SMa.] XXII. MALVAOEJl. 115 



articulate about the middle. Flowera rather small, yellow. Calyx broad, 

 glabrous or slightly hoary, prominently 10-ribbed at the base. Carpels about ]0, 

 with or without terminal erect-connivent awns, angled at the back, neither 

 wrinkled nor reticulate, opening at the top into two very short valves. 



Hab.: Abundant. 



The species is one of the commonest tropical weeds, both in the New and the Old World, and 

 includes S. retvsa, Linn., S. rhomboideu, Eoxb., S. philippica, and S, compresm, DC, and several 

 other published forms. 



Var. (?) incana. Leaves whitish on both sides as in S. spinosa, but carpels about 10, with 

 long awns. — Nicholson Eiver, F. v . Mueller ; Comet Eiver, LeicMiardt ; the specimens not 

 complete. 



13. S« cordifolia (leaves heart-shaped), Linn.; DC. Prod. i. 464 ; Benth. Fl. 

 4'ustr. i. 196. A rather coarse, branching, erect, or rarely decumbent herb or 

 undershrub, more or less clothed with a soft stellate tomentum or velvety hairs, 

 the branches often also hirsute with spreading hairs. Leaves on rather long 

 petioles, broadly cordate or almost orbicular or rarely ovate-lanceolate, 1 to If or 

 rarely 2in. long, usually soft and thick. Flowers small, yellow, on short axillary 

 pedicels or clustered into short leafy racemes. Calyx 10-ribbed at the base, softly 

 tomentose. Carpels about 10 or sometimes fewer, smooth or slightly wrinkled, 

 opening at the top in 2 valves, and in the usual form terminating in rather 

 long erect-connivent awns. 



Hab.: Peak Downs and other inland parts. 



The species is very abundant in almost all tropical countries, and includes S. althmfolia, Lam., 

 and several other supposed species. 



Var. (?) mutica. Carpels without the awns which generally distinguish the species. The 

 leaves are very soft and velvety, but small and narrow ; the specimens have, however, lost those 

 of the primary branches. — Maoarthur Eiver, Gulf of Carpentaria. 



14. S. platycalyx (broad calyx), F. v. M. Herb. ; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 197. 

 Shrubby and densely clothed with a soft floccose or velvety stellate tomentum. 

 Leaves ovate-cordate or nearly orbicular, obtuse, crenate, lin. long or more, soft 

 and thick. Pedicels as long as the leaves, soft, articulate above the middle. 

 Calyx broadly campanulate, about 6 lines long, with a broadly obtuse base, the 

 lobes erect or spreading, shorter than the tube, densely tomentose outside, each 

 sepal marked with 3 prominent ribs, with another almost equally prominent at 

 the junction of the sepals. Petals broad, shorter than the calyx. Stamens very 

 numerous, the staminal tube almost truncate at the top. Carpels about 24, 

 closely packed in a tomentose ring round the base of the styles, which are free 

 almost to the base With small capitate stigmas. Fruit not seen. 



Hab.: Tropics. 



15. S. inclusa (enclosed), Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 197. A shrub, densely velvety 

 tomentose or almost floccose. Leaves ovate or orbicular, often cordate, obtuse, 

 crenate, mostly above lin. long. Flowers not seen. Fruiting calyx on peduncles 

 of about lin., membranous and inflated, above lin. diameter, tomentose, marked 

 with numerous longitudinal veins or ribs, the short lobes connivent, so as com- 

 pletely to enclose the fruit. Carpels numerous, stellate-hirsute, echinate with 

 rather soft hirsute spines, forming a depressed orbicular fruit of nearly lin. 

 diameter. 



Hab.: Georgina. 



This species and S. platycalyx are distinguished in the genus by their many-ribbed calyx ; as 

 the one is only known in fruit, and the other in flower, or scarcely pa,st, the distinction between 

 the two cannot be established with certainty, but S. platycalyx certainly shows np tendency to 

 the singular enlargement of the calyx of S. inclusa. — Benth, 



