——— —~ = 
win a 
mn we y HE paltry half-dozen of species 
f which represents the large and 
/ beautiful family of Mallows in this 
country form an interesting group 
in various ways: the native 
species have long enjoyed high 
reputation in rustic medicine, and the exotics yield 
valuable fibres, cotton, and our garden Hollyhocks. 
Yet it is not with these things, but rather with the 
beauty and arrangements of the flowers, that we are at 
present concerned. In general the leaves are as broad 
as long, variously lobed, angled and toothed; they are 
alternate in their arrangement on the stem, and start 
life with stipules, but these are thrown off at an early 
date. The calyx is partially cut into five pieces—or 
more correctly, the five sepals are joined except at 
their upper parts,—but there is a second or false calyx 
(epicalyx) formed below the genuine onc by three or 
more little bracts, and it is on the character of these 
that the divisions of the family depend. 
There are five petals which adhere at their base to 
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