PLANTS. 233 



Lavateria belong also to the Mallow tribe, and, although 

 foreigners, are now extensively naturalized. 



The Low Mallow (Malva rotundifolia) is a small plant 

 with delicate, roundish, heart-shaped leaves, white flow- 

 ers, veined with purple ; grows spontaneously in fields, 

 or by roadsides, and found everywhere. The whole 

 plant is mucilaginous ; the seeds are brown and kidney- 

 shaped. K. 



The Harsh Hallow (Altheae officinalis). The stem 

 is upright, growing to a height of three or four feet, cov- 

 ered with thick, woolly down ; leaves velvet-like, round, 

 and heart-shaped. This useful plant grows wild in the 

 damp grounds of southern Europe; in Germany it is 

 cultivated on account of its medicinal properties; the 

 flowers are of a pale flesh color, the root, about the size 

 of a finger in thickness, as well as the other parts of the 

 plant, abounds in mucilage, and is used not only as a 

 specific in obstinate coughs, but as an emollient to pro- 

 mote suppuration. 2. 



Much resembling it is 



The Rose Mallow, Harvest Rose or Hollyhock (Al- 

 thea rosea), L., which grows above a height of six 

 feet ; stem hairy ; flowers, springing out like ears of 

 corn from the stalk, are mostly dark red ; but there are 

 numerous varieties of color, as well as single, double, or 

 semi-double flowers. It is a native of the East. 6 . 



The Cotton Plant (Gossypium album), plate 28, fig. 

 3, is a shrub with a cup-shaped calyx ; leaves pointed, 

 and from three to five-lobed ; stem from two to four feet 

 high, rough, and dark spotted ; the flowers are large, and 

 of a fine yellow hue ; seeds white, numerous, and envel- 

 oped in a long white wool, are hidden within a capsule 

 of parchment-like texture, which, when the plant has 



