MALVACEAE. 65 



SECT. 1. Cells I -seeded. 

 I. Hibiscus pentaspermus. Five-seeded Hibiscus. 



Hirsute, leaves cordate acuminate coarsely-toothed, 

 peduncles axillary 1 -flowered somewhat longer than 

 the petiole, fruit pentagonal stellato-hispid especially 

 along the angles. 



Bertero, De Cand. Prod. I. 447. 



HAB. Savannah la Mar, Dr Distin. Var. /3. Morant-Bay. 



FL. After the May and Autumnal rains. 



Herbaceous, 3 feet in height : branches long, subsimple, ter- 

 ete, setoso-hirsute, with a line of pubescence on one side. 

 Leaves alternate, petiolate, cordate, acuminate, coarsely toothed, 

 3-nerved, stellato-hirsute. Stipules linear. Peduncles axillary, 

 solitary, 1 -flowered, longer than the petiole. Leaflets of the 

 involucellum 8. Flowers yellow. Petals externally stellato- 

 setose. Column of the stamens of nearly the same length as 

 the petals. Stigmata 5, reflected. Capsule pentangular, de- 

 pressed, stellato-setose especially at the angles : seeds solitary, 

 naked. 



The variety of this plant which grows at Morant-Bay, has 

 the flowers white, and the leaves semitrilobate : in every other 

 respect it agrees with the plant of Bertero, specimens of which 

 I have had an opportunity of examining in the Hookerian 

 Herbarium. 



SECT. 2. Cells many-seeded. Seeds glabrous. 

 2. Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis. Chinese Hose. 



Stem unarmed arborescent, leaves ovate acuminate 

 glabrous very entire at the base coarsely-toothed to- 

 wards the apex subincised, peduncles length of the 

 leaves, involucellum 7-leaved. 



Cav. diss. III. t. 69. f. 2.Rheed. Mai. II. t. 16. Bot. Mag. 

 158. 



HAB. Cultivated. 



FL. Throughout the year. 



This is a favourite plant and universally cultivated in China 

 and India, where the flowers are employed on every festal occa- 

 sion, as also in their sepulchral rites. It has become with us 

 one of the most common shrubs in our gardens, and we are 

 possessed of all the different varieties, with exception of the 

 double-iohite. It is mentioned by Rheed, that the root, tritura- 

 ted with oil, is employed by the natives of Malabar as a remedy 

 in Menorrhagia. The leaves are regarded by the Cochin- 



