52 



THE ABT ALBUM OF NEW ZEALANB FLORA. 



mentions that it grew in " Upper Egypt on the side of Arabia, where robes were made 

 of Cotton for the Egyptian priests." It was brought into Spain by the Mahomedan 

 conquerors of that country, and so spread through Europe. HibiscKS cannabriuus 

 supplies Indian hemj), and Taradiim elatium gives " Cul)a bast." Midoa moschata, the 

 Musk Mallow, derives its name from the peculiar musky odour given off by all parts 

 of the plant when kept in a confined situation, particularly in warm dry weather ; but 

 this odour is seldom ])owerfvil enough to be smelt in the oj^en air. The plant is a 

 perennial, and has large rose-coloured floAvers ; it is found along hedges, roadsides, and 

 borders of fields in Britain. 31. rotniidifolia is an annual, with tough downy stems lying 

 along the ground, roundish lobed leaves, and small pale-blue floAvers ; it is common in 

 waste places in most parts of Europe, including Britain, and in Western Asia. In 

 Egypt, especially upon the banks of the Nile, it is extensively cultivated, and used by 

 the natives as a pot-herb. M. sylvestris, the common Mallow, or " Ilaiice" of the 

 French, is employed medicinally on account of its highly mucilaginous properties, a 

 decoction of it being used outwardly as an application to bruises, and internally in 

 dysentery. It is in great repute amongst herb doctors, and rustic i)ractitioners gene- 

 rally, particularly in France, where its dried flowers are largely used in the preparation 

 of a drink called " Tisfo/e," held to be a cure for headaches, feverish colds, and many 

 other complaints ; its leaves are also used for making poultices. It is a biennial, having 

 erect, somewhat hairy stems, roundish long-stalked leaves, and reddish-pur2)le flowers. 

 The order receives its name from the mucilaginous properties of the 2)lants contained in 

 it. There are many very handsome species in cultivation in British gardens. The 

 order is represented in New Zealand by the following genera : — (1.) Plagianthus, 

 shrubs or small trees with very tough inner bark, and uni-sexual or bi-sexual flowers ; 

 (2.) HoHEUiA, small trees with pellucid dotted foliage, and hermaphrodite flowers ; (3.) 

 Hibiscus, erect herbs, with often lobed leaves, and hermaphrodite flowers. 



GENUS I. 

 PLAGIANTHUS (Forst.) The Plagianthus. 



Gkneeic Charactek.— Shrubs or small trees, with very 

 toiigh inner bark. Flowers uni- or bi-sexual. Bracts 0, or 

 small, and distant from the oalj-x. Calvx 5-toothed or 5-fid. 

 Staniinal tube divided above into many short, or long filaments. 

 Ovarv of 1 free, or many more or less united, 1-ovuled carpels. 



Styles filiform or club-shaped, combined below, stigmatiferous 

 towards the apex along the inner face. Fruit of 1 indehiscent or 

 irregularly bursting earjiel, or of many whorled round an axis. 

 Seed pendulous. — Handbook of Xen- Zealand Flora, j>. 3U. 



Description, etc. — A small genus confined to Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. 

 One species is a tall tree, and the others are large shrubs, or small trees. P. sidoides 

 is one of several plants with fibrous bark, which, in Tasmania and New South Wales, 



