MALVALS. 381 
strange form and rich colours of their flowers. They are all 
natives of North and South America. The flower is distinguished 
byits irregularspurred calyx (Fig. . 
392), the spur s being a_back- 
ward development springing from 
the base of the calyx at a in the 
Indian cress (Tropeolum magus). 
The Matvacem are herbaceous 
plants, trees, and shrubs, with 
starry flowers, often enclosed in 
an involucre of various forms. 
They are abundant in the tropics, 
diminishing as we approach the 
north. In our climate the Marsh 
Mallows are the well-known re- Sieg 
presentatives of the order. The Common Mallow (Malva sylvestris, 
Fig. 393) has the stem straight, ascending or patulous, branching, 
hairy, prickly, especially at the apex ; the inferior leaves somewhat 
orbicular, heart- shaped, or truncated at the base, having from five to 
seven lobes, shallow and obtuse ; the upper leaves present three to 
five lobes, usually much deeper ; the flowers, the corolla of which is 
veined with purple, passing to violet, are disposed in axillary 
fascicules. : 
Now, what is the organisation of these flowers ? 
The calyx is in five divisions, and is furnished exteriorly with 
an involucre in three divisions. Five alternate petals, coherent at 
the base of their claw, constitute the corolla. The stamens are — 
“lumerous and monodelphous; that is, they appear as if their 
unequal filaments, free only in their upper part, were united, their 
lower parts passing to a tube, covering the ovary. These filaments 
are surmounted by an unilobate anther, opening by a semicircular 
cleft. The pistil is composed of a multi-ocular ovary, surrounded 
by as many styles as there are cells. ve 
These last organs are filiform, consolidated in their lower part, 
and forming a sort of brush. An ascendant ovule is inserted at the 
central angle of each of these cells. The fruit is composed of a 
great number of small husks, each with a single seed connected 
circularly round a common central axis. Under their integuments 
