152 THE MALLOW FAMILY. 



single several-celled ovary and fruit, in Pavonia and some others there 

 are twice as many style-branches as ovaries. 



Exterior bracts united at the base into an involucre or outer calyx. 



Involucre 3-lobed 1. Lavateea. 



Involucre of 5 or more divisions 3. Alth\ea. 



Exterior bracts 3, distinct from each other, inserted on the 



calyx 2. Mallow. 



Among the plants of the Mallow family, grown in our gardens and 

 belonging to exotic genera, the most frequently to be met with are 

 species of Malope, Hibiscus, or Abutilon. 



I. LAVATERA. LAYATEEA. 



Involucre 3-lobed, often larger than the 5-lobed calyx. Ovary and 

 fruit of Mallow. 



A genus of very few species, from the Mediterranean region, western 

 Asia, southern Africa, and Australia. 



1. Sea Lavatera. Lavatera arborea, Linn. (Fig. 192.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1841.) 



Stem woody at the base, with thick, 

 hard, annual flowering branches, form- 

 ing an undershrub 1 to 4 or 5 feet high. 

 Leaves on long stalks, the lower ones 

 broadly orbicular, palmately divided 

 into 5 to 9 broad, short, crenate lobes, 

 and softly downy on both sides, rarely 

 nearly glabrous. Flowers numerous, of 

 the size of those of the common Mallow, 

 of a pale purple-red, on short pedicels, 

 collected into clusters, forming a long 

 terminal raceme or narrow panicle. In- 

 volucre divided to below the middle into 

 3 broad leaf- like lobes. 



On maritime rocks, in south-western 

 Europe, from the Gulf of G-enoa, round 

 Spain and France, to the British Isles, 

 where it is very local, chiefly on the south 

 and west coasts of England and Ireland, 

 and on the Bass rock in the Frith of Forth. Fl. summer. 



The tree Lavatera (L. Olbia), a south European species, often cul- 

 tivated in our gardens, is said to have appeared along the sides of a 

 new embankment in Epping Forest, and may occasionally sow itself in 

 other parts of England. 



Fig. 192. 



