294 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 



flowers are very like those of si DA, but are larger and 

 open in the evening. The fruit is an inch or more 

 broad and flat, and divides into a number of carpels, 

 each with one or more seeds. These carpels open 

 to let the seeds out, and so are different from the 

 carpels of SIDA, the fruit of which is a true schizocarp. 



PAVONIA ZEYLANICA, Cav. and PAVONIA ODORATA, 

 Willd. are two herbs found growing wild in fields in 

 South India and Ceylon. They have grandular hairs 

 which make them very sticky. The ovary has five 

 cells but twice as many (ten) styles a very unusual 

 arrangement. The fruit in both cases, separates like 

 that of SIDA, ABUTILON and ALTH^A, into its con- 

 stituent carpels, each with one seed (and indehiscent)* 



Of the genus HIBISCUS there are many species. 



H. CANNABINUS, L., commonly cultivated for the 

 sake of the fibre which can be obtained from the 

 bark. The stems are prickly, the upper leaves lobed, 

 the lower entire. 



*H. ESCULENTUS, L., cultivated throughout India for 

 its fruit (Bendikai) which is soft and edible. 



H. SABDARIFFA, L., cultivated for the sake of its 

 pleasantly acid taste, and its use in cooking. 



H. MUTABILIS, L., a Chinese species grown in 

 gardens for the sake of its flowers, which change 

 colour during the day from a very pale or quite white 

 colour to deep red, and hence called sometimes by 

 Europeans the changeable- rose and also (but wrongly) 

 the Tulip tree. 



THESPESIA POPULNEA, Corr., a tree with large cor- 

 date leaves and yellow flowers, grows naturally along 

 the sea coasts of Tropical India and Ceylon. The fruit 



