34 MALVACEAE. [Urena. 



pels 5, in a ring round the axis, 1 -ovulate, and indehiscent. Style-branches 

 10. Stigmas terminal. Seed erect. — Herbs or undershrubs, usually tomen- 

 tose. Flowers yellow or pink, sessile or nearly so, and usually clustered. 

 Carpels more or less echinate, with hooked bristles or prickles. 



A small genus, dispersed over the tropical regions of the Old and the New World. 



Leaves orbicular, toothed or broadly lobed . . 1. TJ. lobata. 



Leaves deeply 3- or 5-lobed, the middle lobe narrowed at the base . . . 2. TJ. sinuata. 



1. TJ. lobata, Linn.; DC. Prod. i. 441 ; Bot. Mag. t. 3043. A hard 

 erect herb, 2 to 3 ft. high, covered on the stems and under side of the leaves 

 with a whitish close stellate tomentum, green on the upper side of the leaves. 

 Leaves stalked, nearly orbicular, palmately 3- to 7-veined, toothed, angular or 

 broadly and shortly lobed, the upper ones much narrower, usually oblong or 

 lanceolate. Flowers small, pink, in almost sessile clusters in the upper axils, 

 or the upper ones forming an irregular leafy raceme. 



Hongkong, Champion. Common in India. 



2. U. sinuata, Linn. ; DC. Prod. i. 442. The habit and most of the 

 characters are the same as in TJ. lobata, of which it is by some considered as a 

 variety. The chief difference consists in the leaves being divided into 3 or 5 

 lobes by deep sinuses ; the lobes all obovoid or rhomboidal, the terminal one 

 much contracted at the base. 



Gathered in Hongkong by Champion, with the last species, which it frequently accompa- 

 nies over nearly the whole of its area. 



5. HIBISCUS, Linn. 



Bracteoles round the calyx several, either free or more or less united into 

 a lobed or toothed involucre. Calyx 5-lobed or 5 -toothed. Staminal column 

 bearing several short filaments below the summit. Carpels 5, with several 

 ovules in each, united into a single 5-celled ovary. Style 5-lobed at the top, 

 or nearly entire, with terminal stigmas. Capsule loculicidally opening in 5 

 valves. — Herbs, shrubs, or trees. Flowers often large and showy. 



A considerable genus, widely spread over the warm regions of the globe. Several species 

 of what are considered as the more typical forms of the genus may be met with in Hongkong 

 Gardens, as for example : H. Rosa- sinensis, H. mutabilis, etc. The two following belong 

 respectively to the sections Jbelmoschus and Paritium, which are considered by some bota- 

 nists as distinct genera. 



Hispid annual. Bracteoles free. Calyx split longitudinally . . . 1. H. Jbelmoschus. 

 Tree. Bracteoles united into a 10- to 12-lobed involucre. Calyx not split 2. H. tiliaceus. 



1. H. Abelmoschus, Linn.; DC. Prod. i. 452. An erect annual, about 

 2 feet high, hispid with stiff hairs, which are reflexed on the stem and petioles, 

 nearly appressed on the leaves. Leaves on long petioles, vaiying from cor- 

 date or slightly hastate and 3 -lobed, to deeply divided into 5 or 7 spreading 

 lobes, green on both sides, 2 to 3 in. long. Peduncles axillary, 1 to 1| in. 

 long. Flowers solitary, large, yellow, with a crimson eye. Involucral bracts 

 about 10 or 12, linear, hispid, shorter than the calyx. Calyx above an inch 

 long, shortly 3- to 5 -toothed, but splitting open on one side to the base and 

 falling off with the petals, which are above 3 in. long. Capsule oblong, his- 

 pid, 1£ in. hng.^—Jdelmoschfts moschatns, Mcench ; W. and Arn. Prod. Fl. 

 Penins. i. 53 ; Wight, Ic. t. 399. 



