108 MALVACEAE, 



easily referable to Sphxralcea; while the ascending ovule alone dis- 

 tinguishes others from Sida. 



* Annuals. 



1. M. exile, Gray, Ives Exp. 8 (1860). Stems slender, diflFuse or ascend- 

 ing, 3 — 12 in. high : herbage green but minutely and sparsely stellate- 

 pubescent : leaves round-ovate, cordate or truncate at base, 5-lobed, 

 sparingly toothed, 1 in. long, on slender petioles as long : fl. axillary, 

 solitary or few, on slender pedicels }4. — 1 in- long : involucel of 3 linear 

 bracts : calyx deeply 5-parted ; segments triangular, acuminate : corolla 

 8 — 4 lines long, white : achenes 12 — 15, cochleate-rounded, less than a 

 line wide, sharply rugose transversely. — A small species, of the south- 

 eastern deserts ; but said to occur in Merced Co. 



2. M. Parryi. Prostrate or ascending, the purplish and often rough- 

 hairy branches 1 — 2 ft. long ; herbage cinereous or hoary with a rough 

 stellate pubescence : leaves 1 — 2 in. long, deeply 5-parted, the segments 

 coarsely toothed or lobed : fl. mostly solitary, on slender peduncles 

 1}^ — 4 in. long : involucel of 3 linear-setaceous persistent bracts }^ in. 

 long : calyx-lobes deltoid-ovate, long-acuminate : petals, deep-purple, 

 1.^ — % in. long : carpels 15 — 20, strongly cochleate, a line wide, sharply 

 rugose transversely. — A very common early flowering annual of the 

 plains and valleys of Monterey Co., and perhaps San Luis Obispo, Parry, 

 Lemmon ; also near Tulare, Parry. There is a State Survey specimen 

 (No. 542), obtained on the Nacimiento Kiver in 1861, which Dr. Gray had 

 called " Sklalcea diploscypha ; " and, althoiagh the species bears much 

 general resemblance to the annual Sidalceas — more than to any ilalras- 

 Irum — it has probably been referred latterly to M. exile. Mar. — May. 



* * Shrubby or suffrulescent species. 



3. M. faseiculatum, Greene. Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. i. 225 (1838), under 

 3falva. Malvastrnm Thurberi, Gray, PI. Thurb. 307 (1854) : M. splendi- 

 dum, Kell. Proc. Calif. Acad. i. 65 (1855). Usually 6-8 ft. high, often 

 larger and arborescent, the main stem a few inches thick ; bark smooth, 

 gray ; branches long, wand-like, slender, racemose or amply racemose- 

 paniculate above, these and the lower face of the leaves canescently 

 short- tomentose : leaves angularly 5-lobed and coarsely toothed, 1}4 ^ 

 in. long, and almost as broad : calyx-lobes triangular, as broad as long, 

 acute : corolla rose-purple, % in. long : carpels smooth, tomentose 

 above, promptly dehiscent : seed with a stellular-hairy minute reticu- 

 lation. — A very handsome shrub or small tree, and the most common 

 species, occurring from Mt. Diablo, RaUan, and Monterey Co., Abbott , 

 southward throughout the State. 



4. M. Palmeri, Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. xii. 250 (1877). Stouter than 

 the last, the branches shorter, flexuous, the inflorescence terminal. 



