MALLOW FAMILY. 73 



A. Cristata has mostly triangular or obscurely halberd-shaped and toothed 

 leaves, and purple or rose-colored corolla 2' in diameter ; lobes of the calyx 

 triangular, taper-pointed. 



9. SIDA. (Ancient name, of obscure meaning.) Mostly rather small-flow- 

 ered or weedy herbs, with 5-12 styles and carpels : fl. summer and autumn. 



* Peduncles axillary, \-flowered: corolla yellow. _ 



S. spinbsa. So named from the little pointed projection or tubercle at the 

 base of the petiole, but which can hardly be called a spine ; stems much branched, 

 10' 20' high ; leaves lance-ovate, serrate, minutely soft-downy ; peduncles very 

 short ; flower very small ; pod ovate, of 5 carpels, each splitting at top into 2 

 points. A common weed S. of New York, (i) 



S. rhombifdlia. But the leaves are hardly rhombic, usually lance-oblong, 

 short-petiolcd, serrate, pale and whitish downy beneath; stems 1 3 high, 

 much branched; peduncles rather long; flower small; fruit of 10 or 12 one- 

 pointed carpels. A weed only S. 



S. Elliottii. Nearly smooth, l-4 high; leaves linear or lanceolate, 

 serrate, short-petioled ; flower 1' broad, on a short peduncle; fruit of 10-12 

 nearly blunt carpels. Woodlands S. 2/ 



* Peduncles bearing a corymb of several white flowers from the upper axils. 



S. NapSBa. Smooth; stem simple, 4 -7 high ; leaves rounded, 5-cleft, the 

 lobes toothed and taper-pointed ; corolla about 1' broad; styles and cells of the 

 pod 10. Wild in S. Penn. and Virg. Cult, in old gardens. 2/ 



10. ABUTILON, INDIAN MALLOW. (Origin of name obscure.) 

 Resembles Sida, but cells more than one-seeded ; flowers usually larger. 



A. Avicennse, VELVET-LEAF. Cult, soil and old gardens, 3 - 5 high ; 

 leaves roundish heart-shaped, taper-pointed, soft-velvety ; peduncles shorter than 

 petiole, 1 - 3-flowered ; corolla orange-yellow; fruit of 12-15 united hairy 

 carpels with spreading beaks. Fl. autumn, (I) 



A. Striatum, STKIPED ABUTILON. Cult, in greenhouses, &c. from Bra- 

 zil ; a tall shrub, very smooth, with rounded heart-shaped 3-lobed leaves, the 

 lobes very taper-pointed, and pretty large solitary flowers hanging on a very 

 long and slender peduncle ; corolla not spreading open, orange-colored, with 

 deeper or brownish veining or stripes. 



11. MODIOLA. (The shape of the depressed fruit likened to the Eoman 

 measure modio/us.) Procumbent or spreading, small-flowered, weedy plants. 

 M. multifida. Virginia and S., in low grounds; leaves 3-7-cleft and 



cut, or the earlier ones rounded and undivided ; flowers red, ' broad ; fruit 

 hairy at the top. 11 



12. MALVAVISCUS. (Name composed of MaJva, Mallow, and viscus, 

 birdlime, from the glutinous pulp of the berry-like fruit.) Shrubby plants, 

 with showy scarlet flowers, of peculiar appearance, the petals not expanding, 

 but remaining convolute around the lower part of the slender projecting and 

 soon twisted column, held together as it were by a little side-lobe near the 

 base of the inner edge. 



M. arb6reus, the common West India species, cult, in some hot-houses, 

 has heart-shaped leaves longer than broad, and yellowish fruit. 



M. Drumm6ndii, of Texas, if housed in winter flowers all summer in 

 open ground, is soft-downy, with more rounded and somewhat 3-lobed leaves, 

 and scarlet fruit. 



13. KOSTELETZSKYA. (Named for a Bohemian botanist, Kostektzsky.) 

 Like Hibiscus, only the cells of ovary and fruit 1 -seeded. Fl. .summer. 



K. Virginica, VIRGINIAN K. In and near salt marshes, from New York 

 and New Jersey S. : roughish-hairy, 2 -5 high; leaves heart-shaped or mostly 

 3-lobed, often halberd-shaped ; flowors somewhat racemtd or panicled, rose- 

 purple, l'-2' broad. 2/ 



