192 



CLASSIFICATION 



carpus two of the sepals enclosing the fruit enlarge 

 into two wings, hence the name. A dark-coloured, 

 thick, strong-smelling balsam called chooa is obtained 

 by distilling the amber-coloured resin which exudes 

 from wounds in the bark of Isauxis lancecefolia King, 

 a tree that grows in Chittagong (mohal). Copal 

 varnish is the resin of Vateria indica of South India. 

 Nat. Order 24. Malvacece. — Herbs, shrubs, or trees, 



inner bark fibrous, juice 

 usually mucilaginous. 

 Leaves alternate, simple, 

 palmi-nerved at leastat the 

 base. Stipules 2, lateral, 

 free. Flowers regular, usu- 

 ally with a whorl of bracts 

 or epicalyx at the base, 

 forming a sort of exterior 

 calyx. Sepals 5, gamo- 

 sepalous, lobes valvate. 

 Petals 5, adnate below to 

 the staminal column, im- 

 bricate, twisted. Stamens 

 many, monadelphous, the 

 column of stamens being 

 adnate to the claws of the petals at the base. Ovary 

 of 5 to many carpels, syncarpous; style single, passing 

 through the middle of the hollow staminal column and 

 dividing at the top into as many branches as there are 

 carpels, each branch ending in a stigma; ovules i to 

 many in each cell. Fruit of dry indehiscent cocci, or 

 capsular. Seeds round or reniform, with scanty muci- 

 laginous albumen. 



The Order is chiefly distributed in temperate and 

 tropical regions. Common Indian genera are Sida, 

 Abutilon, Urena, Hibiscus, Gossypium, and Bonibax. 



Fig. 166. — Longpitudinal Section of Flower 

 of Jaba (Hibiscus Rosa-siiiensis) 



