12^ XXIi. MAliVACEiE. [Paronia. 



1. P. hastata (Halbert-headed form of leaf), Car. Diss. 138, t. 47,/. 2; 

 Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 207. A low spreading shrub, more or less hoary, with a minute 

 close stellate tomentum. Stipules subulate. Leaves petiolate, from ovate- 

 cordate to oblong-hastate, obtuse, 1 to 2in. long, coarsely crenate, scabrous above, 

 hoary-tomentose underneath ; when hastate, the lateral-lobes short and obtuse. 

 Pedicels usually shorter than the leaves. Bracteoles 5, ovate, herbaceous, nearly as 

 long as the calyx. Calyx tomentose, 2 to 3 lines long, divided to the middle into 

 5 ovate lobes. Petals in the perfect flowers twice as long as the calyx, of a 

 reddish-purple with a dark centre, but in other flowers, equally fertile, they are 

 very small and closed over the stamens, which are then reduced to 5, whilst they 

 are much more numerous in the perfect flowers. Carpels obovoid, indehiscent, 

 usually pubescent, strongly reticulate and with a slightly raised dorsal rib, — DC. 

 Prod. i. 443 ; Eeichb. Icon. Exot. t. 227 ; Greevesia cleisocaly.r, F. v. M. in Kew 

 Journ. viii. 8 (founded on clandestine-flowered specimens). 



Hab.: Moreton Bay, Brisbane River to Expedition Eange. 



Also a native of Monte Video in South America, where, as well as in Australia, it produces 

 both kinds of flowers, although the clandestine ones appear never to have been observed until 

 pointed out by P. v. Mueller. —Benth. 



10. HIBISCUS, Linn. 

 (The ancient name of the Mallow.) 

 (Abelmoschus, Medik.; Paritium, A. St. Hil.) 

 Bracteoles several, rarely reduced to 5 or fewer, usually narrow, free or more 

 or less united, sometimes Very small. Calyx 5-lobed or 5-toothed. Staminal 

 column bearing usually numerous filaments on the outside below the truncate or 

 5-toothed summit. Ovary 5-celled, with 3 or more ovules in each cell ; style- 

 branches 5, spreading, or rarely erect and subconnate or exceedingly short, with 

 terminal dilated or capitate stigmas. Capsule membranous or coriaceous, loculi- 

 cidally 5-valved, the endooarp not usually separating, and rarely produced into 

 spurious dissepiments apparently doubling the number of cells. Seeds reniform 

 or nearly globular, glabrous-pubescent or woolly. — Herbs, shrubs, or trees, hispid 

 tomentose or glabrous, the hairs almost always stellate. Leaves various, often 

 deeply divided. Stipules in the Australian species subulate or small and 

 deciduous, except in H. tUiaceus. Flowers usually large, the petals almost always 

 marked with a deeper colour at the base. Filaments usually short and numerous, 

 crowded along the greater part of the elongated staminal column, rarely elon- 

 gated, fewer and placed close round the top of the short column. Bracteoles 

 usually persistent, but in a few species so deciduous as only to be seen on the very 

 young buds. 



A very large genus, widely dispersed over the tropical regions of the globe, a few extending 

 into more temperate climates both in the northern and southern hemispheres. Of the Australian 

 species four are generally distributed over E. India and Africa ; of three others belonging to the 

 section Abelmoschus, one is found in the Indian Peninsula, another is cultivated, if not wild, in 

 the Indian Archipelago, the third is nearly allied to a corresponding E. Indian species, but in 

 some respects distinct; an eighth species, of the section Paritium, is a common maritime tropical 

 tree ; the remaining 18 are all endemic. 



§ 1. Bracteoles free (sometimes very deciduous). Calyx 5-toothed, iplitting open on one side 

 and deciduous. Tall annuals i (Abelmoschus, Ifcdifc. J 



Glabrous or the inflorescence tomentose. Bracteoles small, falling off 



from the young bud. Flowers white . . . 1. H. ficulneits. 



Hispid. Bracteoles 8 to 12, linear, persistent. Flowers red .... 2. if. rhodopetalus. 



Glabrous or slightly setose. Bracteoles 5, broad -lanceolate, persistent. 



Flowers yellow 3. H. Manihot. 



Flowers white, with a reddish centre i. H. Notho-Mamhot. 



§ 2. Bracteoles free. Calyx shortly S-lobed, inflated. Herb with 

 deeply lobed leaves. (Trionum, Medik.) 5. H. triumiin. 



