MALVACEAE. 



287 



the ovary commonly with as many cells as styles or stigmas. Fruit :t 

 loculicidal capsule, or the carpels separating at maturity. 



Anthers scattered along the outside of the tuhe of filaments; carpels or cells 

 of the ovary 5; fruit a loculicidal capsule 1. HIBISCUS. 



Anthers borne in a cluster at the top of the tube of filaments; carpels 

 several, crowded and united around a central axis, separating at 

 maturity. 



Styles stigmatic lengthwise on the inside. 

 Bractlets united at base into a 2 to 3-lobed involucel, free from the calyx; 



shrubs 2. Lavateka. 



Bractlets 3, distinct, inserted on the calyx; herbs. . . . 3. Malva. 



Bractlets none, or one and inserted at base of calyx; herbs 



4. Sidalcea. 



Styles with terminal stigma; bractlets slender or even filiform. 

 Flowers roseate, rose-purple or white; mostly shrubs or suff rutescent 



plants 5. Malvastkim. 



Flowers cream-color; low decumbent herb 6. Sida. 



1. HIBISCUS L. Kosk- Mallow. 



Stout herbs. Flowers showy, in ours solitary on the subterminal 

 peduncles. Involucel consisting of numerous slender bractlets. 

 Stamen column with anthers scattered along the upper part but 

 naked at the truncate 5-toothed summit. Ovary o-celled with 2 to 

 many ovules in each cell. Capsule loculicidal. (Greek name for the 

 Marsh Mallow, used by Dioscorides.) 



1. H. Californicus Kell. Steins pubescent, cane-like, 3 to 7 ft. 

 high; leaves cordate, dentate, acuminate, 2\ to 3 in. long from the 

 summit of petiole to apex of leaf, and about as broad; petioles 1.] or 

 2 in. long; bractlets and valves of capsule ciliate; peduncles 2 or 3 in. 

 long, jointed near the middle, united with the petiole at base; calyx 

 campanulate, cleft to the middle, conspicuously nerved at maturity 

 and filled by the capsule; corolla white or roseate, with deep crimson 

 center, 3 to 4 in. long; capsule exceeding 1 in. long; seed minutely 

 papillate. 



Low marshy places along the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. 



2. LAVATERA L. 



Ours shrubs with ample maple-like leaves and small caducous 

 stipules. Flowers showy, axillary, subtended by a 2 to 3-lobed 

 involucel. Pedicels jointed above the middle. Calyx with 5 triangu- 

 lar acute lobes. Petals reflexed after anthesis, truncate or retuse, 

 long-clawed. Stamen-column elongated. Styles 5 to 8. Fruit a 

 depressed whorl of smooth carpels. (Two brothers Lavater, Swiss 

 physicians and naturalist-.) 



1. L. assurgentiflora Kell. Branching shrub 4 to 10 ft. high, 

 the herbage canescent or nearly green; leaves palmately 5-lobed and 

 dentately toothed; corolla 2 in. broad, the petals rose-color with 

 darker veins; claws bearded at base; axis of the fruit below the 

 flattened or low conical summit with as many longitudinal wings or 

 ridges as carpels, these inserted in the intervals or depressions. 



Region of San Francisco Bay, commonly cultivated and said to be 

 naturalized; flowering at nearly all seasons. 



