1 



MALVACEJE. 



^'i 



ces, &c. Native of both Indies. Stem branched, 3 or more feet high. Leaves 

 large, deeply cordate at base, velvety. Flowers orange yellow, nearly an inch 

 broad, Jl. Aug. Ann. Indian, Malloic. 



2. ALTHtE'A. 



Calyx surrounded by a 6 — 9-leaved involucel ; carpels nu- 

 merous ; arranged circularly around the axis, 1-seeded, inde- 

 hiscent. 



Gt. a.\9ci), to cure ; the mucilaginous root is highly esteemed in medicine. 



1. A. OFFICINA'LIS. 



Leaves soft-downy on both sides, cordate-ovate, dentate, somev/hat 3-lobed, 

 all entire ; peduncles much shorter than the leaves, axillary, many-fiowered. 

 A European plant, naturalized on the borders of our salt marshes. Stem 3 

 feet high, erect, firm, covered with thick, woolly down, with alternate, velvet- 

 like leaves. Flowers large, axillary and terminal, pale purple. The root, as 

 well as the other parts of the plant, abounds in mucilage, and in medicine is 

 often used as an emollient to promote suppuration. Aug. Sept. Per. 



Marsh Mallow. 



2. A. Ro'SEA. Alcea rosea. 



S/em upright, hairy; /cares cordate, 5— 7-angled, rugose; jZojfcrs axillary, 

 sessile. The Hollyhock is said to grow native in China. It is biennial, of 

 the easiest culture in any common garden soil. Its tall and splendid varie- 

 ties are, therefore, among the most common of cultivated flowers. Above 20 

 varieties have been noticed, with single, double and semidouble flowers, of 

 numerous shades of coloring, as white, rose-colored, flesh-colored, dark-red 

 and even a purplish black, purple, yellow, straw-color, &c. Those varieties 

 which depend on color alone, can hardly be perpetuated from their seeds ; but 

 from the seeds of the double-flowered varieties, there will generally arise 

 plants of a similar kind. Hollyhock. 



3. A. ficifo'lia. 



Stem erect, hairy ; Zea»e5 palmate, 7-Iobed beyond the middle ; lobes oblong, 

 obtuse, irregularly toothed. Native of Levant. Stem tall as the above. Flow- 

 ers oran (re-colored. Fig-leaved Hollyhock. 



3 . M A L V A . 

 Calyx 3-cleft, the involucel mostly 3-leaved ; carpels nume- 

 rous, 1-celled, 1-seeded, arranged circularly. 



Gr. fji,a>.uy,r), soft, altered by the Latins to Malva, in allusion to the soft mu- 

 cilagenous properties of some of the species. 



1. M. rotundifo'lia. 



Stem prostrate ; leaves roundish, cordate, obtusely .'5-lobed ; frnit-stalks bent 

 downwards; corolla twice as long as the calyx. It is a well known plant, 

 common in cultivated grounds and waste places. Root fusiform ; stems nu- 

 merous, lying flat on the ground. The leaves are of a fine, delicate texture, 

 roundish, somewhat renlform, crenate, with 5 or 7 shallow lobes and on long, 

 hairy stalks. Peduncles axillary, aggregate. Petals pale pink, deeply notched. 

 fVuit ro^nd and flat, composed of the numerous capsules, arranged circularly. 



