Sida.] XXII. MALVACE^. Ill 



shortly at the top in 2 valves. Seeds pendulous or horizontal, with a dorsal 

 raphe. — Herbs or shrubs, usually clothed with a soft or whitish stellate tomentum. 

 Stipules in all the Australian species except N. Hookeriana, subulate and de- 

 ciduous. Flowers sessile or pedunculate, axillary or in terminal heads, spikes, or 

 racemes, of various colours and sometimes large, but most frequently rather 

 small, yellow, or whitish. 



The genus, even as now limited to the exclusion of the Almtilons, is large and widely spread 

 over the warmer regions of the globe, but most abundant in America. Of the Australian species 

 three are common tropical weeds, the remainder all endemic. — Benth. 



§ 1. Calyx without prominent ribs or angles. Carpels strongly reticulate on the sides (except 

 S. pleiantlia), indehiscent or 7iearly so, never aristate. Perennials or shrubs. Leaves undivided. 

 Flowers 1 or 2 together, on slender pedicels, articulate near the top. 

 Calyx-lobes obtuse, not protruding beyond the broad part of the fruit. 

 Carpels strongly wrinkled on the back. Fruit 2J to 4 lines diameter 1. ,S'. corrugata. 

 Leaves roundish. Peduncles 4in. long. Calyx-lobes nearly deltoid. 



Carpels prickly on the back 2. S. Spenceriana. 



Leaves linear. Peduncles under lin. long. Calyx-lobes deltoid. 



Carpels hairy 3. S. argeiitea. 



Carpels not or very slightly wrinkled. Fruit not exceeding 2 lines 



diameter. Leaves and flowers very small 4. S. intricata. 



Calyx-lobes acute or scarcely acuminate, remaining herbaceous, and not 

 much enlarged after flowering. 



Leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, cordate at the base 5. S. macropoda. 



Leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, not cordate 6. S. virgata. 



Calyx-lobes acuminate, with long, subulate, wooUy points 7. S. cryphiopetala. 



Calyx-lobes enlarged and thinner or scarious after flowering. Leaves 

 lanceolate or oblong. Carpels 6 to 8. Fruiting calyx about Jin, 

 diameter, slightly spreading ; lobes narrow, ovate-lanceolate ... 8. S. petropMla. 



Flowers clustered, several together. Pedicels short, not articulate. 

 Flowers nearly sessile. Tomentum dense, or rarely scanty. Carpels 



reticulate on the side 9. S. subspicata. 



Flowers pedicellate. Tomentum thin or floccose. Carpels not reticulate 10. S. pleiantha. 



§ 2. Calyx 5-angled, prominently 10-ribbed. Carpels not reticulate on the sides, and opening in 



2 short valves at the top. Herbs or undershrubs. Leaves undivided. 



Leaves ovate or narrow, whitish with a close tomentum on both sides. 



Carpels 5 11. S. spinosa. 



Leaves ovate or narrow, whitish with a close tomentum underneath. 



Carpels about 10 . 12. S. rhombifolia. 



Leaves broad, cordate (or rarely narrow). Tomentum soft, loose, or vel- 

 vety. Carpels about 10 13, S. cordifolia. 



§ 3. Calyx with 15 or 20 nerves prominent when in fruit. Carpels numerous. Styles free to 



the base. Leaves undivided. 



Calyx enlarging little after flowering, open at the top 14. S. platycalyx. 



Fruiting calyx very large, membranous, quite closed over the fruit . . .15. S. inclusa. 



1. S. corrugata (fruit furrowed), Lindl. in Mitch. Three Exped. ii. 13 ; 

 Benth. Fl. Amtr. i. 192. Eootstock and often the base of the stem woody, the 

 branches usually diffuse or procumbent and under 1ft. long, or in some varieties 

 elongated, slender, and divaricate, attaining fully 2ft., more or less hoary as well 

 as the leaves with stellate hairs or short pubescence. Leaves orbicular, ovate or 

 lanceolate, crenate, mostly i to lin. long, cordate or obtuse at the base, on 

 petioles shorter than the laminse, and sometimes very short. Pedicels axil- 

 lary, 1 to 3 together, filiform or slender, rarely as long as the leaves, articulate 

 below the top. Calyx tomentose, 2 to 2^ lines long, the lobes broad and obtuse, 

 spreading under the fruit. Petals yellow, about twice the length of the calyx. 

 Stamens 10 to 15. Fruit depressed-globular, varying from 2| to near 5 lines 

 diameter, tomentose or nearly glabrous, the obtuse often-raised centre marked 

 with radiating furrows formed by the grooved connivent summits of the carpels, 

 the circumference deeply wrinkled. Carpels 6 to 10, indehiscent, strongly reticu- 

 late on the sides. Seeds glabrous or slightly tomentose. — F. v. M, PI. Vict. i. 163. 



Hab-: On the Maranoa, Mitchell ; in the interior, Leichhardt. 



