Hibiscus 
Syriacus 
G6 ARBORETUM NOTES. 
MALVAGEZR: 
HIBISCUS SYRIACUS, L. 
Loudon, v. 1, 362. 
Several in the arboretum. It is certainly hardy 
here, not requiring special protection even in the 
hardest winter; but it is only in fine and warm 
summers that it flowers well and abundantly, and 
makes a handsome show. This autumn, 1868, it 
bears a considerable abundance of capsules, which 
I have not observed before, but at the beginning of 
October these capsules are not yet ripe. They 
show very well the distinctive character of the 
Hibisceous group of Malvacee; whereas, in the 
mallows proper, the fruit consists of numerous 
distinct though contiguous carpels, falling on 
separately ; here, it is composed of five carpels 
completely united into a five celled capsule, each 
cell containing many seeds arranged in two rows 
along the inner angle. The capsules are above 
twice as long as the calyx; of a shape between 
oviform and pyramidal, clothed with a short dense 
starry down. 
(November, 1871). The capsules, gathered and 
kept in a dry cabinet, opened spontaneously along 
the middle of the back of each carpel : in botanical 
language the dehiscence is loculicidal. 
The shrub has never fruited again since 1868, 
which was a peculiarly warm and dry season. 
(November 1874.) This past season also has 
been a remarkably warm and dry one; yet the 
Hibiscus Syriacus has not fruited. 
