MALLOW FAMILY. Malvaceas, 



polygamous (staminate, pistillate, and perfect flowers 

 occur on the same plant), and are borne in a rather broad 

 cluster ; they are succeeded by the beautiful, small cadet 

 blue berries early in October ; both leaf- and berrj^-stalks 

 are deep red. The leaves turn a brilliant deep red in 

 autumn. In thin woods and thickets, from Me,, south, 

 and w^est to the Daks, and Tex. Not infrequently it is 

 mistaken for poison ivy {Rhus toxicodendron), a needless 

 error, as the latter bears th ree never five leaflets. 



MALLOW FAMILY. Malvacece. 



Herbs or shrubs with alternate, more or less cut or 

 divided leaves. The flowers perfect, regular, and roUed- 

 up in the bud ; rarely the staminate flowers are on one 

 plant, and the pistillate on another, thus necessitating 

 cross-fertilization ; or rarely there are all three kinds of 

 flowers, showing a stage of development. There are 

 generally five sepals and five petals ; the stamens are 

 indefinite in number. The fruit generally a capsule. 

 Fertilization assisted by bees and butterflies. 



An erect perennial plant with branching 

 Marsh Mallow ^^^^^^ ^^^ velvety-downy, generally three- 

 ^(,ffivin'(di^ lobed leaves. They are light green, ovate, 



Pale crimson= toothed, and stout-stemmed. The holly- 

 pink hocklike flowers, an inch or more broad, 

 August- pg^jg crimson-pink and veined ; the sta- 

 ep em er niens monadelphous, that is, collected in 

 one column or tube around the central pistil, which is 

 characteristic of the family. Flowers borne in small 

 terminal clusters or at the leaf-angles. The thick root 

 mucilaginous and officinal; it is commonly used in confec- 

 tionery. 2-4 feet high. In salt marshes on the coasts of 

 Mass., N. Y., and N. J. Naturalized from Europe. 

 -•; An exceedingly common weed, annual 

 '^ 'Round=leav«d or biennial, creeping over the ground, with 

 Mallow, or ornamental, dark green, round leaves, 

 ^^j^^,^ having usually five shallow scalloped- 

 rotnndifoUa shaped lobes, irregularly toothed ; the 

 White stalks xerj long. Flowers clustered in 



262 



