288 



MALVACEAE. 



3. MALVA L. Mallow. 

 Ours annual or biennial weeds of waste places. Involucre of 3 dis- 

 tinct bractlets, inserted on the base of the calyx. Calyx cleft to the 

 middle into 5 broad lobes. Petals whitish or rose-color, obcordate or 

 emarginate. Style-branches 10 or more, subulate. Fruit a de- 

 pressed whorl of carpels, separating from the central axis when ripe as 

 1 -seeded achene-like nutlets, which are round-reniform and completely 

 filled by the seed. (From the Greek malache, soft, on account of the 

 emollient properties.) 



Petals much surpassing the calyx. 



Carpels not reticulate, puberulent on back 1. M. rotundifolia. 



Carpels glabrate at maturity, rugose-reticulate on back, the margin entire 

 or obscurely denticulate; calyx-lobes mostly closed over the mature 



fruij; 2. M. borealis. 



Petals slightly longer than the calyx; carpels rugose-reticulate on back, the 



margin winged and denticulate; calyx-lobes spreading or erect 



3. M. par vi flora. 



1. M. rotundifolia L. Dwarf Mallow. Sparsely hispidulous 

 or hirsute; stems slender, procumbent, 1 to 2 ft. long, from a large 

 deep root; leaves rounded, crenate, slightly or scarcely at all 5 to 

 7-lobed; corolla surpassing the calyx, pale blue; carpels 14 or 15, 

 puberulent, not reticulated on the back or at least not obviously so. 



Waysides and old gardens at Berkeley. Summer and autumn. 



2. M. borealis Wallm. Large-flowered Mallow. Habit 

 and foliage like the preceding, but herbage often more hairy; pedicels 

 tending to be reflexed in fruit; bractlets ovate or lanceolate; calyx- 

 lobes mostly closed over the mature fruit; corolla pinkish, 5 to 6 

 lines long, surpassing the calyx; carpels dorsally rugose-reticulate or 

 even somewhat favose, the margin entire or obscurely denticulate. 



Common at Berkeley and other Bay towns, flowering during the 

 summer into early winter. 



3. M. parviflora L. Small-flowered Mallow. Widely 

 branching, 1^ to 3 ft. high; petioles and ascending branches stellate- 

 hairy on the upper side, glabrous below; leaves roundish in outline, 

 with a red spot at base of blade, shallowly 7-lobed, 5 in. broad or less, 

 on petioles twice as long as the blade; flowers in rather close axillary 

 clusters; bractlets linear; corolla pinkish with notched petals, 2\ lines 

 long, slightly longer than the calyx; calyx commonly spreading 

 under or about the mature fruit; carpels about 11, glabrous, sharply 

 rugose-reticulate and pubescent on the back, the margin winged and 

 denticulate. 



Very common in waste places, especially near dwellings in the 

 interior valleys; flowering in spring and early summer. All of our 

 species are naturalized and all called "Cheeses'' Uy children on 

 account of the peculiar fruit. 



4. SIDALCEA Gray. 

 Herbs. Leaves rounded and either crenate, crenately incised, 

 parted or divided, or palmately lobed. Flowers in terminal spikes or 

 racemes, either perfect, gynodioecious (/. r., with perfect and pistillate 



