CHOCOLATE FAMILY 141 



Caesar's Weed (Genus Urena) 



This shrubby weed of waste grounds has little pink mal- 

 low flowers, and odd bristly fruit that catch on passers-by 

 and cling tenaciously. 



The mallow family is noted for mucilaginous sap and 

 for strong fibers. The former is especially marked in 

 okra pods, and tough fiber is discovered in Caesar's weed 

 when one attempts to break a stem. Plants of this genus 

 are cultivated in other countries for their fiber, from which 

 cordage and coarse sacking are made. The most noted fiber 

 of this family is, of course, that which surrounds the seeds 

 of the cotton plant. 



Urena lobata. Flowers pink or rose, 1/2 in. or more across, 

 in leaf-axils and clustered along upper branches. Bracts 

 below calyx 5-7. Fruit separates into 5 small, barbed, 1- 

 seeded divisions. Stems 2-8 ft. tall. Leaves roundish, often 

 lobed, soft with minute hairs. Introduced weed. Blooming 

 all the year. Fla. 



Pavonia spinifex. Flowers yellow, 1/2 in. across, from leaf- 

 axils. Fruit separates into 5 small, 1-seeded divisions, each 

 armed with three barbed spines. Shrub 3-10 ft. tall. Leaves 

 toothed, hairy, broadest near base, 2-5 in. long. Sandy soil. 

 Naturalized. ' Blooming chiefly from spring to fall. Fla. 

 to S. C. 



Modiola caroUniana. Flowers reddish, small, solitary from 

 leaf-axils. Stems prostrate, 6-24 in. long. Leaves roundish, 

 3-5-cleft and deeply toothed, 1-2 in. long. Waste places. 

 Blooming from midwinter to fall. Fla. to Ya. and Texas. 



CHOCOLATE FAMILY (Buettneriaceae) 



Allied to mallows, but with only 5 stamens. 



Riedlea glabrescens. Flowers rose-purple, not quite 1 in. 

 across, in axillary and terminal clusters. Calyx 5-lobed, 

 petals 5, white at base. Stems shrubby, spreadmg, 1-4 ft. 

 long. Leaves alternate, broadest near base, toothed, mostly 



