,7<?r 



MALVACEJ!. 77 



Sect. 3. WiSSADA. — Calyx 'a-fid: tithe terete. Carpids separated from tie dehiscent bifid 

 beak by a transverse callous ring. Seed pubescent above. — Panicle lax, termiaal. 

 Leaves quite entire. ^ 



In a natural arrangement of the Malvaceae, where the distinction of a uniovulate and plu- 

 riovulate ovary might be given up as generic characters, the species answering to the above 

 character were to be referred to Wissadula, as Planchon proposed indeed in the Hookerian 

 herbarium. But though the habit agrees exactly with that of Wissadula, that genus being 

 intermediate between Stda and Abutilon would then present no other character but the an- 

 nular ring or rudiment of a transverse dissepiment in its carpids (more or less developed in 

 different forms), and it would perhaps not be advisable to consider this as a sufficient generic 

 character. I-therefore still retain Wissada in Sida, several species of which it approaches in 

 habit, as for instance S. ulmifolia, Cav. 



30. S. divergens, Benth. I SufErutescent, pubescent with stellate down ;• leaves cor- 

 date, acuminate, quite entire, glabrous above, tomentose beneath, shortly petioled ; panicle 

 terminal, spreading ; branches distant, few-flowered : pedicels racemose, filiform, cernuous 

 calyx-lobes ovate, pointed; petals yellow, twice the length of the calyx ; carpids 5, beaked 

 beak bifid. — S. periplocifoHa, Macf. ! {nan alior. et exclus. synon). — Stem erect, 3'-4' high 

 leaves gradually tapering fi'onl the cordate base, bluntish at the top : length 2-3 times exceed- 

 ing their breadth ; calyx 1'" long ; hollow carpid-beak triangular, mucronate, half the length 

 of the seminiferous cell : seed angular above, pubescent at the angles. — Hab. Jamaica !, 

 Macf., Dist., Pd., Al., common in the Lowlands; [Guayaquil!]. 



6. ABUTILON, T. 



Carpids 5, indeiinite, 3-9-ovulate, dehiscent above by the ventral suture, or at the same 

 time by the dorsal line above or to the base. Radicle superior in the inferior seeds. — luvo- 

 lucel 0. 



Sect. I. Wissadula. — Carpids 5, iiarticulated and constricted by a transverse callous 

 ring or incomplete diss^iment, not inflated, dehiscent above: upper portion {correspond- 

 ing with the hollow beak of Wissada) biovulate, lower uniovulate. 



Presl, when restoring Medicus's genus Wissadula, figured in his tables a complete dissepi- 

 ment, separating the upper carpid-cell from the lower one, but in his descriptive character he 

 mentions more correctly an incomplete septum, which is identical with the annular rings of 

 Wissada : thus a gradual passage exists from Abutilon to Sida by these sections, as to Gaya 

 by the section of Gayopsis. 



21. A. periplocifolium, G.Don. SufErutescent or shrubby, pubescent or glabrescent; 

 leaves cordate, pointleted or acuminate, quite entire or obsoletely crenate, usually glabrescent 

 above, and white vrith stellate down beneath ; flowers paniculate : branches distant, spread- 

 ing, terminated by few-flowered corymbs (or single-flowered), inferior axillary : pedicels elon- 

 gated, jointed below the top ; calyx small, 5-fid : lobes deltoid ; petals pale-yeUow, 2-3 times 

 exceeding the calyx ; carpids 5, divergent, ovoid, constricted below the middle, pointed or 

 mucronate, B-4 times exceeding the calyx; seeds pubescent. — Dill. Mth. t. 3; SI. t. 139. 

 /. 3 ; Cav. Diss. t. 5. /. 2, 3 ; L'Her. Stirp. 1. t. 58. — Sida, Z. : ex. synon. Dill., Sw., 

 DC. (o et P caribffia). S. excdsior, Cav. S. hemandioides, L'Her. S. heterosperma, 

 Hochst. I {in Kotschy, PI. if«*.= Wissadula, ej. in PI. Abyss.). Wissadula excelsior, Prl. 

 W. rostrata, Benth. I Abutilon parviflorum, St. Hil. A. laxiflorum, Guillem. Perrot. — 

 Stem usually 6'-10' high ; calyx l"'-2"' long. — The species is very variable : in the shape of 

 the leaves (deeply .cordate-roundish, cordate-ovate, subcordate and tapering), the dovm, the 

 terminal panicle more or less developed, the length of the caipid-point, which sometimes is 

 deficient. All my specimens have small flowers, but if their size is subject to variation, as 

 in other species, some more synonyms might be added, namely, Sida nudiflora, L'Her. (1. c. 

 t. 59), and S. steUata, Cav. (Diss. t. 5. f. 4). S. Luciana, DC, seems also to be a form with 

 shorter peduncles. 



a. Leaves glabrous above, white beneath j carpids glabrescent. 



;3. albicans, covered entirely with minute whitish down ; leaves pubescent, greenish above, 

 white beneath ; carpids pubescent. 



