9. MALV.ACE.E. 



37 



'2. M. parviflora, li. Small-floici'rcd MaUoir. An- 

 nual, almost .fflabrous, except for the downy petioles; stem 

 Avith spreading hranclies; leaves like the preceding, Ijut 

 more deeply cordate; flowers small, pink or almost white, 

 in axillary clusters; bracts linear, rising from the base of 

 the calyx: calj^x-lohes broad, ciliate, enlarged and spreading 

 outwards in fruit ; petals scarcely 

 longer than calyx, with glabrous 

 claws ; carpels 8-12, glabrous or 

 downy, sharply wrinkled on 

 back and toothed on the edges, 

 so that the fruit has prickly 

 ridges between the carpels. 



Roadsides and waste places. — 

 Apl. - Xov. — Meditenanean re- 

 gion. 



These two species are much 

 alike and are both commonly 

 called Marsh Malloic in South 

 Australia — a misnomer, as the 

 true Marsh Mallow is a large- 

 flowered European plant belong- 

 ing to another genus of Mai- 

 vacccc (AUhaa officinalis, L.). 



Two biennial Lavateras. with 

 flowers in axillary clusters and 

 mallow-like leaves, have estab- 

 lished themselves more or less. 

 L. nrhoraa, L. (Tree Mallow), is 

 tall, with a somewhat woody base, purple flowers, broad 

 spreading bracts longer than the calyx, and wrinkled car- 

 pels with i-aised edges. L. rrrtica, L., is a smaller plant, 

 Avith pale lilac flowers, oval bracts shorter than the calyx, 

 whose lobes arc abruptly acuminate, carpels almost smooth, 

 rounded across the back and with blunt edges.— Sept. -Oct. — 

 Mediterranean region. 



'2. MoDioLA, Ma^nch. 



(From the Latin inmliolus, the nave of a wheel; alluding to 

 the shape of the fruit.) 

 1. Modiola. muitifida, Ma-nch. Perennial, thinly 

 be-set with stellate hairs ; stems ascending, rooting at the 

 nodes; leaves circular, cut into o-7 crenate lobes; flowers 

 small, red, solitary, on long axillary peduncles; bracts 3, 

 lanceolate, attached to the peduncle ju.st below the calyx, 

 which is villou.5, with triangular lobes; petals slightly ex- 

 ceeding calyx, ciliate on the claw; ovary densely villous; 

 carpels about 20, opening by a slit in the upper half, 

 grooved, villous and 2 awned on the back, glabrous and 

 transversely wrinkled below, divided by an incomplete par- 

 tition int) 2 spurious cells placed one above the other 

 and each containing 1 seed. M. (■aroliiiiaiia . (•. Dnn. 



Malva parviflor-a. 



