JIALVACE.'E. 2o7 



the ovary commonly with as many cells as styles or stigmas. Fruit a 

 loculicidal capsule, or the carpels separating at maturity. 



Anthers scattered along the outside of the tube of filaments; carpels or cells 



of the ovary 5; fruit a loculicidal capsule 1. Hibiscus. 



Anthers borne in a cluster at the top of the tube of filaments; carpels 



several, crowded and united around a central axis, separating at 



maturity. 

 Styles stigmatic lengthwise on the inside. 



Braotlets united at base into a 2 to 3-lobed involucel, free from the caly.x; 

 shrubs 2. L.vvatera. 



Bractlets 3, distinct, inserted on the caly.x; herbs. . . . 3. M.ilva. 



Bractlets none, or one and inserted at base of calyx; herbs 



4. SiDALCEA. 



Styles mth terminal stigma; bractlets slender or even filiform. 

 Flowers roseate, rose-purple or white; mostly shrubs or suffrutescent 



plants . . .6. Malvastevm. 



Flowers cream-color; low decumbent herb . . 6. Sida. 



1. HIBISCUS L. Eose-Mallow. 



Stout herbs. Flowers showy, in ours solitary on the subterminal 

 peduncles. Involucel consisting of numerous slender bractlets. 

 Stamen column with anthers scattered along the upper part but 

 naked at the truncate 5-toothed summit. Ovary 5-celled with 2 to 

 many ovules in each cell. Capsule loculicidal. (Greek name for the 

 Marsh Mallow, used by Dioscorides.) 



1. H. Californicus Kell. Stems pubescent, cane-like, 3 to 7 ft. 

 high; leaves cordate, dentate, acuminate, 2.i to 3 in. long from the 

 summit of petiole to apex of leaf, and about as broad; petioles IJ or 

 '2 in. long; bractlets and valves of capsule ciliate; peduncles 2 or 3 in. 

 lone;, jointed near the middle, united with the petiole at base; calyx 

 campanulate, cleft to the middle, conspicuously nerved at maturity 

 and filled by the capsule; corolla white or roseate, with deep crimson 

 center. 3 to 4 in. long; capsule exceeding 1 in. long; seed minutely 

 papillate. 



XjOW marshy places along the Sacramento and San Joaquin Kivers. 



2. LA V ATE R A L. 



Ours shrubs with ample maple-like leaves and small caducous 

 stipules. Flowers showy, axillary, subtended by a 2 to 3-lcibed 

 involucel. Pedicels jointed above the middle. Calyx with 5 triangu- 

 lar acute lobes. Petals reflexed after anthesis, truncate or refuse, 

 long-clawed. Stamen-column elongated. Styles 5 to 8. Fruit a 

 depressed whorl of smooth carpels. (Two brothel's Lavater, Swiss 

 physicians and naturalists.) 



1. L. assurgentiflora Kell. Branching shrub 4 to 10 ft. high, 

 the herbage canescent or nearly green; leaves palmately 5-lobed and 

 dentately toothed; corolla 2 in. broad, the petals ruse-color with 

 darker veins; claws bearded at base; axis of the fruit below the 

 flattened or low conical summit with as many longitudinal wings or 

 ridges as carpels, these inserted in the intervals or depressions. 



Region of San Francisco Bay, commonly cultivated and said to be 

 naturalized; flowering at nearly all seasons. 



