DICOTYLEDONES. 223 



bears ribbed fruits, each containing forty or fifty oily 

 seeds. The latter are ground, after being roasted, then 

 made into a paste, flavored with vanilla, etc., and this 

 constitutes the chocolate and cocoa of commerce. 



22. Malvaceae. Mallow family. Herbs, shrubs, 

 and trees, with simple leaves, regular 

 flowers, convolute petals, and monadel- 

 phous stamens (Fig. 332). The majority 

 of the seven hundred species are found 

 in the Tropics. The Cotton-plant (Gos- 

 sypium herbaceum, and other species) pro- 

 duces a fibre (hairs covering the seeds) 

 that is of immense importance in the ^^^ 



manufacture of cloth, etc. The Cotton-plant was culti- 

 vated many centuries before the Christian Era. It is 

 now extensively grown in the United States, West Indies, 

 Brazil, Egypt, and India. The Silk-trees of the East and 

 West Indies (Bombax) produce a similar fibre, fine and 

 silky, not suitable for weaving, but for stuffing cushions, 

 etc. Many species (of Bida, Hibiscus, etc.) furnish valuable 

 bast. Valuable fruits are furnished by species of Durio. in 

 the Malay Archipelago, and' of Matisia in New Granada; 

 they are eaten by the inhabitants of those countries. The 

 Okra, or Gumbo, of Tropical America (Hibiscus esculentus'), 

 is cultivated in the Southern States for its mucilaginous, 

 edible pods. The Cork-wood of Jamaica ( Ochroma Lago- 

 pvs) is so soft and compressible that it is used as a substi- 

 tute for cork. " The Baobab, or Monkey-bread, called also 

 Sour-gourd (Adansonia diffitata), is a native of Tropical 

 Africa, extending from east to west. It is a remarkable 



Fig. 332. Flower of the common Mallow {Malva. roiimdi/olia), showing the 

 monadelphous stamens; in, involucel ; ca, calyx; cor, corolla; an, anthers; si, 

 stigmas ; fil. mon, the united filaments. 



