MALVACEAE. 45 



Species under 20, in temperate regions of the Old World 

 some widely distributed as weeds. 



Malva verticcllata Linn. ; F.B.I, i 320, III i ; Mallow. 

 Stem branched 2 to 4 feet. Leaf-stalk 2 to 7 inches : blade 

 as long and nearly as broad, with five large lobes, and 

 crenate margin. Flowers nearly sessile in dense clusters 

 at the nodes. Petals notched, slightly longer than the 

 sepals. Carpels ten to twelve, enclosed within the 

 calyx, accrescent netted at the sides, prominently ribbed 

 at the back. 



Pulneys : near Gundan shola above Kodaikanal. Bourne 

 1623. 



Gen. Dist, Europe to Abyssinia and China. Himalayas. Nilgiris. 



MODIOLA. 26 IV.* 



Fruit schizocarpic, each carpel with two seeds separa- 

 ted by a horizontal partition ; epicalyx of three bracteoles. 



One species only, a native of North and South America, 

 but found also in South Africa. 



Closely allied to abutilon, and the fruit in general appearance so like 

 one of that genus that it may easily be mistaken for it ; but the carpels in 

 ABUTILON are not divided by a horizontal partition. 



Modiola caroliniana Linn. ; IV * I. A small herb with 

 green prostrate stems and branches matted close to the 

 ground; and covered with numerous large stellate hairs. 

 Leaf-stalks Vz to ij^ inches ; blades deeply three-fid, 

 segments again cut in more than one series (very like 

 Ranunculus diffusus, DC), nearly glabrous ; stipules J^ 

 inch. Flowers red, solitary in the leaf-axils ; stalk jointed 

 one-third from the top hairy like the branches. Epicalyx 

 of three lanceolate, acute, bracteoles. Calyx five-fid, the 

 lobes triangular, acute, three-veined, with simple hairs on 

 thick bases along the veins. Petals pink, J^ inch hardly 

 longer than the sepals. Staminal tube branching at the 

 end only into anther-bearing filaments, and not continued 



