Sida. MONADBLPHIA DODECANDRIA. 173 



7. S. polj/andra. Roxb. 



Annual, or biennial, erect, ramous, pubescent. Leaves cor- 

 date, repand-dentate, cuspidate. Stipules bristle shaped. 

 /^lowers solitary, droopiiio, sub polyandroiis; petals reflex. 

 Capsules five, two-valved, from three to four-seeded. 



A native of Coromandel, from thence introduced into the 

 Botanic garden by Dr. Berry, \a here it blossoms during- the 

 cool season. If is in g-eneral annual, though sometimes the 

 root, and lower part of the stem remains alive, and throws out 

 new branches the second year. 



Root often biennial, or more. Stem erect, with numerous, 

 Komewhat expanding-, nearly straight, round branches, from 

 the base to ihe top ; all the tender parts clothed with much 

 very soft pube>cence; height of the whole plant, in a good 

 soil, aboutsix or seven feet; the whole decays annu:dly down 

 to the rool,or nearly so. Leaves alternate, long-petioled, cor- 

 date; marffhis repand-dentate ; apex long, and slender, with 

 a rather obtuse point ; from two to eight inches long, and 

 from one to seven broad. Stipules subulate, and generally 

 coloured. Peduncles axillary, solitary, one-llowered, near 

 the apex jointed, and then so much recurved, as to make 

 the flowers droop while expanded, general length two or 

 three inches, /^lowers large, yellow, remaining expanded 

 through the day. Petals reflex. Filaments about fifty, 

 very straight, united at the very base only, and there the 

 short tube is hairy on the outside. Jlnthers reniform. Germ 

 five sided, hairy. Styles five, rather longer than the stamina. 

 Sti(jinas headed, but small and smooth. Capsules five, much 

 longer than the calyx, each terminating in a sharp, single, 

 conic horn, until ripe, when it splits in two on both sides, 

 from the apex to the base, in fact, completely two-valved, 

 and one-celled. Seeds three or four in each capsule, ob- 

 liquely-reniform, attached to the common axis above the 

 middle. 



