78 MALVACEAE. 



COTYLEDONS foliaceous, plaited and infolded : radicle in- 

 ferior." 



Shrubs, with alternate stipulate usually rounded and ob- 

 scurely lobed leaves, and axillary peduncles bearing single 

 showy flowers. Corolla usually blood-red or scarlet. 



Etymology. Name compounded of Malva, mallow, and viscus, bird- 

 lime, or something glutinous, from the mucilaginous or pulpy character of 

 the fruit. 



Geographical Distribution. Natives of Tropical America, one spe- 

 cies growing in the warmer part of Texas. M. Floridanus, Nutt., is, I 

 believe, an Hibiscus. 



Note. None of the indigenous specimens of M. Druramondii I have 

 examined show the fruit, nor has it yet been produced upon the specimens 

 in cultivation in the Botanic Garden, where the plant flowers freely through 

 the summer. 



PLATE 131. Malvaviscus Drummondii, Torr. df Gray; — branch in 

 flower, of the natural size, from a plant raised from Texan seeds. 



1. Diagram of the cEstivation and position of the parts of the flower, with 



a magnified cross-section of the ovary. 



2. Section of the convolute corolla in flower. 



3. A petal detached, of the natural size. 



4. An anther, magnified. 



5. Flower vertically divided through the column, the ovary, &c., enlarged. 



6. Ovule detached and more magnified. 



7. Summit of the stamineal column, showing the naked five-toothed apex. 



8. Fructified ovary, with the calyx and involucre, of the natural size. 



9. An immature seed, enlarged. 



