Hibiscus. MALVACEAE. 



87 



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

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

 glabrous; carpels (5 to 10, triangular, 1 J lines long, blunt above, attached by the 

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

 Dougl. in Hook. Fl. i. 107. M. ■plicata, Nutt.; Torr. & Gray, FL i. 227. Sida (!) 

 obliqua, Xutt. 1. c. 233. 

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



7. ABUTILON, Tourn. 



Bractlets none. Seeds or ovules 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, ou 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. & Grav, FL 

 i. 235. 



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

 Caiion Tantillas, below San Diego, Palmer. 



2. A. Newberryi, Watson. Somewhat woody 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. 125. Spha-ralcea incana, Gray, Lot. Ives 

 Colorado Exp. 8. 



In the same locality (Palmer) ; also on the Lower GUa (Emory), and at Canebrakc Caiion on 

 the Lower Colorado, Newberry. 



A. PALMERI, Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 2S9, 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-toothcd. Styles united: stigmas 

 5, capitate. Fruit a 5-celled loculicidal pod, the cells several seeded. — Stout herbs 

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



A large genus of al«mt l.'iO sprrics, distributed around the world, mainly in tropical or sub- 

 tropical regions. Many are cultivated I'm- ornament. Some of the species of Northern Mexico 

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



1. H. Californicus, Kellogg. Perennial, erect and branching, 5 to 7 feel high, 

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

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

 the petioles ; peduncles 1 flowered, 2 or 3 inches long, jointed above the mi. bile, 

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



loins acute ; flowers white, with a purple centre, 2 to •"> inches long : capsul |ual 



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

 striate and roughened with small scattered tubercle . Proi I alif. A.cad. i\. 292, 



