566 MALVACEAE QMALLOW FAMILY^ 



globose, smaller, 6 mm. thick. (T. pubescens Man. ed. 6, not Ait.) — Ct. to 

 Fla., and westw. 



3. T. heterophylla Vent. (White B.) Leaves larger, smooth and bright 

 green above, silvery -ivhitened with a fine down underneath ; bract usually taper- 

 ing at base. — Chiefly on limestone, s. N. Y. and mts. of Pa. to s. 111., and 

 southw. 



MALVACEAE (Mallow Family) 



Herbs or shrubs, with alternate stipulate leaves and regular flowers, the calyx 

 valvate and the corolla convolute in the bud, numerous stamens monadelphous 

 in a column and united at base with the short claws of the petals, 1-celled 

 anthers, and kidney-shaped seeds. Sepals 5, united at base, persistent, often 

 involucellate with a whorl of bractlets forming a sort of -exterior calyx. Petals 

 5. Anthers kidney-shaped, opening along the top. Pistils several, the ovaries 

 united in a ring or forming a several-celled pod. Seeds with little albumen ; 

 embryo curved, the leafy cotyledons variously doubled up. — Mucilaginous in- 

 nocent plants, with tough bark and palmately-veined leaves. Flower-stalks 

 with a joint, axillary. 



Tribe I. MAlVEAE. Column of stamens anther-bearing at the top. Ovaries and carpels 5-20 

 or more, closely united in a ring around a central axis, from which they separate after ripening. 

 * Stigmas terminal, capitate ; carpels 1-few-seeded, usually dehiscent. 



1. Abutilon. Involucel none. Seeds 3-9 in each cell. 



2. Sphaeralcea. Bractlets 3. Seeds 2 or 3 in each cell. 



3. Modiola. Bractlets 3. Seeds 2 in each cell, with a transverse partition between them. 



4. Malvastrum. Involucel of 3 bractlets or none. Seed solitary, filling the cell, ascending. 



5. Sida. Involucel none. Seed soUtary in each cell, pendulous. 



* * Stigmas occupying the inner face of the styles ; carpels 1-seeded, falling away separately. 



6. Althaea. Involucel of 6-9 bractlets. 



j-l. Malva. Involucel of 3 bractlets. Petals obcordate. Carpels rounded, beakless. 



8. Calllrhoe. Involucel of 1-3 bractlets or none. Petals truncate. Carpels beaked. 



9. Napaea. Involucel none. Flowers dioecious. Stamens few (15-20). Carpels beakless. 



Tribe II. HIBfSCEAE. Column of stamens anther-bearing for a considerable part of its length, 

 naked and 5-toothed at the very apex. Pod mostly 5-celled, locuUcidal, leaving scarcsly any 

 axis in the center after opening. 



10. Kosteletzkya. Involucel of several bractlets. Pod 5-cened, 5-seeded. 



11. Hibiscus. Involucel of many bractlets. Pod 5-celled, many-seeded. 



1. ABtTILON [Tourn.] Mill. Indian Mallow 



Carpels 2-9-seeded, at length 2-valved. Radicle ascending or pointing in- 

 ward. Otherwise as in Sida. (Name of unknown origin.) 



1. A. Theophrasti Medic. (Velvet Leaf.) Tall annual, 6-12 dm. high ; 

 leaves roundish-heart-shaped, taper-pointed, velvety ; peduncles shorter than 

 the leaf-stalks ; corolla yellow ; carpels 12-15, hairy, beaked. (A. Avicennae 

 Gaertn.; A. Abutilon Rusby.) — Waste places, vacant lots in cities, etc. (Nat. 

 from India.) 



2. SPHAERALCEA St. Hil. 



Ovules and seeds usually 2 or 3 in each cell. Characters otherwise as in 

 Malvastrum. (Name from a<f>a'ipa, a sphere, and d\K^a, a mallow — from the 

 commonly spherical fruit.) 



1. S. rembta (Greene) Fernald. Perennial, erect, bushy-branched, 1-2 m. 

 high, densely and stellately pubescent ; leaves maple-shaped, 5-7-cleft ; flowers 

 clustered in the upper axils and subspicate ; calyx densely pubescent, its cau- 

 date-acuminate lobes 1-1. .5 cm. long ; petals rose-color. (S. acerifolia Man. ed. 

 ^ npt Nutt.) —Known only from a gravelly island in the Kankakee R., 111. 



