204 MONADELPHTA POLYANDRIA. HibisCUS. 



five of the borders of cultivated land ; appearing and flower- 

 ing in the wet and cold seasons. 



Root ranioiis, annual. Stem erect, a little flexuose, round, 

 downy, from two to four feet high. Branches i'ew, near the 

 ground ascending, stem-like. Leaves alternate, petioled, the 

 lower ones, both on the stem and branches, cordate; the up- 

 per ones generally three-lobed, in luxuriant plants the lobes 

 are separated to the base, and sometimes the lateral lobes are 

 two-cleft; again those toward the summit of the plant are 

 simply linear, the m hole are acute, serrate and downy, with 

 sometimes a few hairs ; size very various. Petioles from one 

 to two inches long, round, hairy. Stipules linear lanceolate, 

 in very luxuriant plants they are sometimes double or two- 

 cleft. Peduncles axillary, single, erect, the length of (he pe- 

 tioles, round, articulated above the middle, a little hairy, 

 one-flowered. Flowers white, about the size of a shilling, 

 open all day. Cahjx minute, from six to nine-parted ; the in- 

 terior one five-cleft. Co;o/;;>e^a/.s' obliquely obcordate. Fi- 

 laments numerous, short, the tube bending to one side, so as 

 to make (he stigmas below the anthers. Stifle five-cleft. Stig- 

 mas covered >vith hair, or globular leaflets. Capsule five- 

 celled, five-valved, not in any respect wreathed, but just as 

 in the genus. Seeds many, two rows in each cell. 



26. W.fnrcatus. R. 



Shrubby, very ramous, armed w ith sharp thorny bristles 

 arising from coloured, glandular tuberculi. Leaves from en- 

 tire to three-parted, grossly serrate, and hairy. Slipvles fal- 

 cate, lanceolate. Peduncles solitary, axillary, one-flowered; 

 exterior calyx of ten forked leaflets. Capsule hairy, ovate, 

 acute. 



Discovered by the Rev. Dr. Carey, indigenous in the in- 

 terior parts of Bengal. The seed sent by him to (he Botanic 

 garden in one year produced plants that were six or eight 

 feet high, and blossomed during the rainy season. 



Stems erect, somewhat ligneous. Branches numerous, 



