622 



MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Fig. 350. Jute Plant (.Cor chorus capsularis). A valuable fiber 

 plant from the East Indies. (From American Agriculturist.) 



oil is manufactured from Sterculia foetida. The Abroma augusta yields a nne 

 fiber. 



To the family Elaeocarpaceae of the same order belongs the Echinocarpus 

 Sigun, a poisonous plant which contains hydrocyanic acid. Several members 

 of this family are economic plants. The maqui fruit is obtained from Aris!o- 

 telia Macqui, native to Chili. The seeds of Slocmea dentata are eaten like 

 chestnuts. The seeds of Muntingia are edible. 



MALVACEAE. Mallow Family 



Herbs, shrubs, or, in tropical countries, trees, with mucilaginous properties, 

 tough fibrous bark and stems ; leaves alternate and small ; stipules small, decid- 

 uous ; flowers regular and generally perfect ; sepals 5, usually more or less 

 united ; petals 5, hypogynous ; stamens numerous, monadelphous, several-celled : 

 pistils several; styles united, projecting beyond the stamens above; ovary sev- 

 eral celled; seeds nearly exalbuminous ; embryo curved. A family of about 800 

 species of wide distribution and of great economic importance. The cotton 

 plant is the most important member of the family and comprises several species, 

 the most important in the United States being Gossypium herbaceum, which 



