1. Leaves and stems glabrous (2) 



1. Leaves and stems more or less variously pubescent (3) 



2(1). Bracteoles and calyx densely hirsute 1. H. dasycalyx. 



2. Bracteoles and calyx glabrous or very sparsely hirsute 2. H. militaris. 



3(1). Stems usually with prickles; calyx lobes long-attenuate at apex; capsules 



densely covered with long spreading simple tawny hairs 



3. H. cubensis. 



3. Stems not prickly; calyx lobes mostly acute-apiculate at apex; capsules short 



stellate-pubescent to glabrous (4) 



4(3). Leaves commonly elliptic-lanceolate and broadly cuneate to rounded at 

 base, with age usually becoming glabrous above, gray-pannose 

 beneath; capsules glabrous 4. H. Moscheutos. 



4. Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, rounded to cordate at base, permanently 



pubescent on both surfaces; capsules more or less pubescent (5) 



5(4). Upper surface of leaves bearing many simple or subsimple hairs; bractlets 

 of involucel ciliate with long simple hairs in addition to being shortly 



stellate-tomentose; capsules usually densely villous-hirsute 



5. H. lasiocarpos. 



5. Both surfaces of leaves with a very fine and dense stellate pubescence; bractlets 



without long simple hairs; capsules eventually glabrescent 



6. H. leucophyllus. 



1. Hibiscus dasycalyx Blake & Schiller. Fig. 521. 



Herbaceous perennial to 15 dm. high; stem greenish, terete, glabrous, about 3 

 mm. thick above; upper nodes mostly 3-5 cm. long; leaves with slender petioles 

 3-5 cm. long, 3-lobed and hastate at base, 5-9 cm. long, 3-10 cm. wide at base 

 across the lobes, glabrous, the lobes linear-attenuate (3-6 mm. wide) and usually 

 irregularly incised or serrate; flowers 6 or 7, solitary in uppermost axils; peduncles 

 about 15 mm. long, articulate near middle, with spreading hairs above; bracteoles 

 about 12, narrowly linear-attenuate, the inner surface and margins densely hirsute, 

 hirsute to subglabrous on outside, about 15 mm. long, 1-1.5 mm. wide; calyx about 

 25 mm. long, campanulate. densely spreading-white-hirsute on outside, densely 

 yellowish-pilose with subappressed hairs on inner surface, the lobes deltoid-apiculate 

 and about 7 mm. long; corolla white with a purple spot, when dry about 6 cm. long, 

 the apex spreading; ovary densely and subappressed yellowish-pilose; styles free 

 above and there pilose; fruit unknown. 



Rare in marshes and along canals in Trinity Co. in e. Tex., May-July; endemic. 



2. Hibiscus militaris Cav. Scarlet rose-mallow, halberd-leaved rose-mallow. 



Fig. 522. 



Herbaceous perennial, often tinged with red; stems to 25 dm. high, essentially 

 glabrous; leaves with slender petioles to 1 dm. long or more, triangular-hastate in 

 general outline, glabrous, the basal lobes (if developed) widely divergent, the 

 middle lobe long-acuminate and 2 to 6 times as long as the body of the leaf; bract- 

 lets linear-setaceous, tapering to a filiform point, to 3 cm. long; calyx glabrous or 

 very nearly so; petals obovate, pink or whitish with a purplish base, 6-8 cm. long; 

 capsule glabrous or nearly so; seeds pubescent with short reddish-brown hairs. 



In marshes and shallow water of lakes, ponds and streams in e. and n.-cen. Tex. 

 and e. and n.-cen. Okla., reported from the Tex. Panhandle, May-Nov.; from Fla. 

 to Okla. and Tex., n. in the interior to O. and Minn. 



3. Hibiscus cubensis A. Rich. Fig. 523. 



Herbaceous perennial, to 3 m. high, densely gray-velutinous throughout (except 

 on corolla) with short stellate hairs; stem (sometimes also the petioles and pedun- 

 cles) remotely or rather densely aculeate with straight spreading (at length) corky- 



1118 



