138 



Descriptive Flora 



about % inch across, one to several, clustered in the axils of the 

 leaves and blossoming only one or two at a time in each cluster. 

 Petals 5, unequally and shallowly lobed at the tip. Stamens 

 numerous, united half way up their length. March and April. 

 Usually in sandy soil. Not common. Very effective through the 

 rich color contrasts of the soft greyish-green foliage and the 

 bright rose-colored blossoms. 



STERCULIACEAE 



BUETTNERIACEAE. Chocolate Family. In Small's Flora. 



Hermannia texana A. Gray Mexican Mallow. 



Pale green, branched, shrubby plants with dull scarlet 

 flowers and 5-lobed pods that are feathered on the angles. Leaves 

 simple, alternate. Blades ovate to rounded, y 2 to 2y 2 " long, 

 toothed and covered with tiny star-shaped hairs. Flowers about 

 y 2 inch across, in loose clusters in axils of the leaves and strongly 

 resembling the Pompadour Mallow in general appearance. Petals 

 5. Stamens 5. Pods % to %" long, % to y 2 wide, covered with 

 star-shaped hairs, feathered on the angles, 5-lobed, with several 

 seeds in each division. April to fall. In ravines and on rocky 

 hillsides. 



Melochia pyramidata L. 



Small, shrubby plants with blue flowers and small clusters 

 of conspicuously 5-winged pods. Leaves simple, alternate or 

 clustered. Blades ovate to oblong or rounded, % to iy 2 " long, 

 finely saw-toothed, mostly rounded at base. Flowers solitary or 

 clustered on short peduncles about y± long, terminal or coming 

 out of the stem opposite the leaves. Sepals 5, Petals 5, blue to 

 violet. Stamens 5, united only at the base. Fruits inflated, 

 about y 2 w across, 5-angled, shaped like a pyramid, the wings with 

 sharp tips near the base. May, June and July. In gravel banks 

 of streams or dirt-filled cracks of flat limestone rocks. 



