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Chapter X. 



Order X.— MALVACEAE. The MalloAv Family, 



CiiAEACTKE OF THE Order. — Ilevbs, slirubs or trees, 

 with (iisuallv) tough fibrous inner bark, alternate stipulate, 

 leaves, and stellate hairs. Flowers usually hermaphrodite, 

 regular and large. Calyx, 5-Iobed, lobes ralvate. Petals .">, 

 hypogvnous, usually connate at the base, adnate to the staminal 

 tube, imbrieate. Disk 0. or a small torus. Stamens very 

 numerous, their filaments united into a tube. Anthers often 



reniforni, 1-eclled. Ovary of 1 or more, free or eonnate, 1 or 

 m.any-ovuled carpels, whorled round, and adnate with the 

 torus. Styles as many as carpels, eonnate below, fdiform 

 above. Fruit of one or more indehiscent or 2-valvcd cocci, 

 or capsular. Seeds, often hairy. Albumen, lilth- or none. 

 Cotvledons large, folded. — Jlnndhook- of Xeie Zealand Flora 

 p. 29. 



Description of the Order. — 



HIS large order is abundant in the Tro[)ics and temperate zones, to whieli 

 the Mallow, Lavatera, Hollyhock, Cotton, and many other well-known 

 cultivated New Zealand garden jilants belong. There are nearly fifty 

 genera in the order, and upwards of one thousand species ; all of whieli 

 are mucilaginous, demulcent, and fibre-yielding. Aff/uca officbwris 

 (Marsh Mallow) yields mucilage ; Gossijpium furnishes various kinds of 

 cotton. This genus is one of the most important in the whole vegetable kingdom ; to it 

 we are indebted for the valuable and well-known article, Cotton, which occupi(>s such a 

 prominent place in the manufacturing industry of nearly all civilised countries, and 

 gives employment to so large a jiortion of the British mercantile marine. The Cotton of 

 commerce consists of the hairs attached to the seeds of the plant ; it is obtained more 

 especially from Gossi/pi/an herbaaeiim, G. barbadeuse, G. arboreum and G. pcriii-irtinin/. 

 Cotton jilants are cultivated in the United States of Amei'ica, the East and "West Indit's, 

 the Brazils, Egypt, and the South Sea Islands. The use of Cotton dates from pre-historic 

 ages. It is frequently mentioned in ancient writings before the Christian era. Pliny 



