80 MALVACE^. [Malva. 



extremely minute, hardly the size of an ordinary pin's head, axillary and termi- 

 nal, solitary, on erect peduncles that apparently elongate after flowering. Bracts 

 none. Calyx globose, 4-cleft, segments united to the middle, their summits 

 acutely tridentate. Petals alternate with and about as long as the calyx-seg- 

 ments, ovate or ovate-oblong, somewhat pointed, pellucid. Capsules enclosed in 

 the calyx, depresso-globose, 8-lobed. 



Order XV. MALVACE^, Juss. 



" Calyx 5-cleft, valvate in Eestivation. Corolla of 5 petals, 

 regular, twisted in aestivation. Stamens indefinite, monadelphous, 

 often united with the petals at their bases. Anthers reniform, 1 -cell- 

 ed. Ovary 1. Styles single or several combined. Stigmas seve- 

 ral. Fruit a capsule, with many cells and valves ; or composed of 

 many carpels, which are dehiscent or indehiscent, collected into 

 a compact body, or placed in a whorl round the base of the style. 

 Albumen none, or fleshy, but not abundant. Embryo cm'ved, with 

 twisted and doubled cotyledons. — Herbs or shrubs, or trees. 

 Leaves alternate, ivith stipules. Flowers axillary." — Br. Fl. 



I. Malva, Linn. Mallow. 



Calyx with a 3-leaved involucre. Carpels numerous, circularly 

 arranged, 1-seeded. 



1. M. sylvestris, L. Common Mallow. " Stem erect herba- 

 ceous, leaves with 5 — 7 rather acute deep lobes, piediuicles and 

 petioles hairy, fruit glabrous reticulately wrinkled." — Br. Fl. p. 

 76. E. B. t. 671. 



p. Stems prostrate. 



y. micrantha. 



h. Flowers pale blue. 



c. Flowers pure white. 



Common almost everywhere in waste ground, by roadsides, border.s of fields and 

 woods, on hedge- and ditch-banks, amongst rubbish, &c. Fl. June — September. 

 H.. or according to some $ . 



p. Sandy shore between Ryde and Sea View. 



y. On a piece of waste ground at Ryde. 



8. Upon chalky slopes on the southern face of Bembridge down, near the Cul- 

 ver cliffs, sparingly, W. Sorrer, Esq. 



e. On the shore at Norton, near Yarmouth. 



The var. y. is a most singular one, differing from the ordinary form only in the 

 flowers, which are scarcely J the size of those of the ordinary plant, of a deeper 

 more uniform purple with fainter streaks, the petals narrower in proportion, more 

 acutely notched, and scarcely equal to the column of fructification which pro- 

 trudes in the yet not half-expanded flower-bud. Dr. Bell-Salter very justly 

 remarked that this var. stands in the same relation to 31. sylvestris as M. pusilla 

 does to M. rotundifolia. 



2. M.. rotundifolia, h. Round-leaved ov Dwarf Mallow. "Stem 

 decumbent, leaves roundish cordate slightly and bluntly 5-lobed, 

 fruit-stalks bent down, petals 2 — 3 times longer than the calyx. 



