The Natural System of Botany. 231 



THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY. 



NUMBER EIGHT, 



Order — Malvaceae. The Mallow Tribe. 



There is a low, branching plant, with roundish leaves, and 

 purplish flowers, growing commonly about houses, in cultiva- 

 ted ground, and producing those elegant little cheeses, of which 

 every school-boy is so fond. This is one of the Mallow Tribe, 

 and belongs to the genus Malva. To ascertain the characters 

 of the important tribe of plants to which it belongs, let the 

 reader get a specimen of this plant. The leaves are obscurely 

 five-lobed, on long, hairy stalks, at the base of which is a pair 

 of small stipules. The sepals are five, and are placed in a 

 uniform whorl, and below them are three bracts. The petals 

 are also five, and are curiously twisted together in the bud. 

 The stamens are united into a tube, at the top of which, on 

 short filaments, are a great number of kidney-shaped anthers. 

 The pistil is composed of several united carpels, each of which 

 has its own style, and the styles are grown together at the bot- 

 tom, like the stamens, but separate at the top. The fruit, or 

 cheese, is divided into numerous cells, each of which contains 

 an ovule. When ripe, the carpels become dry, and are easily 

 separated. All these characters are common to the order, ex- 

 cept the number of petals and sepals, which varies in some of 

 the species. 



All the Mallows yield a transparent, mucilaginous fluid, 

 which has been thought to relieve some pectoral complaints. 

 The unripe fruit of one species, called Ochro, or Gobbo, is in 

 great estimation in the West Indies, for thickening soup. Others 

 have a coloring principle, and the petals of one species stain 

 black whatever touches them. The Hollyhock, so universally 

 cultivated, and all the species of Hibiscus, so esteemed* for 

 their showy and beautiful flowers, belong to this order ; and 

 fibres of the stems of some species are used for making cord- 



