112 MALVACEAE 



5-toothed summit. Style-branches 5, short. Stigmas capitate. Ovary 5-celled, 2 to several 

 ovules in each cell. Capsule loculicidal. Seeds minutely papillate to short-hairy. [Greek 

 name used by Dioscorides for the marsh mallow.] 



A genus of about 200 species of the tropical and warm temperate parts of the world. Some species fre- 

 quently cultivated as ornamentals. Type species, Hibiscus moschatus L. 



Annual; leaves pedately lobed or divided; calyx inflated. \. H. Trionum. 

 Perennial; leaves merely serrulate or dentate; calyx not inflated. 



Leaves 5-1 5 cm. long; seeds papillate; involucellate bracts equaling calyx. 2. H. calif amicus. 



Leaves 1-3 cm. long; seeds silky-hairy; involucellate bracts shorter than the calyx. 3. H. denudatus. 



1. Hibiscus Trionum L. Bladder Ketmia or Flower-of-an-hour. Fig. 3227. 



Hibiscus Trionum L. Sp. PI. 697. 1753. 



Depressed annual branching from the base, sparsely pubescent throughout with spreading 

 hairs. Leaves ovate to orbicular in outline, 2-6 cm. long, pedately 3-7-lobed or divided, the lobes 

 obtuse, dentate-crenate or crenately cleft, the middle one longer ; petioles hirsute, about equaling 

 the blade ; involucellate bracts linear, hirsute-ciliate, about two-thirds as long as the calyx at 

 anthesis ; flowers axillary to the upper leaves, 2.5-4 cm. broad, pale yellow, purplish at the center; 

 calyx 5-angled, 1-1 . 5 cm. long at anthesis, hispid-nerved and prominently nerved, becoming larger 

 and inflated in fruit ; petals tinged with purple on the outer edge ; capsule globose-ovoid, 10-15 

 mm. high, hirsute, black ; seeds roughened with short papillate processes. 



In waste places from South Dakota to Nova Scotia and south to Kansas and Florida; in California rare, 

 at Stockton and Riverside. Adventive from southern Europe. Type locality: Italy. June-Sept. 



2. Hibiscus californicus Kell. California Hibiscus. Fig. 3228. 



Hibiscus californicus Kell. Proc. Calif. Acad. 4: 292. 1873. 

 Hibiscus moscheutos var. occidentalis Torr. Bot. Wilkes Exp. 256. 1874. 

 Hibiscus lasiocarpus var. occidentalis A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 22: 303. 1887. 

 Hibiscus lasiocarpus var. californicus Bailey, Cycl. Hort. 1486. 1915. 



A stout, freely branching shrub, 1-2.5 m. high, densely pubescent throughout with short-rayed 

 stellate hairs. Leaves ovate to orbicular-cordate, 5-10 cm. broad, dentate, acute to acuminate at 

 the apex, dark green above, lighter beneath ; petioles stout, about equaling the blades ; flowers 

 subterminal, each flower on a stout peduncle 2-3 cm. long, from the side of which a small leaf 

 arises about halfway between the base and the joint; involucellate bractlets linear-subulate, 2-3 

 cm. long, closely clasping the calyx; calyx 2-2.5 cm. long, 5-cleft, the lobes ovate-lanceolate, 

 short-acuminate ; petals 6-10 cm. long, white or roseate, deep crimson at the base ; capsule ovoid, 

 2.5-3 cm. long, acute, slightly stellate-pubescent; seeds round, striate, minutely papillate. 



On low islands and wet banks, Upper and Lower Sonoran Zones; Sacramento River, Butte County to the 

 lower San Joaquin River, California. Type locality: Webb's Landing, on an island in the San Joaquin River. 

 Sept.-Oct. 



3. Hibiscus denudatus Benth. Pale Face or Rock-hibiscus. Fig. 3229. 



Hibiscus denudatus Benth. Bot. Sulph. 7. pi. 3. 1844. 



Hibiscus denudatus var. involucellatus A. Gray, Smiths. Contr. 3^: 22. 1852. 



Suffruticose perennial 3-9 dm. high, erect or diffusely branching, the stems slender, sparsely 

 leaved, roughly canescent-tomentose throughout with short-rayed, stellate hairs. Leaves ovate to 

 orbicular, 1-3 cm. long, serrulate, prominently veined beneath, smooth above; flowers axillary, 

 solitary; involucellate bractlets 4-7, setaceous, half as long as the calyx or shorter, sometimes 

 nearly wanting ; calyx narrowly ovoid, 5-cleft nearly to the base, 5-8 mm. long, the lobes tri- 

 angular-lanceolate, acuminate; petals 1-2 cm. long, white to rose-purple, capsule ovoid-globose, 

 acute, glabrous, slightly shorter than the calyx, dehiscent to the base ; seeds reniform, dark brown, 

 covered with silky hairs 3-4 mm. long. 



Rocky slopes and hillsides, Lower Sonoran Zone; vicinity of Palm Springs in the Colorado Desert, Cali- 

 fornia, to central Texas, southern Lower California and central Sonora. Type locality: Magdalena Bay, Lower 

 California. Flowering after rains, chiefly spring and summer. 



Gossypium barbadense L. Sp. PI. 693. 1753. Cotton. A suffrutescent plant with slender, brown-barked, 

 sparsely pubescent or glabrous stems and large palmately 3-5-lobed leaves 6-10 cm. broad; petioles 5-15 cm. 

 long; stipules triangular-lanceolate, 3-4 mm. broad, 10-15 mm. long, scarious; flowers perfect, axillary; bract- 

 lets 3 2.5-3 cm. broad, 3-4 cm. long, the summit deeply dissected into 10-15 narrowly triangular-lanceolate 

 divisions, purplish; calyx-lobes short, 5-10 mm. long, 10-18 mm. wide, glabrous; petals 3-4.5 cm. long, obovate, 

 cream-colored and more or less purplish at the base; fruit a loculicidally dehiscent, 3-5-valved capsule, 2-4 cm. 

 in diameter; seeds ovoid-oblong, 5-8 mm. long, covered with long, white fibers and a short persistent wool. 

 Grown for the cotton in the San Joaquin and Imperial Valleys in California and there occasionally escaping 

 from cultivation. Native in the Barbados. 



Family 93. STERCULIACEAE. 



Sterculia Family. 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees, usually more or less stellate-pubescent, and often with 

 simple hairs intermixed. Leaves alternate, simple or rarely compound, pinnately or 

 palmately nerved ; stipules usually present, often caducous. Flowers perfect or uni- 



