484 MALVACEAE 



Mediterranean (Europe, Asia, Africa), 1 in Australia, 1 in California and 3 in 

 Mexico. (Two brothers Lavater, Swiss physicians and naturalists.) 



Bibliog.— Lyon, W. S., Notes on Lavatera (Bot. Gaz. 11:202-205,-1886). Brandegee, T., 

 Lavatera assurgentiflora Kell. (Zoe 1:109, — 1890); Lavatera — is it an introduced plant? (Zoe 

 1:188-190,-1890). Parish, S. B., The Pacific Lavateras (Zoe 1:300-301,-1890). Trask, B., 

 [Note on Lavatera assurgentiflora] (Erythea 7:140, — 1899). 



1, L. assurgentiflora Kell. Tree Mallow. Shrub 4 to 10 feet high; leaf- 

 blades palmately 5-lobed and dentately toothed; calyx-lobes triangular, acute, 

 shorter than the tube; corolla V/o to 2^4 inches broad, the petals rose-color with 

 darker veins; claws bearded at base. 



Sandy flats or rocky islets : Santa Barbara Islands. Apr.-Aug. 



Historical note. — From a very early day Lavatera assurgentiflora was reported as occurring 

 on Anacapa Island, one of the smaller islands of the Santa Barbara archipelago. It also occurs 

 on Bird Island, a sea rock near Santa Catalina Island (Erythea 7:140), on Santa Catalina Island 

 itself, on San Miguel Island (Greene), and on Santa Cruz and San Clemente islands (Zoe 1 :109). 

 "When this species was first known these islands represented wild and unfrequented habitats. In 

 view, further, that Lavatera assurgentiflora has not been identified as conspccifie with any Old 

 World species wo here regard it as unquestionably native. It is not found on the California 

 mainland as an indigenous plant, nor southward. On the islands off the Lower California coast 

 occur three other species closely related to it, namely: Lavatera insularis Wats, on Coronados 

 Islands ; Lavatera occidentalis Wats, on Guadalupe Island ; Lavatera venosa Wats, on San Benito 

 Island. These species, also, we judge to be endemics. T. S. Brandegee, on the contrary, by virtue 

 of verbal tradition derived from Spanish-Californians, contends that all these Lavateras were 

 brought from Spain or the Mediterranean region by the Franciscan missionaries (Zoe 1:188). 

 This contention necessitates that the Franciscans, who were not botanists, but missionaries and 

 cultivators of the soil engaged in subduing the native tribes of California, went out into the sea 

 and planted one Lavatera species and no more on each of four islands or island groups scattered 

 over a distance of seven hundred miles along the coast, — islands uninhabited and remote, islands 

 having no connection or probable interest mth the daily work of the friars on the mainland, 

 islands even to this day, in many eases, difficult of approach or of easy landing. A clear state- 

 ment of such a theory carries its own refutation. Compare the convincing paragraph by S. B. 

 Parish (Zoe 1:300-301). 



By 1853 or perhaps before, Lavatera assurgentiflora was brought to the mainland gardens 

 and during the years has come into some economic importance for use as a hedge windbreak for 

 vegetable gardens in the region of San Francisco Bay. It is often seen in cultivation from 

 Mendocino Co. to San Diego but has never become truly naturalized. In 1908 we observed two 

 forms growing side by side in the garden of Blanche Trask at Avalon, Santa Catalina Island; 

 the form from San Clemente Island showed much larger and lighter green leaves {Je-pson 14,050) 

 than the form of Santa Catalina Island. 



Kefs. — Lavatera assurgentiflora Kell. Proc. Cal. Acad. 1:14 (1854), type loc. Anacapa 

 Isl.; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 237 (1911), ed. 2, 257 (1911), Man. 627 (1925). Althaea assurgen- 

 tiflora Ktze. Eev. Gen. PL 1:66 (1891). Saviniona assurgentiflora Greene, Lflts. 2:163 (1911). 

 S. Clementina Greene, I.e. 2:160 (1911), type loc. San Clemente Isl., Trash. S. reticulata Greene, 

 I.e. 161, type loc. Santa Catalina Isl., Trash. S. dendroidea Greene, I.e., type loc. San Miguel Isl., 

 Greene. S. suspensa Greene, I.e. 162, type loc. San Diego, Vasey. 



3. MALVA L. Mallow 

 Ours annuals or biennials. Involucre of 3 distinct bractlets, inserted on the 

 base of the calyx. Calyx cleft to the middle into 5 broad lobes. Petals whitish or 

 rose-color, obcordate or emarginate. Style-branches 7 to 10, subulate. Fruit cir- 

 cular and flattish, splitting up when ripe into about 6 to 15 carpels or nutlets. 

 Nutlets round-reniform, 1-seeded. — Species 25, Europe, Asia and Africa. (Greek 

 malache, soft, on account of the emollient properties.) 

 Petals much surpassing the calyx ; calyx-lobes mostly closed over the mature fruit. 



Carpels not reticulate or only obscurely, hirsutulous on back, the margins rounded 



1. M. rotundifolia. 

 Carpels rugose-reticulate on back, glabrate at maturity, the margins sharply angled and 



entire or obscurely denticulate 2. M. nicaeensis. 



Petals equaling or slightly longer than the calyx ; carpels rugose-reticulate and thinly pubescent 

 on back, the margins narrowly winged and denticulate ; calyx -lobes spreading or erect.... 



3. M. parviflora. 



1. M. rotundifolia L. Dwarf Mallow. Stems slender, procumbent, 1 to 2 

 feet long, from a large deep root; herbage sparsely hirsute or hirsutulous, or the 



