06 MALVACEAE. 



Fruit a whorl of 5 to 20 or more united follicular carpels, 

 which scarcely separate from each other or from the central 

 axis at maturity, usually invested helow by the persistent 

 calyx, their summits often radiate-spreading, rostrate or 

 pointless, coriaceous or membranaceous, dehiscent by the 

 ventral suture at the apex, and frequently also by the dorsal 

 suture, each three - six-seeded, or by abortion one - two- 

 seeded, the cell destitute of any internal process or partition. 

 Seeds round-reniform or subclavate-reniform, the lower resu- 

 pinate-pendulous, the upper often horizontal, or, when there 

 are several, ascending, the umbilical sinus superior or dorsal : 

 testa crustaceous, smooth, or minutely hairy. Embryo in- 

 curved, in sparing fleshy albumen : cotyledons very broad, 

 foliaceous, cordate, biplicate and infolded, partly inclosing 

 the radicle, which is centripetal or in the lower seeds cen- 

 tripetal-superior. 



Herbs, or sometimes shrubs, or even trees in the tropics, 

 often tomentose or velvety with a fine stellate pubescence. 

 Leaves alternate, palmately veined, almost always cordate, 

 serrate or entire, rarely lobed. Stipules free, deciduous. 

 Peduncles axillary, solitary or several, one -several-flowered, 

 articulated below the apex, sometimes paniculate by the 

 reduction of the upper leaves of the branches to bracts. 

 Corolla yellow or orange. 



Etymology. The name is of unknown origin or meanintr, probably 

 Oriental : it appears to have been introduced by Dodoneus and Bauhin. The 

 genus has commonly been united to Sida. 



Geographical Distribution. A genus of numerous species, which be- 

 long chiefly to the tropical regions of the Old and the New World. Three 

 or four species are indigenous to the southern borders of the United States, 

 namely, in Florida and Texas ; and one (the common Indian Mallow or 

 Velvet-leaf), a native of India, has escaped from gardens and become spar- 

 ingly naturalized around dwellings and by the road-side in the Northern 

 States. 



Properties. These plants possess the demulcent qualities of the whole 

 family ; and in India and Brazil some species are employed in popular 

 medicine the same way as is the officinal Marsh Mallow in Europe. 



