Hibiscus. MALVACE^. 



87 



deflexed : calyx with one or two setaceous bractlets at base, the lobes acuminate : 

 lietals yellowish, pubescent externally, 4 to G lines long : fruit short-conical, smooth, 

 glabrous; carpels G to 10, triangular, Uf lines long, blunt above, attached by the 

 straight ventral edge to the slender axis. — Gray, PI. Fendl. 23. Malva hederacea, 

 Dougl. in Hook. Fl. i. 107. M. jiUcata, Nutt.; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 227. ISida U) 

 obliqua, Nutt. 1. c. 233. 



From Oregon to Arizona and New Mexico ; dry valleys and hillsides. 



7. ABUTILON, Touni. 

 Bractlets none. Seeds or ovides 3 to 9 in each cell. Otherwise as Sida. — Herbs 

 or shrubs, usually soft-tomentose ; flowers mostly axillary, often yellow. 



Species about 70, in the warmer region of both hemispheres ; a dozen or more on the southern 

 borders of the United States, the following scarcely entering within the limits of California. 



1. A. crispum, Don. Very finely tomentose: branches very slender, elongated: 

 leaves cordate, acutish or acuminate, crenate, 1 to 3 inches long ; the upper small 

 and nearly sessile : flowers solitary, small, yellow, on slender axillary pedicels as 

 long as the leaves and jointed near the top : carpels about 12, membranaceous, in- 

 flated, rounded above, 2-valved to the base, 4 - 5-seeded, at length half an inch 

 long. — Gray, Gen. 111. ii. G7, t. 126. Sida crispa, Linn.; Torr. & Gray, Fl. 

 i. 235. 



Widely distributed through the tropics, and found from Florida westward across the continent ; 

 Canon Tantillas, below San Diego, Palmer. 



2. A. Newberryi, Watson. Somewhat Avoody at base, 4 to 5 feet high, densely 

 tomentose : branches short and stout : leaves thick, oblong-lanceolate, cordate at 

 base, acutish, 1 to 2 inches long, on short petioles : pedicels fascicled in the axils, 

 much shorter than the leaves : flowers deep yellow, 3 lines long : carpels about 8, 

 nearly membranaceous, rounded but narrower above, 2-valved to the base, 3-seeded, 

 three lines long. — Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 1 25. Sphatralcea incana, Gray, Bot. Ives 

 Colorado Exp. 8. 



In the same locality (Palmes-) ; also on the Lower Gila {Emortj), and at Canebrake Canon on 

 the Lower Colorado, Newberry. 



A. Palmeri, Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 289, a taller larger- flowered and larger-leaved species, 

 of Arizona and Sonora, may reach California. The calyx is densely villous, nearly half an inch 

 long ; the deep-yellow corolla somewhat longer ; carpels also hairy, acuminate above and equal- 

 ling the calyx, 3 - 4-seeded ; leaves cordate with a deep closed sinus. 



8. HIBISCUS, Linn. 



Involucel of numerous bractlets. Stamineal column antheriferous much of its 



length, but naked at the summit and truncate or 5-toothed. Styles united : stigmas 



5, capitate. Pruit a 5-celIed loculicidal pod, the cells several seeded. — Stout herbs 



or often shrubby, with large and showy axillary and solitary flowers. 



A large genus of about 150 species, distributed around the world, mainly in twipical or sub- 

 troiiical regions. Many are cultivated for ornament. Some of the species of Northern ilexico 

 probably extend into Southeastern California, though only a single one has yet been collected. 



1. H. CaliforniCUS, Kellogg. Perennial, erect and branching, 5 to 7 feet high, 

 the younger leaves and branches velvety pubescent : leaves cordate, acuminate, 

 rarely somewhat 3-lobed, crenate or acutely toothed, 3 to 5 inches long, exceeding 

 the petioles : peduncles 1-flowered, 2 or 3 inches long, jointed above the middle, 

 united with the petiole at base : calyx 9 to 12 lines long, cleft to the middle, the 

 lobes acute ; flowers white, with a purple centre, 2 to 3 inches long : cajisule e(|ual- 

 ling the calyx, acute, velvety-pubescent : seeds nearly globose, over a line bi-oatl, 

 striate and roughened with small scattered tubercles. — Proc. Calif. Acad. iv. 292. 



