FLORA OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 135 



claws of the petals ; with one celled anthers and hispid pollen. Ovary 

 several-celled with the placentae in the axis ; or ovaries several. Fruit 

 capsular, or the carpels separate or separable ; the seeds with a little 

 mucilaginous or fleshy albumen, and a large embryo with variously 

 incurved or folded foliaceous cotyledons. To this Order belongs Cot' 

 ton, the Okra (Hibiscus (Abelmoschus) esculentns) of the East Indies, 

 and other useful and ornamental plants. 



Carpels 1-ovulate, arranged in a ring round tlie axis. 

 Style-branches as many as carpels. 



Ovule ascending, 1. MALVASTBTJM. 



Ovule pendulous, .5 2. Sii>A. 



Carpels with 2 or more ovules, more or less united In a several-celled 



capsule. 

 Style-branches or stigmas spreading. Seeds renlfbrm. 



Anthers terminating the stamineal column. Carpels free at 



the top. Bractlets none, 3. ABtrTiLON. 



Stamineal column ending in five teeth below which the anthers 



are placed. Carpels united at the top. Bractlets several, 4. HIBISCUS, 

 Style club-shaped at the apex, undivided, or barely divided into 

 short erect branches. Seeds obovoid or angled. 



Bractlets 3 -5, small, 5. THESPESIA. 



Bractlets 3, large and cordate, 6. GOSSYPIUSI. 



1. MALVASTBUM Gray. 



Bractlets under the calyx 1-3, small, or sometimes wanting. 

 Calyx 5-lobed. Stamineal column divided at the top into several fila- 

 ments. Carpels 5 or more, in a ring round the axis, 1-ovulute, inde- 

 hiscent. Style with as many branches as carpels ; stigmas terminal. 

 Seed ascending. Herbs. Flowers rather small, orange, red, or 

 yellow. 



An American genus of which one species Is dispersed as a weed over most of the 

 tropical regions of the Old World. 



1. M. TRICUSPIDATUM Gray. (Enum. No. 55.) An erect branch- 

 ing herb, 2 - 3 high, hard and almost woody at the base, although 

 sometimes annual, the branches sprinkled or covered with closely 

 appressed hairs. Leaves on rather long petioles, from broadly ovatfe 

 to lanceolate, 1'- 2' long, irregularly toothed and hairy. Flowers 

 almost sessile in the axils of the leaves, or clustered towards the ends 

 of the branches. Calyx campanulate, broadly 5-lobed, with 3 small 

 narrow external bracts. Carpels 8-12, or even more, closely packed 

 in a depressed ring, each one reniform, with 3 minute unequal points 

 on the upper inner edge. 



In waste places, often abundant. Probably of American origin, but how Widely dif* 

 fused as a weed over the warmer regions of the globe. 



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