98 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



be found to be the result of being drawn up from want of 

 air and light, or some other disturbing cause, as it is on the 

 average a decidedly smaller plant than the commoner species. 

 The leaves vary a good deal in form according to their 

 position on the plant. The lower leaves are reniform and 

 divided into five or seven broad lobes that do not penetrate 

 very deeply into the body of the leaf ; those on the stem, 

 on the contrary, are very deeply divided, and the segments 

 are themselves narrow and much cut into and subdivided, a 

 feature that at once serves to distinguish this from our 

 other indigenous species. The flowers are large, and the 

 form of the petals is rather peculiar, appearing almost 

 as though the end of each had been bitten off in a some- 

 what ragged and deeply curved line. The colour is a 

 delicate pink, varying at times to pure white. The blossoms 

 spring either singly or in pairs from the axils of the leaves, 

 but occur almost entirely at or near the ends of the stems, 

 so that the general effect produced is that of a stem clothed 

 with graceful and finely-cut bright green foliage, and 

 crowned with a mass of large rose-coloured blossoms. The 

 involucral bracts on the exterior of the calyx are very 

 narrow in proportion to their length. The musk-mallow is 

 the Malva moschata of the botanist. It owes its name to 

 a slightly musky smell that is perceptible when the leaves 

 are passed through the hand ; the odour is very slight, how- 

 ever, and suggests but little of the fragrance of the plant 

 after which it is called. The plant may be found in flower 

 during July and August, and should be looked for in pasture- 

 land and roadside wastes and hedgerows. Its masses of 

 delicate pink blossoms, and their large size, are sufficient to 

 make it very conspicuous, but it is much more commonly 

 found in some districts than others. 



