WASTES AND WAYSIDES IN SUMMER 



155 



common by waysides and on waste ground. They are all interesting 



plants, with large, regular, attractive flowers ; and stipuled leaves 



which are palmately lobed and veined. The flowers have five 



sepals and five petals, the latter being very curiously twisted in the 



bud. The stamens, five in number, are freely branched, and are 



also raised on a tubular structure as the flower matures, so that 



they appear Uke a large 



number of stamens with 



united filaments. The 



ovary consists of many 



carpels, with as many 



styles ; and the fruit 



splits into a number of 



one-seeded parts 



arranged radially. 



The Common Mallow 

 {Malva sylvestris) is a 

 strong, erect, downy 

 plant, from two to three 

 feet high, with branched 

 stem. The flowers are 

 axillary, large and 

 showy, of a pale purple 

 or a lilac colour, marked 

 with crimson veins ; and 

 the fruit is smooth. 



The Dwarf Mallow 

 {M . rotundi folia) is about 

 as common, and grows 

 in similar situations, but 



it is a smaUer plant, with prostrate stems from six inches to a foot 

 long. The leaves are cordate or almost round, divided into five or 

 seven shallow, crenate lobes. The flowers are smaller than those 

 of M. sylvestris, being generally less than an inch in diameter, 

 of a pale lilac colour ; and the fruit is hairy. Both species 

 flower from June to September. 



It is interesting to note that these two flowers, which frequently 

 grow together on the same waste ground, and consequently have 

 to compete with one another in the general struggle for existence, 

 are polhnated in totally dift'erent ways, the one {31. sylvestris) by 

 the aid of insects, and the other {M. rotundifolia) probably almost 



THE DEPTFORD PIXK. 



