MALLOW FAMILY 



petals ; anthers kidney -shaped, one-celled ; cells opening along 

 the top. 



Pistil. — Ovaries several, united in a ring, forming a five- 

 celled pod. 



Fruit. — Capsule, ovoid, five-lobed, five-celled, many -seeded. 

 Seeds kidney-shaped. 



A stranger from a far-off land, the Althaea has 

 bloomed in English gardens for three hundred years 

 and has been in America at least one hundred. It is 

 here proving itself an excellent city plant ; flourishing 

 even where soft coal is burned and where the atmos- 

 phere is laden with gas and smoke. Its habit of mid- 

 summer bloom makes it a favorite, together with its 

 remarkable freedom from insects' attacks and fungus 

 enemies. 



One characteristic of the bush is very noticeable. 

 The stem and larger branches of a thrifty individual 

 are apparently directly clothed with leaves ; really the 

 little groups of leaves are borne at the summit of 

 dwarfed branchlets, not more than an inch long and 

 frequently shorter. In winter these are very apparent. 



The varieties of Althaeas offered by the dealers are 

 legion. Plants with green leaves and plants with 

 variegated ones ; flowers single and flowers double ; 

 light-eyed or dark-eyed, ranging through purple, ma- 

 genta and rose to white. The plant is a mallow, be- 

 longing to the family of which the hollyhock is the 

 type ; and the single flowers look like hollyhocks. 

 When the flower doubles, the additional petals spring 

 from the central column of united stamens. Linnaeus 

 supposed the plant was a native of Asia Minor; it is 

 now believed to be of Chinese origin. 



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