224 MALVACEAE. Malope. 



1. S. Malachodendron (Linn.): leaves oval, mostly acuminate at each 

 end, mucronately serrulate, clothed with a soft pubescence beneath; sepals 

 obtuse, united below ; styles united ; capsule globose. — Linn. sp. p. 982, & 

 in act Upsal. (1741) t. 2; UHer. stirp. t. 73; Gronov. Virg. p. 101; 

 Walt. Car. p. 17G; Lam. ill t. 593. S. Virginica, Cav. diss. 5. t. 159; 

 Michx. ! fl. 2. p. 43; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 451; Ell. sk. 2. p. 172; DC. prodr. 

 l.p. 52S. S. Marilandica, Andrews, hot. rep. t. 73. 



Virginia! to Florida! (in swamps, Pursh: in dry rich soils, Elliott) {rom 

 the coast to near the mountains ; Red River, Louisiana, Dr. Hale ! April- 

 June. — Shrub 6-12 feet high ; branches geniculate, pubescent when young. 

 Leaves on short petioles. Flowers occasionally in pairs. Sepals roundish, 

 with 2 small bracteoles at the base, silky beneath. Petals a little hairy be- 

 neath, white. Filaments short, purple: anthers blue. Stigmas 5-lobed. 

 Capsule hairy. 



2. S. pentagyna (L'Her.) : leaves oval or ovate, acuminate, entire or mu- 

 cronately serrulate, somewhat pubescent beneath ; sepals lanceolate ; styles 

 distinct ; capsule 5-angled.— Zy'//e?'. stirp. t. 74 ; Willd. sp. 3. p. 840 ; SWdth, 

 exot. hot. t. 101 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 452; Ell. sk. 2. p. 173. Malachodendron 

 ovatum, Cav. diss. 5. t.i58; Michx. I. c. ; DC. prodr. 1. p. 528 ; Bot. reg. 

 t. 1104. 



N. Carolina ! to Georgia ! in the mountains. May — July. — Shrub closely 

 resembling the preceding, but with rather larger, cream-colored, and more 

 deeply crenulate petals. Sepals and capsule hairy; the latter with 5 salient 

 angles, woody. Seeds 2 in each cell, oval or nearly orbicular, plano-convex ; 

 testa crustaceous, dilated into a slight somewhat membranaceous margin. 



Order XXXVIII. MALVACEAE. Juss. (in part) ; DC. 



Sepals 5 (rarely 3 or 4), more or less united at the ba.se, often hav- 

 ing an external calyx or involucel : sestivation valvate. Petals hypo- 

 gynous, equal in number to the sepals, with a twisted aestivation. 

 Stamens hypogynous, usually indefinite, or rarely as few as the pe- 

 tals, monadelphous : anthers 1-celled, reniform, bursting transversely : 

 pollen hispid. Ovary formed by the union of several carpels round a 

 common axis, either distinct or cohering : styles as many as the car- 

 pels, united or distinct : stigmas as many or twice as many as the car- 

 pels. Fruit capsular, or rarely baccate: carpels 1- or many-seeded, 

 sometimes closely united, sometimes separate or separable ; the dehis- 

 cence loculicidal or septicidal. Seeds campulitropous or heterotropous, 

 with little or no albumen. Embryo curved : cotyledons foliaceous, 

 twisted and doubled up. — Herbs or shrubs. Leaves alternate, stipu- 

 late, mostly palmately veined : pubescence mostly stellate. 



1. MALOPE. Linn.; Lam. ill. t. 583; DC. prodr. l.p. 429. 



Calyx surrounded by an mvolucel of 3 cordate leaves. Carpels numerous, 

 distinct, 1-seeded, aggregated without order. — Herbs with purplish or white 

 flowers. 



1. M. Malacoides (Linn.) : leaves ovate, crcnatc ; stipules oblong-linear ; 



