MALVACEAE | 317 
numerous, free above. Carpels 5 or more, the ripe ones separating from 
the axis and pointed, or more usually 2-awned at the summit. (A Greek 
plant name.) 
Species 80 or more, of wide tropical distribution, most of them weeds, 
about 9 in the Philippines. 
1. A slender, prostrate, spreading herbaceous plant................ 1. S. javensis 
1. Erect branched undershrubs or suffrutescent herbs. 
2. Leaves cordate at the base; plant glutinous-pubescent or velvety- 
pubescent with long hairs intermixed. 
8. Carpels smooth, awnless or nearly so; a rank-smelling, glutinous- 
pubescent: Penk eo bcs scot A Ak ion 2. S. mysorensis 
8. Carpels prominently rugose, long-awned, velvety-pubescent with 
infermimad Some) TG Seis sisees i). EE ncn ad 3. S. cordifolia 
2. Leaves not cordate; plants stellate-pubescent or nearly glabrous. 
3. Leaves lanceolate, acuminate, green on both surfaces, nearly gla- 
brous; pedicels not or but little longer than the flowers.. 4. S. acuta 
8. Leaves not lanceolate, obtuse, retuse, or acute, pale beneath. 
4. Leaves oblong to rhomboid, acute or rounded; pedicels elongated; 
carpels usually not beaked.........-..........-..2..---0-++ 5. S. rhombifolia 
4. Leaves obovate-oblong to obovate, base cuneate, apex retuse, trun- 
cate, or rounded; pedicels short; carpels beaked........ 6. S. retusa 
1. S. JAVENSIS Cav. Colotang-baguing (Tag.). 
A trailing herbaceous plant, the stems up to 60 cm in length, with 
scattered stellate hairs or nearly glabrous. Leaves orbicular-ovate, 2 to 
7 cm long, acute or slightly acuminate, base prominently cordate, margins 
coarsely toothed, sometimes obscurely lobed. Peduncles axillary, solitary, 
elongated, jointed in the middle. Calyx green, about 5 mm long, the 
segments triangular, acute or acuminate. Corolla yellow, about 7 mm in 
diameter. Carpels 5, each 2-awned at the apex, the awns slender, nearly 
as long as the carpels. 
In thickets, roadsides etc., fl. Oct—March; widely distributed in the 
Philippines, and certainly not indigenous. India and Malaya, perhaps in 
other tropical countries. 
2. S. MYSORENSIS Wight. & Arn. Marbas, Marabas, Marbas-gubat (Tag., 
corr. Sp. malvas=mallow). 
An erect, branched, rank-smelling, glutinous-pubescent herb 0.3 to 1 m 
high. Leaves broadly ovate, cordate, acuminate, crenate, 5 to 8 cm long, 
the upper ones usually much reduced and oblong to oblong-ovate. Flowers 
axillary, solitary or in pairs, slenderly pedicelled. Calyx green, pubescent. 
Corolla yellow, about 1 cm in diameter. Carpels 5, about 2.5 mm long, not 
reticulate, obtuse, scarcely or not at all awned. 
In thickets and fallow lands, La Loma, San Pedro Macati, etc., fl. Oct.— 
Mar.; widely distributed in Luzon, and certainly not indigenous. India and 
Ceylon. 
3. S. CORDIFOLIA L. 
An erect suffrutescent herb 0.4 to 1 m high, densely pubescent and with 
intermixed, long, spreading hairs. Leaves ovate, 1.5 to 4.5 cm long, obtuse, 
cordate at the base, prominently dentate-serrate, densely pubescent on both 
surfaces. Flowers yellow, axillary, often crowded on the younger branches 
forming leafy racemes, the calyx densely pubescent. Carpels prominently 
rugose, the awns about as long as the carpels. 
