io8 SOUTH AFRICAN FLOWERING PLANTS. 



staminal tube. This must be split open from top to 

 bottom. The fruit is a capsule, and the seeds are 

 downy. It is composed of five carpels, as shown in 

 the diagram. 



In the Mallow the fruit breaks up into separate 

 one-seeded pieces {i.e. the carpels, which remain 

 indehiscent, each tightly covering a seed). 



One of the most ornamental, cultivated species is 

 H. Ro sa-sinen' sis. It forms large shrubs, with usually 

 scarlet flowers. It is a native of China. The flowers 

 are often double, by the numerous stamens being 

 replaced by petals, and these are then multiplied. 

 They have varied much under cultivation, being some- 

 times white or even yellow or purple. The flowers 

 have a juice which turns black, and is used by the 

 Chinese ladies for blackening the hair, and in Java 

 for blacking shoes ; hence it has been called the 

 " Shoe-flower." 



A much more useful member of this family is 

 the cotton plant, of which every seed is covered with 

 long, twisted hairs supplying the cotton of commerce. 

 Some species of Gossyp'mm are natives of Peru, others 

 occur, in India as the tree cotton {G. arhor'eum). Cotton 

 is mentioned once in the Bible, Esther i. 6, where 

 " green " is a mistranslation for " cotton." 



Two genera have no involucre, Si'da and Ahu'tilon. 

 In the former the ovules are solitary, but in the latter 

 there are three or more in each carpel. Some of the 



