Malachra.] xxvi. MALVACE^;. (Maxwell T. Masters.) 329 



5* MAIjACXXRA, Linn. 



Herbs. Leaves angled. Flowers in dense heads, usually intermixed with 

 bracteoles. Sepals 5, forming below the middle a cup-like tube. Petals 5, 

 coherent below, arid connate at the base with the tube of the stamens. 

 Staminal-tube truncate or 5-toothed, filaments numerous. Carpels 5, 

 1-ovuled ; styles 10. Ripe carpels 1-seeded, indehisceift, separating from the 

 axis, smooth. Seeds reniform, ascending. DISTEIB. Species 5 or 6, all Ame- 

 rican but the following, which is widely distributed throughout the tropics. 



M. CAPITATA, L. ; DC. Prodr. i. -440 ; leaves roundish-angled cordate 

 toothed, bracteoles with a white spot at the base. Mast, in Oliv. Fl. Trop. 

 Afr. i. 188. 



Throughout the hotter parts of India from the North West provinces to the Carnatic, 

 probably introduced. DISTKIB. W. tropical Africa, tropical America. 



Annual or perennial, coarsely hairy. Leaves 5-6 in. wide or less ; petiole 4 in. ; 

 stipules linear. Flowers in axillary or terminal heads. Petals yellow or white, longer than 

 the subulate sepals. Fruit subglobose, depressed. It i.s singular that this plant is not 

 mentioned either by Wight or Roxburgh, and that it is not included in Wall. Cat. In 

 WaJlich'a herbarium, however, there are some specimens without numbers, and with 

 no localities assigned, while others are from the Calcutta garden. 



6. TTR32NA, Linri. 



Herbs or undershrubs, more or less covered with rigid stellate hairs. 

 Leaves angled or lobed. Flowers clustered. Bracteoles 5, adnate to the 5-cleft 

 calyx, sometimes coherent at the base into a cup. Petals 5, often tomen- 

 tose at the back, free above, connate below and united to the base of the 

 tube of the stamens. Staminal-tube truncate or minutely toothed. Anthers 

 nearly sessile. Ovary 6-celled, cells 1-ovuled, opposite the petals ; stigmatic 

 branches 10 ; stigmas capitate. Ripe carpels covered with hooked bristles or 

 smooth, indehiscent, separating from the axis when ripe. Seed ascending ; 

 cotyledons bent and folded ; radicle inferior. DISTEJB. Species 4-5, natives 

 of tropical and subtropical countries ; 2 only are confined to Asia. 



* Carpels armed with hooked bristles. 



1. U. lob at a, Linn. ; leaves rounded angled not divided beyond the 

 middle. DC. Prodr. i. 441 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 182 ; W. & A. Prodr. i. 46 ; 

 Wall. Cat. 1928 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 18 ; Thwaites En. 25 ; Miq. Fl. 

 Ind. Bat. i. pt. 2, 148. U. cana, Wall, Cat. 1930 B. U. palmata, Roxb. Fl. 

 Ind. iii. 182. 



Generally distributed over the hotter parts of India. DISTRIB. Tropics of both 

 hemispheres. 



Very variable, herbaceous, more or less hairy. Leaves about 1-2 by 2-3 in., cor- 

 date, 5-7-lobed, lobes acute or obtuse ; nerves 5-7, prominent on the under surface, the 

 three central, or the midrib only provided with a- gland on the under surface ; petiole 

 usually shorter than the blade. Bracteoles oblong-lanceolate, equalling the calyx. 

 FlvwLrs pink. Carpels densely pubescent, echinate. 



VAU 1. scabriusada, DC. Prod. i. 441 (sp.) ; herbaceous, leaves roundish scarcely 

 lobed with 1-3 glands beneath, bracteoles linear longer than the sepals. U. scabrius- 

 cula, Wall. Cat. 1928 F ; W. & A. Prodr. i. 46 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. FL 18. Wight 

 and Arnott doubt this being a distinct species, but Dalzell considers it very distinct. 



2. U. sinuata, Linn. ; DC. Prodr. i. 441 ; leaves divided below the 

 middle into 5 oblong lobes narrowed at the base and often pinnatifid. Roxb. 

 Hort. Beng. 50; Fl. Ind. iii. 182; Wall Cat. 1933 E; W.&A. Prodr. i. 4G; 



