NAT. ORDER. 



Malvacece. 



HIBISCUS ROSEA. SYRIAN ROSE. 



Class XVI. MoNADELPHiA. Order VII. Polyandria. 



Gen. Char. Calyx, double : outer many leaved. Capsules, five- 

 celled, with many seeds. 



8pe. Char. Leaves, sub-peltate, cordate, seven-angled, serrate. 



Stem, hispid. 



The root of this beautiful plant is perennial, fleshy, long, 

 whitish, and furnished with a large number of wire-like fibres : 

 the stem is erect, round, hairy, strong, branched, and rises from 

 two to three feet in height ; the leaves are numerous, oval, divided 

 into five or seven lobes, unequally serrated or notched at the 

 edges, and stand upon long, round, hairy footstalks ; xhejlowers 

 are large and of a beautiful changeable scarlet color, consisting 

 of five petals, which are inversely heart-shaped, sinuated at the 

 apex, of a yellowish pink or scarlet color, painted with veins of a 

 deeper hue, and stand upon slender peduncles, which proceed 

 from the bottom of the leaf-stalks ; the calyx is double ; the outer 

 composed of three, and the inner of five oval pointed hairy seg- 

 ments ; the stamens are numerous, united at the base in a cylin- 

 drical form ; above separate, bending downwards, and furnished 

 with kidney-shaped anthers ; the germen is roundish ; the style is 

 cylindrical, short, and furnished with many filiform stigmas ; the 

 seeds are numerous, of a kidney shape, and covered with a coat, 

 or arillus, which opens inwardly. This plant grows wild in hedges 

 and waste grounds, and flowers from June till September. 



Vol. iii. —46. 



