Sida.] MALVACE/E. 33 



scarcely an inch long, and very white underneath. Peduncles almost always 

 longer than the short petioles, and sometimes almost as long as the leaf. 

 Flowers rather small, yellow. Carpels about 10, with or without terminal 

 awns. 



In waste places, Champion and others. A very common weed thronghont the tropics, and 

 usually erect, and not much branched. 



4. S. fallax, Walp. ; A. Gray, Bot. Jmer. Expl, Exped. i. 161. A low 

 spreading perennial or undershrub, much like some varieties of S. rliomhifolia^ 

 but the leaves are small, seldom above 1 in. long, broadly ovate or almost 

 cordate, white or hoary on both sides, and the peduncles longer than the 

 leaves. Carpels usually 10, without awns. 



Hongkong, Wright. Frequent in many of the islands of the Pacific, and occurs occasion- 

 ally in South China, and as far as Cochin China. It may possibly, however, prove to be no 

 more than a variety of S. rhombifolia. 



5. S. cordifolia, Linn.; DC. Prod. i. 464. An erect stout branching 

 perennial, 1 to 2 or 3 ft. or even more in height, more or less clothed with a 

 short soft tomentum or soft velvety hairs. Leaves on rather long petioles, 

 broadly cordate or almost orbicular, 1 to 1^ or rarely 2 in. long, usually soft 

 and thick. Flowers small, yeUow, on short axillary peduncles, or clustered 

 into short leafy racemes. Carpels about 10, each terminating in 2 rather long 

 erect awns. 



In waste places, Champion and others. Very common throughout the tropics. 



3. ABUTILON, G^rtn. 



Calyx without outer bracts, 5-lobed. Staminal column divided at the top 

 into several filaments. Carpels 5 or more, in a ring round the axis, each with 

 several ovules, and when ripe, united at the base, but diverging at the top, 

 and opening in 2 valves. Style with as many branches as carpels. Stigmas 

 terminal. — Herbs, or in some extra-colonial species, shrubs, with the habit of 

 Sida, from which they only differ in their carpels, and the number of ovules 

 and seeds. 



A considerable genus, spread over the tropical and subtropical regions of both "Worlds, but 

 more especially in America. 



' ] . A. indicum, Bon ; W. and Am. Trod. Fl. Penins. i. 56 ; Wight, Ic. 

 ^.12. A rather tall branching perennial, white or hoary all over with a very 

 short close tomentum. Leaves on long petioles, almost orbicular, cordate, 

 acuminate, and unequally toothed, 2 to 3 in. long. Peduncles 1-flowered, 

 axillary, articulate near the flower. Calyx-lobes broad, acute. Flowers yellow. 

 Capsule hairy, 7 to 8 lines diameter, truncate at the top, consisting of 10 to 

 20 carpels, either acute or shortly awned on their outer upper edge. 



On roadsides, Hance. Common in southern Asia and tropical Africa. This was mis- 

 taken by Seemann, in his ' Flora of Hongkong,' for the A. graveolens, which has the stem 

 sprinkled with horizontal hairs, and the carpels rounded, not truncate and angled at the top. 



4. UBENA, Linn. 



Bracteoles round the calyx united into a 5-lobed involucre. Calyx 5-lobed. 

 Staminal column bearing below the summit a few almost sessile anthers. Car- 



