234 



MALVACEAE. 



1. Modiola caroliniana (L.) G. 

 Don. Bristly-fruited Mallow. (Fig. 

 257.) Annual or biennial, more or less 

 pubescent; stems 6'-2° long. Leaves 

 nearly orbicular, i'-^V wide, petioled, 

 3-o-cleft, the lobes dentate or incised, 

 or sometimes simply dentate; flowers 

 3"-5" broad, red; peduncles at length 

 elongated ; fruit depressed-orbicular, 

 the carpels bristly. [Malva caroliniana 

 L. ; Modiola multifida Moench.] 



Waste and cultivated grounds. Intro- 

 duced. Native of tropical and warm-tem- 

 perate America. Flowers nearly through- 

 out the year. It is an occasional weed in 

 Bermuda. 



3. MAIiVA [Tourn.] L. 

 Pubescent or glabrate herbs, with dentate lobed or dissected leaves, and 

 axillary or terminal, solitary or clustered flowers. Calyx 5-cleft. Bractlets of 

 the involucels 3 (rarely none). Petals 5. Cavities of the ovary several or 

 numerous, 1-ovuled ; style-branches of the same number, linear, stigmatic along 

 the inner side. Carpels arranged in a circle, beakless, indehiscent. Seed 

 ascending. [Greek, referring to the emollient leaves.] About 30 species, natives 

 of the Old World. Type species: Malva sylvestris L. 



1. Malva parviflora L. Small- 

 flowered Mallow. (Fig. 258.) An- 

 nual, sparingly pubescent, branched, the 

 branches spreading, ascending or nearly 

 erect, 6'-18' long. Leaves long-petioled, 

 nearly orbicular in outline or somewhat 

 broader than long, crenate and with 

 about 7 rounded lobes, cordate at the 

 base, l'-4' broad; flowers short-pedi- 

 celled, clustered in the axils of the 

 leaves; bractlets linear, shorter than the 

 calyx; calyx reticulate-veined, with 5 

 triangular lobes; petals small, pink; 

 fruit nearly flat, about 4" broad, its 

 carpels reticulated on the back, pubes- 

 cent or glabrous. [M. pusilla Smith.] 



Common in waste and cultivated 

 grounds. Naturalized. Native of the Old 

 World. Naturalized in the United States. 

 Flowers in spring and summer. 



