312 THE KINDS OF PLANTS 



5. LEPlDIUM. Pepper Grass. 



Small stiffish annuals (or biennials), which shed their leaves late in the 

 season: flowers very small, white or greenish, in elongating racemes: pod 

 small and roundish, the partition running across the narrow diameter. 

 Plant peppery to the taste. 



L. Virginicum, Linn. Common pepper grass. About 1 ft. high, much 

 branched, glabrous: leaves linear to lanceolate, tapering to the base, the 

 lower mostly pinnatifid. Common weed; often fed to canary birds. 



XIII. MALVACEAE. Mallow Family. 



Herbs or shrubs (trees in the topics) with alternate, mostly 

 simple leaves which have stipules : flowers perfect and regular, 

 5-merous, often subtended by a calyx -like involucre, the petals 

 5: stamens many, united in a column which closely surrounds 

 the several styles: ovaries several, connivent into a ring or some- 

 times united into a compound pistil, in fruit making 1 -seeded 

 1-loculed more or less indehiscent carpels or a several- loculed cap- 

 sule. About 60 genera and 700 species. Eepresentative plants are 

 mallow, hollyhock, abutilon, hibiscus, althea, okra, cotton. 



A. Anthers borne only at the top of the stamen-tube. 



B. Fruits 1-seeded, forming a ring at the base of the styles. 



C. Involucre of 3 bracts 1. Malva 



CC. Involucre of 6-9 bracts 2. A Ithcea 



bb. Fruit of several-seeded carpels 3. Abvtilon 



aa. Anthers borne all along the side of the stamen-tube 4. Hibiscus 



1. MALVA. Mallow. 



Herbs, with a 3-leaved involucre like an extra calyx: petals obcordate: 

 carpels many in a ring, separating at maturity, 1-seeded and indehiscent: 

 leaves usually nearly orbicular in general outline. 



M. rotundifolia, Linn. Common mallow. Cheeses. Fig. 224. Trail- 

 ing biennial or perennial, rooting: leaves orbicular, indistinctly lobed, 

 toothed : flowers small, white or pinkish, clustered in the axils. Yards 

 and roadsides; from Europe. A common weed. 



2. ALTH.3SA. Marsh Mallow. 



Differs from Malva chiefly in having a 6-9-cleft involucre. 

 A. rdsea, Cav. Hollyhock. Figs. 206, 207, 235. Tall perennial, with 

 angled or 5-7-lobed cordate leaves, and large flowers in many colors. China. 



3. ABtTILON. Indian Mallow. Fig. 170. 



Mostly shrubs, often with maple-like leaves, and no involucre to the 

 flower: ovaries and fruits several-seeded. Contains conservatory plants. 



