PLATE 319. 
Hibiscus physaloides, Guill & Per, (Fl. Cap., Vol. I., p. 172). 
Natural Order, Mai.vaoeae. 
A tall herbaceous branching' plant, bearing large showy flowers, which are 
deep red at base, and yellow in upper portion. Stern 3 to 6 feet in height, much 
branched above, terete, both stems and branches hispid, witli short sub-stellate 
white hairs, interspersed with longer simple ones which spring from a swollen base, 
and are occasionally substellate. Leaves alternate, petiolate, stipulate, cordate at 
base, 5-angled or 5-lobed, the lobes acaminate or cuspid^ite, the interspaces crenate ; 
very finely j)ubescent above, more densely so beneath, the lower ones 3j to 
4 inches long, 4 to 5 inches wide, the uppermost very small ; petiole 1 to 
3 inches long, substellately hairy like the stem and branches. Flowers solitary, 
axillary, pedunculate, forming a false raceme at the ends of the stem and branches. 
Involucel of Kl filiform spreading leaflets, clothed with similar hairs to those of 
thH stem and l)ranches. Calyx gamosepalous, 5-cleft to the middle, tube campa- 
nulate, lobes deltoid, acute, 5-veined. thn whole calyx f inch long, enlarging in 
fruit, shaggy externally, pubescent within. Petals 5, more than twice as long as 
the calyx, obovate. twisted in festivation, veiny, yellow in upper portion, deep red 
at base. Staminal column minutely 5-toothed at apex, bearing numerous stamens 
on the outer surface ; dilated at base, covering the ovary and adnate to the petals. 
Anthers 1 -celled. Ovary 5-celled, cells many ovuled. Capsule enclosed in the 
persistent calyx, densely hispid ; 5-celled, many seeded. Seeds glabrous. 
Habitat: Natal: Coast and Midlands. Umzinyati, 1,000 feet alt., March, 
Wood, No. 920 ; near Durban, April, Wood. 
A tall annual, frequently found about (mltivated ground ; the flowers are rather 
showy, but when the plant is in flower the upper branches are liare of leaves and 
rather ragged, the hairs are somewhat unpleasant to the touch. A native also of 
Tropical Africa and the Canary Islands. The natives do not appear to have any 
specific name for it, nor is any part of the plant used so far as we are aware. 
Fig. ],base of calyx, staminal tul)e, anthers and stigmas ; 2, a stamen ; 3, 
ovary, style and stigma ; 4, portion of involucre and calyx with ovary ; 5, cross- 
section of ovary ; 6, ovule ; 7, stellate hairs ; 8, hairs from filament ; all enlarged. 
