Malvastrum.) MALVACEAE. 43 
ommon weed along sata and in cultivated fields, of European origin, but 
Ac 
naturalized in the United Stat 
2. MALVASTRUM, Gray. 
Involucral bracts 3—1, or none. Staminal tube ending in filaments. 
Carpels 5 or more, separating from the axis as closed nuts or 2-valved 
nal 
carpids. Style-branches as many as carpels, with terminal stigmas. 
Seed single, ascending. — Herbs or undershrubs. Flowers small, yellow 
or red 
About 60 species, belonging to the American continent and to South Africa. 
Ties ee Gray, Pl. Wright. I, 16, —- Bot. U. 8. E. Ex, 
p. 148. — An erect annual or perennial, 2—3 igh, the eliiebes 
sprinkled eae spree coarse hairs. Lomres seth to lanceolate, penni- 
nerved, 1!/2—2‘  1/2—1!/2‘, on petioles of 1/2—1‘, bluntly serrate, hairy. 
Flowers few, in Se orinkeas on pedicels of 2—3“, crowded toward the ends 
of the branches. Involucral bracts 3, subulate to lanceolate, nearly as 
long as the calyx. Calyx 4‘', its lobes ovate, long acuminate. Peta 
exserted, orange. Carpels 8—12, opening by a narrow slit, bristle-haired, 
reniform, with a subterminal and. 2 dorsal projections. — Malva tricus- 
pidata, Ait. — M. Coromandeliana, L. — M. Americana and subhastata, Cav. 
— Sida carpinoides, D 
he most common of all wists, of American origin, but widely scattered over the 
warmer regions of bee obe. 
3. SIDA, L. 
Calyx without involucre, 5-lobed or toothed. Staminal column ending 
Carp pels 5 or more, seceding from the axis when ripe, in- 
eed solitary, 
wien usually ar Re single or fascicled, often in 
terminal racemes. 
A large a hiss apart over the warmer regions of the entire globe. — Nat. name 
of all specie: 
Leaves seas ae 
ipods cuneate at the base; carpids mostly awnless 1, S. rhombifolia. 
arith pteagureeien t the pase ; carpids more or less awned when 
gies tomentose; calyx-lobes ovate, not sharp-pointed, the 
median nerve thickened at the b 
Carpids with shor t and broad diverging teeth 2. S. fallax. 
Carpids with 1 ate 3. S. cordifolia. 
Leaves glabrous or with scattering Poi hairs; Aperpsease : 
acuminate, with subulate poin 4. S. Meyeniana. 
long a 
Leaves with 1—3 spinescent tubercles at ne base of the petiole; 
carpids with 2 long subulate beaks and 2 dorsal tubere 
1. S. rhombifolia, L. — DC. Prod. I, — A low shrub, 2—4 ft. 
high, tomentose. Leaves rhomboidal or ec 1-2’ & 4—8", 
5. S. spinosa. 
