148 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 



flowers drooping, red, yellow or white ; j^etals strongly veined ; sta- 

 men-tube and styles long exserted. A common garden and green- 

 house shrub. 



VI. MODIOLA. 



Annual or biennial ; stems prostrate, diffuse, often rooting 

 at the joints ; leaves cleft or divided ; flowers axillary, pedun- 

 cled, red; involucel 3-leaved, persistent; anthers at the top 

 of the column ; carpels 15-20, transversely 2-celled, with 1 

 ovule in each cell, beak spine-like, the carpels finally sepa- 

 rating from each other and from the axis. 



M. Caroliniana Don. Bristly Mallow. Stem pubescent or 

 hirsute, widely branched, 1-2 ft. long; leaves long-petioled, deeply 

 5-7-i3arted, the divisions lobed or toothed ; peduncles finally becom- 

 ing longer than the petioles ; petals about the length of the sepals ; 

 carj^els hispid and prickly along the back. June-September. Waste 

 places. • 



VII. HIBISCUS. 



Herbs or shrubs ; stem erect ; leaves dentate, lobed or 

 divided ; involucel of many persistent bracts ; flowers showy, 

 on axillary peduncles ; filaments united to form a 5-toothed 

 tube which bears the anthers below the summit ; stigmas 5 ; 

 ovary 5-celled, many-seeded. 



1. H. AcuLEATus Walt. Sw'Amp Hibiscus. Perennial herbs; 

 stems erect, rough-hispid, branched above, 3-6 ft. high ; lower leaves 

 cordate, 3-5-lobed, lobes toothed ; upper leaves narrower and nearly 

 entire ; leaves of the involucel forked; flowers 3-4 in. wide, on short 

 axillary peduncles ; petals yellow with a purple base ; capsule pubes- 

 cent, seeds smooth. June-August. Margins of swamps. 



2. H. MiLiTARis Cav. Halberd-leaved Mallow . Perennial ; 

 stem erect, smooth, 2-4 ft. high ; leaves long-petioled, thin, acumi- 

 nate at the apex, cordate at the base, crenate, many of the lower 

 ones hastate-lobed ; stipules deciduous; leaves of the involucel not 

 forked; peduncles shorter than the petioles; flowers pale rose-color 

 with a darker center, 2-3 in. long; calyx enlarged in fruit, enclosing 

 the ovoid capsule, seeds silky. June-September. Along streams 

 and on wet soil. [Among the cultivated plants belonging to this 

 genus are H. Syriacus, the Shrubby Althea, and H. esculentus, 

 the garden Okra. Cotton belongs to the nearly related genus 



GOSSYPIUM.] 



