PLATE CXXXV. 



MALVA REFLEX A. 



Reflex -flowered Mallow. 



CLASS XVI. ORDER VI. o/Sckreb.Gen. 



Plant. I/89. 



MONADELPHIA POLYANDRIA. Threads united. Many Chives. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Calyx. Perianthium duplex; exterius triphyl- 

 lum, anguftius; foliolis cordatis, acutis, per- 

 fiftentibus; interim monophyllum, femi- 

 quinquefidum, majus, latius, perfiftens. 



Corolla. Petala quinque, obcordata, prse- 

 morfa, plana, tubo ftaminum bafi affixa. 



Stamina. Filamenta numerofa, inferne coalita 

 in tubum, in hujus apice et fuperficie fece- 

 dentia et libera. Antherae reniformes. 



Pistillum. Germen orbiculatum. Stylus cy- 

 lindraceus, brevis. Stigmata plurima, fe- 

 tofa, longitudine ftyli. 



Pericarpium. Capfula fubrotunda, compofita 

 e loculamentis pluribus, (tot quot ftigmata) 

 bivalvibus, virticillatim inarticulatis circum 

 receptaculum columnare, tandem dilaben- 

 tibus. 



Sbmina folitaria, rarius duo feu tria, renifor- 

 mia. 



Empalement. Cup double; the outer three 

 leaved, narrower; leaflets heart - fhaped, 

 fharp, and remaining; the inner one-leaf, 

 half rive-cleft, larger, broader, and remain- 

 ing. 



Blossom. Five petals, inverfely heart-fhaped, 

 appearing bit at the ends, fiat, fixed to the 

 tube of the chives at the bafe. 



Chives. Threads numerous, united below into 

 a tube, at its top and furface parted and 

 loofe. Tips kidney-fhaped. 



Pointal. Seed-bud orbicular. Shaft cylindri- 

 cal and fhort. Summits many, briftle- 

 fhaped, the length of the fhaft. 



Seed-vessel. Capfule roundifh, compofed of 

 many cells (as many as there are tips) two- 

 valved, forming a whorl round a columnar 

 receptacle not jointed, at length falling 

 off. 



Seeds folitary, feldom two or three, kidney- 

 fhaped. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Malva foliis cuneiformibus, inequaliter incifo- 

 lobatis; petalis reflexis. 



Mallow with wedge-fhaped leave*, unequally 

 gafhed into lobes; petals reflexed. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 



1. The Empalement, the inner and outer Cup feparated from the 



Bloffom. 



2. A Bloffom fpread open. 



3. The Chives and Pointal. 



4. The Chives, the connecting tube cut open. 



5. The Seed-bud, Shaft and Summit, magnified. 



Some light doubts, at firft, arofe in our minds, that this plant might be M. virgata, the l.Jili in 

 Profeffor Martyn'anew arrangement of Miller's Dictionary, vide art. Malva. But, from the extraor- 

 dinary length of the branches of M. virgata, there defcribed to be fix feet and a half long, and only 

 the thicknefs of a wheat ftraw at the bafe! with dark purple flowers; we cannot but confider this, 

 which never riles to more than a foot and a half or two feet in the Item, with white flowers, ex- 

 cepting a fmall ftreak of red at the bafe of the petals, as a diftiniSt and new fpecies. It is a native of 

 the Cape, and was received in feeds, from thence, in the year i'gi. As a hardy green-hotife plant 

 it is moll ornamental; the bloflbms, which are quite reflexed when full blown, bein^ produced in 

 fucceflion from March till November, upon every part of the plant. It is increafed by cuttings made 

 in Ma) , and placed under a hand-glafs on a lliady border. Light loam with a fmall mixture of peat.. 

 is the belt foil to make it flourifh. 





