Voi,. II.] MALLOW FAMILY. 415 



Family 74. MALVACEAE Neck. Act. Acad. Theod. 2: 488. 1770. 



MALLOW FAMILY. 



Herbs or shrubs (sometimes trees in tropical regions), with alternate mostly 

 palmately-veined leaves. Stipules small, deciduous. Flowers regular, perfect, 

 often large, rarely dioecious or polygamous. Sepals 5 (rarely 3 or 4), more or less 

 united, usually valvate; calyx often bracted at the base. Petals 5, hypogynous, 

 convolute, often contorted. Stamens oo, hypogynous, monadelphous, forming 

 a central column around the pistil, united with the bases of the petals; anthers 

 i -celled. Ovary several-celled, entire or lobed; styles united below, distinct 

 above, and generally projecting beyond the stamen-column, mostly as many as 

 the cells of the ovary; ovules i or several in each cavity. Fruit capsular (rarely 

 a berry), several-celled, the carpels falling away entire or else loculicidally de- 

 hiscent. Seeds reniform, globose or obovoid; embryo curved; cotyledons large, 

 plicate or conduplicate; endosperm little, or copious. 



About 40 genera and 800 species, widely distributed in tropical and temperate regions. 

 Stamen-column anther-bearing at the summit. 

 Carpels i-seeded. 

 Flowers perfect. 



Involucels of 6-9 bractlets. I. Althaea. 



Involucels of 1-3 bractlets, or none. 



Stigmas linear, on the inner side of the style-branches. 



Carpels beakless; petals obcordate. 2. Malva. 



Carpels beaked ; petals truncate. 3. Callirrhoe. 



Stigmas capitate, terminal. 



Seed ascending. 5. Malvastrum. 



Seed pendulous. 6. Sida. 



Flowers dioecious. 4. Napaea. 



Carpels 2-several-seeded. 



Involucel none. 7. Abutilon. 



Involucel of 3 bractlets. 



Carpels continuous. 8. Sphaeralcea. 



Carpels septate between the seeds. 9. Modiola. 



Stamen-column anther-bearing below the entire or 5-toothed summit. 

 Carpels i-seeded. 

 Carpels several-seeded. 



10. Kosteletzkya. 



11. Hibiscus. 



i. ALTHAEA L. Sp. PI. 686. 1753. 



Tomentose or pilose herbs, with lobed or divided leaves, and axillary or terminal, solitary 

 or racemose, perfect flowers. Involucels of 6-9 bractlets united at the base. Calyx 5-cleft. 

 Petals 5. Stamen-column anther-bearing at the summit. Cavities of the ovary numerous, 

 i-ovuled; style-branches the same number as the ovary-cavities, stigmatic along the inner 

 side; carpels numerous, indehiscent, i-seeded, arranged in a circle around the axis. Seed 

 ascending. [Ancient Greek, signifying to cure.] 



About 15 species, natives of the temperate and 

 warm parts of the Old World. 



i. Althaea officinalis L/. Marsh-Mal- 

 low. Wymote. (Fig. 2414.) 



Althaea officinalis L. Sp. PI. 686. 1753. 



Perennial, herbaceous, erect, 2-4 high, 

 branching, densely velvety pubescent. Leaves 

 broadly ovate, acute or obtuse, dentate and gen- 

 erally 3-lobed, the lower ones often cordate; 

 veins elevated on the lower surfaces; petioles 

 yi'-i' long; flowers in terminal and axillary 

 narrow racemes, pink, about I'-i^' broad; 

 bractlets of the involucels 6-9, linear, shorter 

 than the 5 ovate-lanceolate acute calyx-seg- 

 ments; carpels 15-20, tomentose. 



In salt marshes, coast of Massachusetts and 

 New York. Reported from New Jersey. Natural- 

 ized from Europe. Roots thick, very mucilaginous, 

 used in confectionery, and in medicine as a demul- 

 cent. Summer. 



