146 ORDER POLYANDRIA. 



and arranged in a circle* The A. officinalis, or 

 Marsh-mallow, with remarkably soft tomentose leaves, 

 entire, or 3-lobed, is sometimes met with on the bor- 

 ders of salt-marshes, apparently indigenous. 



MalvUj or Mallow, has the exterior of its 2 calyces 

 mostly 3-leaved, and the capsules precisely as in 

 Mihaa. 



In Lavatera, of our gardens, the generic character 

 only differs from Malva in having a tritid exterior 

 calyx. 



In the Cotton, Gossypium, the exterior calyx is 

 large, and really resembles an involucrum, being com- 

 posed of 3 broad, heart-shaped, deeply serrated 

 leaves. The calyx is cup-shaped, and only 5-cleft 

 towards the summit. The flowers are somewhat 

 campanulate, white or yellow, with a deep purple 

 base. The 5-cleft capsule, preceded by 5 styles, 

 contains, in each cell, several rather large, brown, or 

 greenish, coated seeds, each surrounded by a mass of 

 compacted cotton, which arises from this coating. The 

 leaves are generally 3 to 5-lobed. The species are 

 originally tropical ; but one of them can be some- 

 what profitably cultivated up to the line of the state 

 of Delaware ; the cotton of warm countries is, how- 

 ever, most esteemed. 



In Sida, and a few other genera, the exterior calyx 

 or involucrum, as it really is, is wanting, there being 

 but 1, 5-cleft, simple, and often angular calyx. The 

 styles adhere so as to appear almost single. The 

 capsules are numerous, arranged in a circle, each 1- 

 celled, dehiscent, and 1 to 3-seeded. The flowers 

 are often yellow, and rather small. Our but too 

 common species in gardens and wastes, is the S. 

 abutilon, which grows rather tall and large ; the leaves 

 are softly tomentose, roundish-cordate, acuminate, 

 and toothed ; the peduncle shorter than the petioles ; 



