S4 MALVACEM. [Abutilon. 



A small shrub with white hark. Branches downy, with a few spreading 

 hairs intermixed. Leaves on long stalks, ovate, cordate, acuminate, some- 

 times 3-cuspidate, crenate-serrate^ membranous and green on both surfaces. 

 Peduncles axillary and terminal, shorter than the petioles, jointed in the 

 middle. Flowers many, small, yellow. CaZya^-tube broadly cup-shaped ; 

 segments ovate, acute. Petals twice as long as the sepals. Eipe carpels 

 about 10, much exceeding the sepals, hispid and viscid ; awns spreading. 

 Seeds 3, tubercled. 



Bundelkhand (Edgeworth), Guna (King). Disteib.: W. India to Trop. 



_A_TT'"1 f*3i 



5. A polyandmm, G. Don Gen. Syst. i, 500 ; W. <^ A. Prod. 55 , D. 4- 

 G.Bomb. PI. 17 ; F.B.I, i, 325 ; Watt E.D. Sida polyandra Eoic&. ; Fl. 

 tnd. in, 173. 



An erect annual or perennial herb, up to 6 or 7 ft. high. Leaves 4-8 in. 

 long, roundish, cordate, with along obtuse acumen, repand-dentate, downy 

 especially beneath ; petiole 4 in. Stipules setaceous, often coloured. 

 Flowers in small terminal racemes, subpolyandrous (Boxb. ) ; peduncles 

 jointed near the top. Sepals lanceolate, forming a bell-shaped tube below. 

 Corolla li in. across. Petals reflexed. Filaments free nearly to the base ; 

 Staminal-Uxhe with a ring of hairs at the top. Carpels hispid, exceeding 

 the calyx ; awns 6, erect. Seeds 3-4. 



Saharanpur dist.. Bundelkhand (Edgeworth). Disteib.: Chota-Nagpur, 

 Pachmarhi, Nilgiris, Sindh ; also in Java and in S. Trop« Africa, The 

 stems yield a long silky fibre resembling hemp. 



6. MALACHRA, Linu. ; El. Brit. Ind. i. 329. 



Herbs. Leaves angled. Flowers in dense heads, usually intermixed 

 TTith bracteoles. Sepals 5, forming a cup-shaped tube below. Petals 

 5, coherent below and connate at the base with the tube of the 

 stamens. Staminal'iM\>Q truncate or" 5-toothed ; filaments nnmeroas. 

 Carpels 5, 1-ovuledj opposite the petals. ; styles 10. Eipe carpels 

 iudehiscentj separating from the axis, smooth. Seeds reniform, 

 ascending. 



M. capitata, Linn. Syst. ed. XII, 458. ; F. B .1. i, 329 ; Watt E. D. 



M. rotundifolia, D. Sf G. Boml. Fl. Suppl. 9 {not of Schranlc). 



Annual or perennial, coarsely hairy. Leaves 5-6 in. wide or less, round- 

 ish, angled, cordate, toothed ; petioles 4 in. ; stipules linear. Flowers in 

 axillary or terminal heads. Bracteoles reniform, with a white spot at the 

 base. Petals yellow or white, longer than the subulate sepals. Fruit 

 subglobose, depressed. 



This plant has become naturalized in certain parts of the area. Disteib.: 

 Throughout the hotter parts of India from the North-Western Provinces 

 and Bengal to the Karnatic ( introduced). It is found wild in W, tropical 

 Africa and in tropical America. Not having been mentioned by either 

 Boxburgh, Wallich, or Wight, its introduction into India must be com- 



Ctively modern. The stems yield a strong soft silky fibre, which has 

 I reoommeoded as a substitute for jute. 



