38 STERCULiACE^. \Helictereh 



with, projecting woolly processes, the carpels straight, not spirally twisted, as 

 in some species. — Oudemansia integerrima, ^ angustifolia, Miq. PI. Ned. lud. i, 

 pars ii. 170. 



Very common on low gromids. Champion and others. Extends from S. China to the Phi- 

 lippines, Java, and the Malayan Peninsula. 



Oedbe XIX. BTJETTNERIACE^. 



Sepals usually B, more or less united in a toothed or lobed calyx, valvate in 

 the bud. Petals either B, free or adhering to the staminal tube, convolute in 

 the bud, or none. Stamens usually united in a short 5- or 10-lobed tube ; 

 5 of the lobes bearing at their summit 1 to 4 3-celled anthers ; the other 5, 

 when present, usually without anthers ; sometimes indefinite, united in a column, 

 with the anthers all 2-celled and terminal. Ovary free, 3- to 5- or 10-celled, 

 or divided into as many carpels, rarely reduced to a single carpel, with 2 or 

 more ovules in each cell or carpel. Style entire or divided into as many lobes 

 as cells or carpels. Pruit usually capsular, with a loculicidal dehiscence ; the 

 cai-pels often separating, and rarely indehiscent. Seeds with or without albu- 

 men. Embryo straight or curved. — 'Herbs, shrubs, climbers, or trees. Leaves 

 alternate, simple, entire or lobed. Stipides rarely wanting. Inflorescence ax- 

 illary, or rarely terminal. Like the last, this Order might be considered as a 

 suborder of Malvaceae. 



A large family, dispersed throughout the tropics, and extending into Southern A&ica and 

 Australia. 



Petals oblong, flat. Stamens 5, shortly united. Carpel 1. Herb . 1. Walthebia. 



Petals on long claws, concave, with a long point. Staminal tnbe with 

 5 or 10 sterile lobes, and 5 sessile anthers between them. Capsule 

 5-celled, prickly. Climber 2. Buettnebia. 



Petals long, flat. Staminal tnbe with 5 long sterile filaments, and 



1 to 3 anther-bearing ones between them. Capsule 5-ceIled. Tree 3. PrEEOSPEflMUM. 



1. WALTHEEIA, Linn. 



Calyx 5-lobed. Petals oblong-spathulate, flat. Stamens 5, opposite the 

 petals, shortly united at the base. Anthers terminal, with 3 parallel cells. 

 Ovaiy sessile, of a single carpel, with two erect ovules. Style excentrical ; the 

 stigma usually fringed. Capsule usually opening on the back in 3 valves; 

 Seed usually solitary, with albumen. — Herbs, undershnibs, or trees, with a 

 stellate tomentum often mixed with soft hairs or pubescence. Leaves toothed. 

 Stipules narrow. Rowers clustered. 



A considerable genus in tropical America, with one species spread over aU the warmer re- 

 gions of the globe. 



1. W. americana, Linn.; DC. Prod. i. 492. A perennial or under- 

 shrub, 1 to 2 feet or more high, densely tomentose or softly villous in everv 

 part. Leaves shortly stalked, oval-oblong, 1 to 1^ in. long, obtuse, toothed", 

 soft and plicately veined. Flowers small, yellow, in dense heads, almost ses- 

 sile in the axils of the leaves, or the upper ones clustered in a short spike. 

 Bracts narrow. Calyx 1\ line long. Petals nearly twice as long, nai-row- 

 oblong. — TF. indica, Linn. ; DC. Prod. i. 493. 



In open grounds in the island, C/iampion and others. A common weed within the tropics 

 ra both the New and the Old Worid. In China it extends, northwaid to Amoy. 



