424 



MALVACEAE. 



[Voi,. II. 



i. Kosteletzkya Virginica (L,.) A. 



Gray. Virginia Kosteletzkya. 



(Fig. 2433.) 



Hibiscus Virginicus L. Sp. PI. 697. 1753. 



Kosieletzkya Virginica A. Gray, Gen. 2: 80. /. 132. 

 1849. 



Perennial, erect, branching, 2-4 high, some- 

 what stellate-pubescent and scabrous. Leaves 

 ovate, or hastate, truncate or cordate at the base, 

 2 / ~5 / long, unequally dentate and often 3-lobed 

 below, sometimes with an additional lobe or 

 two at the middle, acute, not velvety-pubes- 

 cent; flowers pink, i^'-z^' broad, in loose 

 terminal leafy panicles; bractlets of the invo- 

 lucels 8-9, linear, shorter than the lanceolate 

 acute calyx-segments; carpels 5, hispid- 

 pubescent. 



In salt or brackish marshes, southeastern New 

 York to Florida and Louisiana. A form approach- 

 ing K. althaeifolia of the Southern States occurs 

 in eastern Maryland. Aug. 



ii. HIBISCUS L. Sp. PI. 693. 1753. 



Herbs, shrubs, or in tropical regions even small trees, with dentate or lobcd leaves, and 

 showy, axillary or paniculate, mostly campanulate flowers. Bractlets of the involucels nu- 

 merous, narrow. Calyx 5-cleft or 5-toothed. Column of stamens truncate or 5-toothed at the 

 apex, anther-bearing below along much of its length. Ovary 5-celled, the cells 3-several- 

 ovuled; style branches 5, stigmatic at the capitate summit. Capsule 5-valved. Seeds reni- 

 form. [An ancient name, used by Dioscoridcs for the Marsh Mallow.] 



About 180 species, widely distributed in warm and temperate countries. In addition to the 

 following, about 14 others occur in the southern and western United States. 



Tall perennial herbs. 



Leaves white-pubescent beneath; seeds glabrous, or nearly so. 



Leaves glabrate, or stellate-hairy above; bractlets not ciliate. i. H. Moscheutos. 



Leaves soft-hairy above; bractlets ciliate. 2. H. lasiocarpus. 



Leaves glabrous on both sides; seeds hairy. 3. H. mililarts. 



Low hairy annual of waste places. 4. H. Trionum. 



Tall woody shrub, escaped from gardens. 5. H. Syriacus. 



i. Hibiscus Moscheutos L. Swamp Rose-Mallow. 



(Fig. 2434.) 



Hibiscus Moscheutos L. Sp. PI. 693. 1753. 



Erect, 4-7 high, forming numerous cane-like 

 stems from a perennial root. Leaves ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, 3 / ~7 / long, cordate or obtuse at the base, 

 acute or acuminate at the apex, the lower or some- 

 times all lobed at the middle, palmatcly veined, 

 dentate or crenate, densely white stellate-pubescent 

 beneath, green and glabrous or slightly stellate 

 above; petioles i'-5' long; flowers 4 / -7 / broad, pink, 

 or white, often with a crimson centre, clustered on 

 stout pedicels at the summits of the stems; peduncles 

 often adnate to the petioles; bractlets linear, not cili- 

 ate, shorter than the calyx; capsule ovoid, i' long, 

 glabrous or sparingly pubescent; seeds glabrous. 



In brackish marshes, eastern Massachusetts to Flor- 

 ida and Louisiana, and on lake shores and in saline sit- 

 uations locally in the interior to western Ontario. Dr. 

 Gray concluded that the Hibiscus roseus of southern 

 Europe is identical with our plant. Aug.-Sept. 



Mallow Rose. 



