XXV. MALTACE.^:. 89 



Teibe II. URENE.ffi. Staininal-tube antheriferous outside, truncate 

 or 5-toothed at the apex. Branches o£ the style twice as many as the 

 carpels. Eipe carpels separating from the axis. Pollen globose, 

 echinulate. 



Invol. bracts 4, large, leafy ; flowers densely iuvolucrato-capitate. 6. MALACiniA. 

 luvol. bracts 5 or more. 



Ripe carpels glocliidiate 7. Urena. 



Ripe carpels 1-3-aristate or naked, not glochidiate 8. Pavonia. 



Tribe III. HIBISCEiE. 8tarainal-tube antheriferous outside, trun- 

 cate or 5-toothed at the apex (very rarely antheriferous). Branches of 

 the style as many as the cells of the ovary. Eruit capsular, loeulicidally 

 dehiscent ; carpels not separating. Pollen globose, echinulate. 



Branches of the style at length spreading ; seeds reniforin. 



Invol. bracts 10 ; ovary 10-celled 9. Decaschistia. 



Invol. bracts 3, large, cordate 10. Senra. 



Invol. bracts 5 or more ; ovary 5-celled 11. Hibiscus. 



Branches of tlie style coherent into a club-shaped mass ; seeds 

 obovoid or angled. 



Invol. bracts 3-5, SI Qall 12. Tuespesia. 



Invol. bracts 3, large, leafy 13. Gossypium. 



Tribe IV. (or Suborder) BOMBACE.ffi. Staminal-tube divided at 

 the apex (rarely to the base) into numerous 1-antheriferous or 5-8, 

 2-ao -antheriferous branches. Style entire or divided into as many very 

 short branches as there are cells to the ovary. Capsule loeulicidally 

 dehiscent or indehiscent. Pollen smooth. 



Calyx 5-cleft 14. Adansonia. 



Calyx truncate or irregularly 3-5-lobed. 



Branches of the staminal-tube 1-antheriferous 15. Boaibax. 



Branches of the stamiual-tube 2-3-antheriferous 16. Eriodendron. 



1. ALTH-ffiA, Linn. 



Herbs pubescent or villous. Leaves lobed or partite. Flowers axil- 

 lary, solitary or clustered, or arranged in a terminal raceme. Involucral 

 bracts 6-9, connate at the base. Staminal-tube divided to the apex into 

 numerous antlieriferous linear filaments. Ovary many- (more than 5-) 

 celled ; ovule 1 in each cell ; styles as many as the carpels, longitudinally 

 stlgmatose ou the inside. Carpels forming a round depressed fruit, 

 separating from each other and from the short central axis. — Disteib. 

 Temperate regions of tlie Old World ; species 32. 



1. Althaea Ludwigii, Linn. Mantiss. (1767) p. 98. A prostrate, 

 hairy annual, branched from the base. Leaves I-I5 in. in diam., 

 orbicular, deeply 5-7-lobed ; lobes cuneate, 3-5-fid at the apex ; petioles 

 2-4 in. long, slender. Flowers axillary, 3-1 together ; pedicels |-1 in, 

 long. Involucral bracts 7-9, linear, as long as the calyx, hispid with 

 long white and stellate hairs. Calyx-lobes 5 in. long, deltoid. Corolla 

 5-| in. in diam., whitish. Anthers round. Fruit ^-h in. in diam. ; 

 carpels 8-9, doubly keeled, not winged, wrinkled at the sides, glabrous. 

 Seeds smooth, brown. Fl. B. I. v. 1, p. 319 ; E. Bak. in Journ. Bot. v. 

 28 (Lond. 1890) p. 140; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. ]1 (1897) 

 p. 126. Mahva Mahvensis, Edgew. in Hook. Journ. Bot. v. 2 (1840) 

 p. 284.— Flowers : Mar.-July. 



