86 MALVACE^. • Sphoeralcea. 



on slender elongated pedicels : calyx-lobes lanceolate, acuminate, the linear bractlets 

 persistent : petals obovate, purple, 2 to 5 lines long : fruit 2^ lines broad ; carpels 

 12 to 15, orbicular, glabrous, indehiscent, transversely rugose-reticulated, the sides 

 smooth and contiguous except near the margin. — Bot. Ives Colorado Exp. 8. 



Dry plains, Merced County, and southward, ranging east to Utah ; near Pyramid Lake, 

 Nevada {Lcmmon), and probably along the entire eastern base of the Sierra Nevada. 



5. SPH^RALCEA, St. HHaire. 

 Diiiering from Malvastrum only in the 2-ovuled cells of the ovarj^, the lower 

 ovule ascending, the upper pendulous and often abortive in fruit. — Perennials. 

 About 20 species are referred to the genus, all American and S. African. 



1. S. "Evaoxyi, Torr. Eesembling Malvastrum Mimroanum. Stems 1 to 2 feet 

 high : leaves ovate-cordate, usually obtusely 3 - 5-lobed, crenate : inflorescence and 

 fruit as in that species, excepting the 2-ovuled cells of the ovary. — *S'. Emoryi & 

 incana, Torrey in Gray, PI. Pendl. 23. aS'. Wrightii, Gray, PL Wright, ii. 21. 



Frequent on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada from Northern Nevada to Utah and Mexico; 

 San Felipe in S. California (Thurber) and San Diego, Cleveland. 



•S. SULPHUREA, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 125, of Guadalupe Island, Palmer, is more 

 tomentose and has the intiorescence usually much more paniculate and diffuse : petals sulphm'- 

 yellow, tinged with X'ink, villous at the base of the claw, 5 to 6 lines long : frait globose. 



2. S. Lindheimeri, Gray, Stout, densely tomentose, 2 or 3 feet high, erect or 

 decumbent at base : leaves broadly ovate, cordate at base, obscurely 5-lobed with 

 the lobes rounded and slightly crenate, 2 inches long, equalling or exceeding the 

 petioles : flowers small, in a narrow raceme, often nearly sessile : calyx with acumi- 

 nate lobes, usually very densely tomentose : fruit prominent; carpels 1| lines long, 

 rounded above, projecting more over the axis than in the last, the sides transversely 

 rugose below. — PL Lindh. 162. Malvastrum Freviontii, Torrey, 1. c. 21. 



Central California {Fremont) ; Corral Hollow, Breivcr : the specimens are apparently identical 

 with the species of the Piio Grande Valley to which they are here referred. 



3. S. angUStifolia, Spach. Slender, erect, 2 to 4 feet high, hoary-pubescent : 

 leaves oblong to narrowly lanceolate, 2 inches long, usually subcordate or rounded 

 at base, often somewhat lobed below, crenate or rather coarsely toothed, on short 

 petioles : flowers small, in a naked or often leafy narrow raceme : calyx 2 to 3 lines 

 long, with acute or acuminate lobes : fruit subglobose with a central depression, 

 pubescent ; carpels IJ to 2 lines long, oblong, blunt or sometimes sharply beaked at 

 the apex, reticulate on the sides below. — Malva angustifolia, Cav. Diss. i. G4, t. 20; 

 Bot. Mag. t. 2839. 



At Fort Mohave (Coopo-), and frecptent eastward to the Eio Grande and in Mexico. 



6. SIDA, Lmn. ' 

 Calyx usually without bractlets. Stamineal tube simple, antheriferous at the 

 summit. Petals oblique. Styles 5 or more, with capitate stigmas. Carpels as 

 many, 1-ovuled, indehiscent or 2-valved, at length separating from the axis. Seed 

 pendulous or horizontal. — Mostly softly tomentose ; flowers yellow or whitish. 



About 80 species, of which 50 are American, most abundant in subtropical regions. A few 

 species are very widely distributed, among which (S*. rhombifnlia and S. carpinifolia approach the 

 southern borders of the State, and other species are frequent in Northern Mexico and the adjacent 

 territory. The one Californian species, having a bracteolate calyx, would belong to Malvastrum 

 but for the pendulous ovule. 



1. S. hederacea, Torr. Stems decumbent, from a perennial root, leafy, a foot 

 long or less : leaves reniform, about an inch broad, very oblique, serrate or crenate, 

 shortly jietioled : flowers in short axillary panicles or solitary, the pedicels at length 



