82 



MALVACE^. 



[SiDA. 



Galyx'i\xbe angular. Cartels 7-8, shortly awned, wrinkled, indehiscent 

 or nearly so, beaks connivent. 



Etawah dist. Distrib. : Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan ; extending to 

 Arabia and Tropical Africa. 



6. S. cordifoiia, Linn, Sp. PI. 6S4; Boxh. Fl. Ind. Hi, 177; TF. ^ A. 

 Prod. 58; Royle III. 83; D. <^ G. Bomb. Fl. 17; F. B. 1. i. 324; Watt 

 E.I). 



A small erect downy shrub, with long spreading hairs on the branches and 

 petioles. Leaves 1-2 in. long, cordate, oblong, obtuse, crenate, downy on 

 both surfaces ; 'petiole about as long as the blade ; stipules linear, shorter 

 than the petiole, deciduous. Peduncles solitary, jointed near the flower ; 

 lower ones distant and longer than the petiole, upper very short and 

 crowded. Flowers small, yellow. Caiyic-segments triangular, acute. 

 Carpels 10-awned, reticulated on the sides ; awns longer than the calyx, 

 covered with stiff reflexed hairs. 



A common weed, flowering during the rains and cold season. Distbib. : 

 Throughout the hotter parts lof India, and the tropics generally. This 

 plant also yields a good fibre, and possesses medicinal properties similar 

 to those of the other species. 



5. ABUTILON, Gsertn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. i. 325. 



Herbs or undershrubs, more or less downy. Leaves angled or 

 palmately-lobed. Inflorescence axillary or terminal. Bracteoles O. 

 Sepals, 'petals and stamens as in Sida. Carpels 5-mauy. Styles 

 as many as the carpels. Ripe carpels separating from the axis, 

 awned or not, 2- or more-seeded. Seeds reniform, upper ascending, 

 lower descending. Species about 80, all tropical or sub-tropical. 



■This genus is closely allied to Sida, but it differs in habit, and by the 

 larger flowers which usually open in the evening, whilst those of the 

 Sidas expand about noon. 



Carpels 15 or more. 

 Carpels hispid, with short erect awns ; 

 leaves hairy and rugose above . I. A.asiaticum. 



Carpels glabrescent, with short sharp 

 spreading beaks ; leaves densely 

 tomentose on both surfaces . . 2, A, indicum. 



Carpels without awns ; branches gland.- 

 pubescent . . . . , 3. A. graveolens. 



Carpels less than 15. 



Carpels about 10, with spreading awns 4. A. ramosum. 



Carpels 5, with erect awns . , 5. A. polyandrum. 



1, A. asiaticum. G'. Don Gen. Syst. i. 503; F, B.I, i. 326 (netoj 

 W, ^ A. Prod.) ; Watt E. D. Sida asiatica, L. 



