DICOTYLEDONS MALVACEAE DIAGBAM 15. 



191 



FAMILY MALVACELE. DIAGRAM 15. 



This family contains various low plants, such as the hollyhock, 

 mcdlow, and marsh-mallow. But it also includes large trees, and 

 among others, one of the largest known, the baobab. One of the 



most useful plants to man, the 

 cotton plant, also belongs to 

 this family. The malvacene 

 have generally beautiful 

 flowers; the calyx is in a 

 single piece, and the corolla? 

 has five petals. The sta- 

 mens are very numerous, and 

 soldered together round the 

 pistil, which is thus enclosed 

 in a kind of sheath. The 

 fruit is a capsule, contaning 

 a variable number of seeds. 

 The cotton plant is a shrub which grows in hot countries. It is a 

 textile plant ; but the material which it yields is not obtained from 

 the stalk as in the hemp, but is found in the fruit. The cotton-plant 

 bears a beautiful yellow flower, and the capsule which succeeds it opens 

 in several valves when ripe. The cotton is then seen inside the 

 capsule, forming a lining packed round the seeds. It is roughly 

 cleared from the husk, and packed in bales to be exported to coun- 

 tries where it does not grow. It is an article of great commercial 

 importance. It is first cleaned and carded, to free it from the seeds 

 which still remain in it. It is then spun and woven to make 

 calico. When coloured designs are printed on it, it is called print. 

 Whole countries live by the cotton trades : both those where it is 

 cultivated, and those where it is spun, woven, or printed. The 

 cotton trade is one of the most important in the world. 



Mallow. 



