CHAP. I.] MALVACEAE. 299 



The petals are also not so even along the mar- 

 gin ; and the carpels are so disposed as to form 

 a cone-shaped capsule, instead of a flat one. 



The genus Lavatera has the leaflets of the 

 involucre joined to the middle, so as to form a 

 kind of three-cornered saucer below the capsule ; 

 and the capsule itself is completely covered with 

 a part of the receptacle, which is dilated, and 

 curved down over it. Lastly, the genus Althaea, 

 the Marsh ^Mallow, has the involucrum cleft into 

 six or nine divisions, and the carpels united into 

 a globular capsule. The Hollyhock (A. rosea) 

 belongs to this genus. Many other genera 

 might be mentioned, but these will suffice to 

 give my readers a general idea of the order, 

 and of the points of diff*erence which distinguish 

 one genus from another. Among the exotic 

 plants belonging to the order is the cotton tree 

 {Gossypmm herhaccum), the cotton being the 

 woolly matter which envelops the seeds in the 

 capsule. All the Malvaceae abound in mucilage, 

 and they all have woody fibre in their stems. 



ORDER XXIX.— BOMBACEiE._TnE SILK COTTON 

 TREE TRIBE. 



This order is closely allied to Malvaceae, and 

 it diff'ers principally in the tube formed by the 

 stamens being divided into five bundles near the 

 top. It includes the Baobab, or Monkey-bread 



