MAL 



M A t 



are hoilowcd in, and the two corners rise 

 like horns, ending in a. slurp thorn, as do also 

 the indentures on the sides : the Hovers come 

 out from the side of the branches, upon pedun- 

 cles an inch long, each posiaining one small 

 yvxlc blueish flower : the fruit is small, conical, 

 furrowed, changing to a purple red colour when 

 ripe, his found in the West-Indies. 



Culture. — These plants may be increased by 

 sowingthe seeds in the upriag, in pots of light rich 

 earth, and plunging them in a hot-bed. When 

 the plants have attained a few inches in growth 

 they should be planted out into separate small 

 pots, re -plunging them in a bark hot-bed in the 

 stove, w here thc\ should remain, the two first 

 winters, being afterwards placed in a dry stove, 

 and kept in a moderate warmth, water being 

 occasionally given in small quantities. 



Thev afford ornament among collections of 

 plants of similar kind-. 



MALVA, a genus containing plants of the 

 herbaceous, annual, biennial, perennial, and 

 shrubby kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Monadclpflia 

 Polyandria, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Colummferee. 



The characters arc : that the calyx is a double 

 pcri.uithium : outer three-leaved, narrower : 

 leaflets cordate, acute, permanent : inner one- 

 leafed, half-five-cleft, larger, broader, perma- 

 nent : the corolla has live obcordate petals, 

 pnemorse, flat, fixed to the tube of the stamens 

 at the base: the stamina haVc numerous fila- 

 ments, united below into a tube, seceding and 

 loose at the top and surface of it : anthers 

 kidney- form: the pistillum is an orbicular 

 germ : style cvlindric, short : stigmas very 

 many, bris ly, the length of the style: the pe- 

 ricarpium is a roundish capsule, composed of 

 very many cells, (;:s many as there are stigmas,) 

 two-valved, placed in a whorl about a colum- 

 nar receptacle, finally falling : the seeds arc 

 solitary, very seldom two or three, kidney- 

 form . 



The species cultivated arc: I. T\I. spicata, 

 Spiked Mallow ; e. -V. Americana, Ameri- 

 can Mallow ; 3. Mil Peruviana , Peruvian Mal- 

 low : 4. M. Carol'miana, Creeping Mallow : 

 5. M. Orient a IU, Oriental Mallow : 6. M. ver- 

 ticillata, Whorl -flowered Mallow ; 7- M. 

 erispa, Curled Mallow ; 8. M. Mgyptia, Pal- 

 mated Mallow ; o. M. ..'Ik a, Vervain Mal- 

 low; 10. M. mosc/iala, Musk Mallow; 11. 

 M. Capensis, Gooseberry-leaved or Cape Mal- 

 low. 



The first has the stem pale-green, two or three 

 feet high, and branched : the leaves are almost 

 round, an inch and quarter long, and three 



quarters of an inch broad at the base, pale- 

 green, smooth, on petioles three quarters of an 



inch in length : the tops of the twigs and 

 branches, for the length of an inch, are thick 

 set, in a spike with orange-coloured Rowers, in 

 very hirsute calyxes. It is a native of Jamaica, 

 flowering in September and October. 



The second has an annual root : the stem is 

 a foot his.'i, stiff, round, somewhat hairy: 

 branches 4 lew, short, upright, from the lowe 

 axils : the leaves scarcely fomentose : pedun- 

 cles axillary, upright, solitary, one-flowered : 

 the spike terminating, with many sessile flow- 

 ers, expanding after noon : the corolla yellow. 

 It is a native of North America, flowering in 

 June and July. 



The third is also an annual plant : the stem 

 from two to three feet high, with hairs thinly 

 scattered over it, usually in pairs : the haves 

 seten-lobed, (five or three) plaited, smooth, 

 veined, sharply serrate, on petioles the length 

 of the leaf: the stipules ovate-lanceolate: the 

 peduncles long, naked : the spike directed to 

 one side, turned upwards, recurved before the 

 flowers open: the corollas small, purple. Ac- 

 cording to Jacquin, the flowers arc red : but 

 others say, pale blue, and set very closely on 

 the spikes, appearing in June. It grows 

 naturally in Peru. 



The fourth has an annual root : the stems 

 creeping, eighteen inches and longer, round, 

 putting out roots at the lower joints, hairy : 

 the leaves villose, soft; those next the root large, 

 roundish, gash-serrate, smaller and more 

 deeply divided as they ascend, five-lobed and 

 scven-lobed, all on long hairy petioles, dashed 

 and serrate on the edge: the flowers are axillary 

 and terminating, on almost upright peduncles, 

 from an inch to an inch and half m length, 

 small, the colour of Burgundv wine : the claws 

 of a darker red. It is a native of Carolina. 



The fifth species is an annual plant, with an 

 upright stalk : the flowers arc large, and of a soft 

 i\d-eoloiir. According to Martyn, the stalk is 

 six feet or more in height, and the flowers 

 not purple, but dark red, with the veins so 

 dark as to be almost black. It was found in the 

 Levant. 



The sixth has the root annual, ihree feet 

 high : the leaves cordate, five- or seven-angled, 

 subcrcnatc, smooth, on long alternate petioles : 

 the flowers are whitish red, small, on one-flow- 

 ered peduncles. It is a native of China, and 

 Cochmchina, flowering in June ami July, 



The seventh species is also annual : the stem 

 upright, four or five feet high : the leaves curled 

 on their edges : the stem thick, round, green, 

 hirsute below, branched, from three to four 



a 



