144 ORDER POLYANDRIA. 



the order polyandria, or family Malvaceje. 



After inspecting the flower of the Hollyhock or 

 Mallow, you will need no further definition of a Mal- 

 vaceous plant, or be at a loss for reference and 

 natural alliance wherever you may meet it. The 

 stamens are numerous, with their filaments united into 

 a column in the centre of the 5-petal!ed, but adhering 

 corolla ; to these they are also firmly ingrafted. This 

 peculiar union of the filaments gave rise to the ancient 

 appellation of CoLUiMNiFERiE, by which this natural 

 order was once known. In the centre of this hollow 

 column of stamens, when slit open, you will find the 

 styles disposed in another bundle, though not com- 

 monly ingrafted together as the filaments ; these vary, 

 from 5, to an indefinite number, and always accord 

 either with the number of the separate pericarps, or 

 the capsular cells. The calyx is often double, and 

 sometimes alone affords generic distinctions. In this, 

 family are included some of the most useful as well 

 as splendid productions of the vegetable kingdom ; 

 such are the Cotton ( Gossypium) : the Silk-cotton, 

 or Bombax, a splendid genus of tall evergreen tropi- 

 cal trees, also affording a long and soft silky cotton : 

 the Carolinea of the West Indies, remarkable for 

 the vivid colors and magnitude of their flowers : the 

 Barringtonia of the tropical islands of the Pacific, a 

 tall and magnificent tree, full of large and most beau- 

 tiful flowers, of a brilliant white and purple. But the 

 most wonderful of all productions, in the singularity 

 of its flower, is the Hand-tree of Mexico (Cheiroste- 

 mon), whose spreading, linear stigmas, inclined to one 

 side, not unaptly resemble the hand of a monkey. 

 The largest and longest lived tree in the world, is the 

 Adansonia, or Sour-sop of Africa, the base of whose 

 trunk has been found to be of the enormous diameter 



