill at the wealth 

 of deep pink colour, so well supported by the olive-green 

 background of the large leaves. 



It is not only a plant of the big out-of-doors, for it can 

 also be domesticated, so to speak. In the house it is deco- 



210 



