82 MALVACEAE. 



squamulose, or hairy. Embryo arcuate in mucilaginous or 

 fleshy albumen : cotyledons foliaceous, cordate, plaited and 

 chrysaloid-infolded : radicle centripetal or inferior. 



Herbs, or often shrubs or trees, with alternate lobed or 

 undivided leaves, and axillary peduncles which are usually 

 articulated towards the apex and bear single large and showy 

 flowers. Stipules often deciduous. 



Etymology. 'l^iaKos, an ancient name of the Marsh Mallow, applied 

 by Linnaeus to an allied genus. 



Geographical Distribution. A genus of a considerable number of 

 species, the greater part tropical or subtropical. Eight or ten species are 

 indigenous to the warmer regions of the United States ; one of which ex- 

 tends north along the coast to New England, and another to Ohio and 

 Pennsylvania. 



Properties, &c. Several are highly ornamental in cultivation. All 

 have the tough bark and the mucilaginous qualities of the order. 



Note. The Okra (H. esculentus, Linn.), so well known as a demulcent 

 and for its culinary uses, and H. Manihot, Linn., belong to the genus Abel- 

 MOSCHus, Medik., characterized by its tubular spatbaceous calyx, which 

 splits down one side and is, with the involucel, deciduous. Of this no in- 

 digenous representatives are known in the United States, except Hibiscus 

 Collinsianus, Nutt. (if that be distinct from A. esculentus), of which I 

 have no specimen for illustration. 



PLATE 133. Hibiscus Moscheutos, Linn. ; — a flower and floral leaf, of 

 the natural size (the bases of the peduncle and petiole united). 



1. Diagram of the aestivation of the floral envelopes. 



2. Flower, with the column, ovary, &c., vertically divided, enlarged. 



3. An anther, magnified. 



4. An ovule, more magnified. 



5. Transverse section of an ovary, magnified. 



6. Dehiscent capsule and calyx, of the natural size. 



7. A seed, enlarged. 



8. Transverse section of the same. (The cotyledons should have been 



shown plaited on the back.) 



9. Embryo detached entire, more magnified. 



