THE POLYPETALOUS ORDERS. 395 



folded. Ex. Malva (Mallows), Althaea (Hollyhock), Gossypiurn 

 (Cotton), &c. : a pretty large and important family. Malvaceous 

 plants commonly abound in mucilage, and are entirely destitute of 

 unwholesome qualities. The unripe fruit of Hibiscus esculentus 

 (Okra) is used as an ingredient in soups. Althaea officinalis is the 

 Marsh Mallow of Europe, the Guimauve of the French. The 

 tenacious inner bark of many species is employed for cordage. 

 Cotton is the hairy covering of the seeds of Gossypium : the long 

 and slender tubes, or attenuated cells, collapse and twist spirally 

 as the seed ripens, which renders the substance capable of being 

 spun. Cotton-seed yields a fixed oil in large quantity, which may 

 be used for lamps, &c. Numerous species are cultivated for orna- 

 ment. 



741. Ord, ByttneriaceSB is distinguished from the foregoing by its 

 usually definite stamens, and the two-celled anthers (the cells par- 

 allel), with smooth pollen. The carpels are few and consolidated. 

 A Melochia and a Hermannia are found in Texas. The rest of 

 the order is tropical or subtropical. Chocolate is made of the 

 roasted and comminuted seeds of Theobroma Cacao (a South 

 American tree), mixed with sugar, arnotto, vanilla, and other in- 

 gredients, and pressed into cakes. The roasted integuments of the 

 seeds, also, are used as a substitute for coffee.* 



742. Ord, TiliaceSB (the Linden Family). Trees or shrubby 

 plants, with alternate leaves, furnished with deciduous stipules, and 

 small flowers. Calyx deciduous. Petals sometimes imbricated in 

 aestivation. Disk glandular. Stamens indefinite, often in three to 



* ORD. STERCULIACE^E, very closely allied to Malvaceae and Byttne- 

 riacese, and consisting of tropical trees, possesses the same mucilaginous prop- 

 erties (as well as oily seeds), with which bitter and astringent qualities are 

 often combined. The seeds of Bombax, the Silk-cotton tree, are enveloped 

 in a kind of cotton, which belongs to the endocarp and not to the seed; and 

 the hairs, being perfectly smooth and even, cannot be spun. Canoes are made 

 from the trunk of Bombax, in the West Indies. To this order belongs the 

 famous Baobab, or Monkey's-bread of Senegal (Adansonia digitata) ; some 

 trunks of which are from sixty to eighty feet in circumference ! The fruit re- 

 sembles a gourd, and serves for vessels ; it contains a subacid and refrigerant, 

 somewhat astringent, pulp; the mucilaginous young leaves are also used for 

 food in time of scarcity; the dried and powdered leaves (Lalo) are ordinarily 

 mixed with food, and the bark furnishes a coarse thread, which is made into 

 cordage or woven into cloth. Cheirostemon platanoides is the remarkable 

 Hand-flower tree of Mexico. Two plants of the family have recently been 

 found in California, by Fremont. 



