BOTANY. 189 



(evident in the bud). Fruit stipitate. Perisperra fleshy and thick. Leaves 

 simple. Example : Helicteres. 



Suh-orde?' 3. Stereidiew. Flowers unisexual. Leaves simple or ])almate. 

 Example: Cola. 



There are thirty-four genera and 125 species, none of which are Korth 

 American. Adansonia digitata, the Baobab or Monkey bread of Senegal, is 

 one of the largest of known trees, a diameter of thirty feet having been 

 observed. Adanson incorrectly estimated the age of this individual at 

 5000 years. The height is not in proportion to the diameter. Cheirostemon 

 platanoides is the Mexican Hand plant, so called on account of the five 

 peculiarly curved anthers, resembling claws. The silky hairs of Bombax 

 ceiba, the silk-cotton tree, are used in stuffing cushions. 



' Okdeb 196. Malvace^, the Mallow Family. Sepals five, rarely three or 

 four, more or less cohering at the base, with a valvate aestivation, often 

 bearing an external calyx (epicalyx) or involucre. Petals equal in number 

 to the sepals ; aestivation twisted. Stamens 00, hypogynous, all perfect ; 

 filaments monadelphous or polyadelphous; anthers monothecal, reniform, 

 with transverse dehiscence. Ovary formed by the union of several carpels 

 round a common axis, either distinct or cohering ; styles as many as the 

 carpels, united or free. Fruit capsular or baccate ; carpels one- or many- 

 seeded, sometimes closely united, at other times separate or sejiarable ; 

 dehiscence loculicidal or septicidal. Seeds amphitropal or semi-anatropal ; 

 albumen 0, or in very small quantity ; embryo curved ; cotyledons twisted 

 or doubled. Herbaceous plants, trees, or shrubs, with alternate stipulate 

 leaves, more or less divided, and often with stellate hairs. They are found 

 chiefly in tropical countries and in the warm parts of the Temperate Zone. 



Tribe 1. Malopecp.. Carpels indefinite, crowned together in a five-lobed 

 or amorphous head, uniovulate. Radicle inferior. None North American. 

 Example : Malope. 



Trihe 2. Malmce. Carpels as many as the stigmas (five to twenty or 

 more), uniovulate or pauciovulate, disposed in a ring around a central axis, 

 from which they at length separate. Column antheriferous at the summit. 

 Sub-tribe 1. Eumalvece. Style stigmatose down the inner face. Carpels 

 uniovulate, numerous. Ovule peritropous, ascending. Examples : ^Malva, 

 *Callirrhöe, *Napa?a. Suh-trile 2. Sidece. Stigmas terminal, capitate. 

 Carpels uniovulate. Example : "Sida. Sub-tribe 3. AbutileoB. Carpels 

 three- to nine-ovulate, not bilocellate, somewhat two-valved, scarcely' 

 separating from the axis. Example : *Abutilon. 



Iribe 3. Urenece. Carpels or cells of the ovary half as many as the 

 stigmas (viz. five, the stigmas ten), uniovulate. Radicle inferior. Examples : 

 Urena, *Malachra. 



Tribe 4. Hibiscece. Carpels as many as the stigmas, three to ten (usually 

 five), combined into a loculicidal few- or many-seeded (or rarely indehiscent) 

 capsule; the dissepiments borne on the middle of the valves. Column 

 antheriferous for a great part of its length, naked and five-toothed at the 

 apex. Examples : *Hibiscus, Gossypium, Abelmoschus. 



Lindley enumerates 37 genera with 1000 species. North America has 



189 



