MALLOW FAMILY MALVACEAE 
WOOLLY-FRUITED ROSE MALLOW 
Hibiscus lasiocarpos Cav. 
This Rose Mallow is a large perennial herb of low grounds 
and marshy places from Georgia to Texas, extending up the 
Mississippi basin to Kentucky and Missouri, and to southern 
Illinois and Indiana. The 
plant blooms from July to 
Wy (Uke September. 
Y= 
The stems, in clumps of 
Ss 3-20, are 2-5 feet high and 
EW\\ FER downy pubescent, especially 
—————— 2=—=> above. The leaves are broad- 
{os ly or narrowly ovate, toothed 
or 3-7-lobed, soft downy on 
both surfaces and in ad- 
dition bearing jong hairs 
on the upper surface. 
The large flowers are 
white or rose with deep 
crimson eyes. The petals 
are § and the hairy calyx 
§ Auk s-toothed or cleft. The 
4 (/ Gas bractlets of the involucel 
Ne po) LL are narrow and as long as 
os incl | the calyx or shorter, and 
i | fringed with long marginal 
hairs. The short cylindric 
capsule is densely stiff hairy and opens by 5 valves so that the 
many small, brown and nearly smooth seeds are shaken out by 
the wind. 
More rarely found in swamps and along streams of the state is 
the Swamp Rose Mallow, Hibiscus Moscheutos L. This is likewise 
a perennial herb with numerous canelike stems 5-6 feet high. The 
flowers, produced from July to August, are much like those of the. 
woolly-fruited species, may be 7 inches across and varying from 
white through several shades of pink, but are usually rose. The 
column bears anthers a considerable portion of its length, and the 
pollen may be white or yellow. The style divides into 5 short 
branches, each bearing a large stigma. The smooth or sparingly 
aoe fruit is a capsule with several to many seeds in each of its 
; cells. 
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