SECT. II 



PHANEROGAMIA 



531 



leaves and bell-shaped yellow or red flowers (Fig. 500). The Cotton-plant, which 

 still grows wild in tropical countries, is largely cultivated in all the warmer 

 regions of Asia and America. The fruit (Fig. 500, 2) is a capsule packed with 

 white, yellow, or brown hairs (cotton), which are attached to the seeds (3), and 

 serve as an aid to wind-distribution {cf. p. 291). 



Officinal. — Malva vulgaris and M. silvestris (High-Mallow) supply Folia 

 Malvae, and M. silvestris (Fig. 499) also Flores Malvae. The leaves, Folia 

 Althaeae, and the roots, Radix Althaeae, of Althaea officinalis (common 



v^^ 



herbaceum. 1, Flowering branch ; 2, fruit ; 3, seed (nat. size 

 Officinal. (After Wossidlo.) 



Marsh-Mallow) are used medicinally, as are also the same parts of Gossypium 

 (Fig. 500). 



The fiombacaceae are very closely allied to Malvaceae; they are a family of 

 tropical trees, whose stems of soft wood are often enormously thick, and swollen 

 in the middle like a barrel. The flowers are unusually large, beautifully coloured, 

 and frequently zygomorphic ; the seeds are sometimes enveloped in long, silky 

 hairs. 



Order 11. Gruinales 



Flowers hypogynous, hermaphrodite, actinomorphic, and penta- 

 merous throughout, or zygomorphic, and then often reduced, NEVER 



WITH POLYMEROTJS WHORLS FORMED BY SPLITTING; Stamens MON- 



ADELPHOUS AT THE BASE, obdiplostemonous ; DISC ABSENT ; ovary 

 syncarpous, septated ; micropyle directed upwards. 



