566 MALVACEAE (MALLOW FAMILY^ 



globose, smaller, 6 mm. thick. {T. puhescens Man. ed. 6, not Ait.) — Ct. to 

 Fla., and westw. 



3. T. heterophylla Vent. (White B.) Leaves larger, smooth and bright 

 green above, silvery-whitened with a fine down underneath ; bract usually taper- 

 ing at base. — Chiefly on limestone, s. N. Y. and mts. of Pa. to s. 111. , and 

 southw. 



MALVACEAE (Mallow Faaiily) 



Herbs or shrubs, with alternate stipulate leaves and regular flowers, the calyx 

 valvate and the corolla convolute in the bud, numerous stamens monadelphous 

 in a column and united at base with the short claws of the petals, 1-celled 

 anthers, and kidney-shaped seeds. Sepals 5, united at base, persistent, often 

 involucellate with a whorl of bractlets forming a sort of exterior calyx. Petals 



5. Anthers kidney-shaped, opening along the top. Pistils several, the ovaries 

 united in a ring or forming a several-celled pod. Seeds with little albumen ; 

 embryo curved, the leafy cotyledons variously doubled up. — Mucilaginous in- 

 nocent plants, with tough bark and palmately-veined leaves. Flower-stalks 

 with a joint, axillary. 



Tribe I. MALVEAE. Column of stamens anther-bearing at the top. Ovaries and carpels 5-20 

 or more, closely united in a ring around a central axis, from which they separate after ripening. 



* Stigmas terminal, capitate ; carpels 1-few-seeded, usually dehiscent. 



1. Abutilon. Involucel none. Seeds 3-9 in each cell. 



2. Sphaeralcea. Bractlets 3. Seeds 2 or. 3 in each cell. 



3. Modiola. Bractlets 3. Seeds 2 in each cell, with a transverse partition between them. 



4. Malvastrum. Involucel of 3 bractlets or none. Seed solitary, filling the cell, ascending. 



5. Sida. Involucel none. Seed solitary in each cell, pendulous. 



* * Stigmas occupying the inner face of the styles ; carpels 1-seeded, falling away separately. 



6. Althaea. Involucel of 6-9 bractlets. 



T. Malva. Involucel of 3 bractlets. Petals obcordate. Carpels rounded, beakless. 



8. Callirhoe. Involucel of 1-3 bractlets or none. Petals truncate. Carpels beaked. 



9. Napaea. Involucel none. Flowers dioecious. Stamens few (15-20). Carpels beakless. 



Tribe II. HIBfSCEAE. Column of stamens anther-bearing for a considerable part of its length, 

 naked and 5-toothed at the very apex. Pod mostly 5-celled, loculicidal, leaving scarcely any 

 axis in the center after opening. 



10. Kosteletzkya. Involucel of several bractlets. Pod 5-celled, 5-seeded. 



11. Hibiscus. Involucel of many bractlets. Pod 5-celled, many-seeded. 



1. ABUTILON [Tourn.] Mill. Lxdian Mallow 



Carpels 2-9-seeded, at length 2-valved. Radicle ascending or pointing in- 

 ward. Otlierwise as in Sida. (Name of unknown origin.) 



L A. Theophrasti Medic. (Velvet Leaf.) Tall annual, 6-12 dm. high ; 

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

 the leaf-stalks; corolla yellow; carpels 12-15, hairy, beaked. (A. Avicennae 

 Gaertn.; A. Abutilon Rusby.) — Waste places, vacant lots in cities, etc. (Nat. 

 from India.) 



2. SPHAERALCEA St. Hil. 



Ovules and seeds usually 2 or 3 in each cell. Characters otherwise as in 

 Malvastrum. (Name from crcpaipa, a sphere, and dXKia, a mallow — from the 

 cominoiily spherical fruit.) 



1. S. rembta (Greene) Fernald. Perennial, erect, bushy-branched, 1-2 m. 

 high, densely and stellately pubescent ; leaves maple-shaped, 5-7-cleft ; flowers 

 clustered in the up])er axils and sub.spicate ; calyx densely pubescent, its cau- 

 date-acuminate loljes 1-1.5 cm. long ; petals rose-color. (S. acerifolia Man. ed. 



6, not Nutt.) — Known only from a gravelly island in the Kankakee- R., 111. 



