768 MALVACEAE 



7. MALVASTRTTM A. Gray. 



Annual or perennial herbs, or shrubby plants, with pubescent foliage. Leaves alter- 

 nate : blades various, narrow or broad, entire, lobed or parted. Involucels of 1-3 small 

 bractlets, or wanting. F lowers perfect, axillary or in terminal spike-like racemes. Sepals 

 5, partially united. Petals 5, yellow, golden or scarlet, distinct. Carpels 5 or more, 1- 

 celled. Styles filiform or club-shaped. Stigmas truncate or capitate. Ovule solitary, 

 ascending. Mature carpels sometimes with erect converging beaks, indehiscent or 2-valved. 

 Seed filling the cavity. FALSE MALLOW. 



Annual. 1. M. angustum. 



Perennial. 



Petals yellow. 



Stems clothed with appressed or spreading hairs. 



Flowers solitary in the axils or in terminal interrupted spikes or spike-like 



racemes : stems strigose. 



Carpels 15, sometimes with an obscure tip behind the apex. 2. M. Rugelii. 



Carpels 8-12, beaked behind the apex. 3. M. Americanum* 



Flowers in congested terminal and axillary spikes : stems hirsute. 4. M. spicatum. 



Stems clothed with very short scale-like stellate hairs. 5. M. Wrightii. 



Petals red or crimson. 



Upper leaves with entire blades. 6. M. leptophyllum. 



Upper leaves with 3-5-lobed blades. 7. M. coccineum. 



1. Malvastrum angustum A. Gray. Annual, strigose. Stems erect, 1-3 dm. tall, 

 simple or with ascending branches : leaf-blades oblong-lanceolate to linear-oblong, 2-4 cm. 

 long, remotely serrate with appressed or flaring teeth : petioles much shorter than the 

 blades : flowers axillary : pedicels longer than the petioles or shorter : bractlets of the in- 

 volucels linear-setaceous : calyx accrescent ; tube angled ; lobes broadly triangular, acu- 

 minate : petals yellow, about equalling the tips of the calyx-lobes : carpels 5-6, finely 

 pubescent, reniform, finally 2-valved. 



In dry soil, Iowa to Tennessee and Kansas. Summer. 



2. Malvastrum Rugelii S. Wats. Perennial, strigose or hirsute-strigillose. Stems 

 erect or decumbent, 3-9 dm. long, branching : leaf-blades ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 2-6- 

 cm. long, usually acute, coarsely serrate, often broadly cuneate at the base : petioles as 

 long as the blades or usually shorter : flowers on short axillary pedicels and crowded at the 

 ends of the branches : calyx accrescent ; lobes triangular-ovate, acuminate, 3-5 mm. long, 

 surpassing the tube in length : petals orange- yellow, surpassing the calyx-lobes : carpels 

 about 15, hispidulous, flattened, often with an obscure tip behind the inflexed apex. 



In sand, peninsular Florida. Also in the West Indies. 



3. Malvastrum Americanum ( L. ) Torr. Perennial, or sometimes annual northward, 

 strigose with simple or 2-3-rayed hairs. Stems 3-9 dm. tall, branched : leaf-blades orbicular- 

 ovate to oblong-ovate, 2-8 cm. long, acute, sharply serrate, the teeth often flaring : petioles 

 -J as long as the blades : flowers axillary : pedicels usually solitary, shorter than the 

 petioles : involucels of three bractlets : calyx accrescent ; lobes triangular, acute, longer 

 than the tube : petals light yellow, obliquely truncate, surpassing the sepals, expanding 

 about noon : carpels 8-12, conduplicate, hirsute on the top, with a beak back of the inflexed 

 apex and 2 beaks on the back. 



In sandy soil, Texas and Florida. Also in tropical America and on other tropical shores. Spring 

 and summer. 



4. Malvastrum spicatum (L. ) A. Gray. Perennial, rough-pubescent. Stems erect 

 or ascending, 3-9 dm. tall, more or less branched : leaf-blades ovate or deltoid-ovate, 3-8 

 cm. long, obtuse or acutish, crenate-serrate, sometimes slightly lobed, nearly truncate or 

 subcordate at the base : petioles J-J as long as the blades : flowers in dense terminal spikes : 

 calyx densely pubescent ; lobes triangular-lanceolate, acuminate, 3.5-4 mm. long: petals 

 yellow-red, 8-11 mm. long : carpels conduplicate, 3 mm. long, hirsute on top, not beaked, 

 the tip inflexed. 



In sandy soil, Texas and Florida. Also in tropical America. 



5. Malvastrum Wrightii A. Gray. Perennial, scaly pubescent. Stems branching, 

 the branches ascending, 8-6 dm. tall, rigid : leaf-blades suborbicular to ovate or ovate-ob- 

 long, obtuse, coarsely crenate-serrate, rounded or subcordate at the base : petioles \ as long 

 as the blades or equalling them in length: involucels of foliaceous ovate or lanceolate 

 sometimes cordate bractlets, adnate to the calyx-tube : flowers nearly sessile in the axils : 

 calyx densely scaly; lobes triangular-ovate, 5-7 mm. long, acuminate, longer than the 

 tube : petals yellow, 11-14 mm. long : carpels 15-20, hirsute on top, and there also 2-gib- 

 bous, ventrally 2-pointed. 



In dry soil, usually in mesquite thickets, Texas. Summer. 



