31 
NUTTALLIA MALVjEFLORA. 
(mallow-flowered nuttallia.) 
class. order. 
MONADELPHIA. POLYANDRIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
MALVACEiE. 
Generic Character. — Vide vol, v. p. 217. 
Specific Character — Plant herbaceous, evergreen, perennial. Stems erect, about two feet high, 
roundish, branching, hairy. Leaves varying in form according to their position ; radical ones with 
very long stalks, five or six-parted ; segments oblong, likewise partially divided, obtuse, having 
several irregular crenatures, pubescent on both sides, indistinctly reticulated ; stem-leaves with 
shorter petioles, stipulate, more deeply and numerously divided into long linear lobes. Bracts few, 
small, subulate, slightly decurved. Flowers borne in a terminal close spike, pedunculate, of a light 
rose colour. Calyx persistent, separated into five equal, ovate, acute segments, hairy. Corolla 
expansive ; petals distant, inclining to a spatulate shape, emarginate, sometimes a little jagged. 
In the hope of stimulating some of our readers to the cultivation of the very 
meritorious genus Nuttallia, we have previously introduced coloured delineations of 
two scarce and superior species, (N. grandijlora and papaver,) both easily managed, 
but rarely seen in such a state as to excite either a wish for their possession, or 
emulation in their treatment. This plainly betokens some radical mistake on the 
part of the grower, into which it is necessary inquiry should be made. 
After many endeavours to discover the cause of such palpable degeneracy, we 
believe we have now traced it to a likely source. These plants are generally kept 
in greenhouses or frames through the winter, where they are often stimulated to 
precocious growth. This latter imperatively demands that they should be similarly 
protected till the season is very far advanced ; and thus they are so weakened by 
the time the weather permits of their being planted out, that they never properly 
recover their wonted vigour. Now, the best plan of culture is to plant them in a 
dry, elevated, sheltered border, where they can be slightly covered in winter, and left 
to their natural progress. In the front border of a conservatory in North Britain, 
placed in an auspicious spot formed by an angle of the building, we are told that 
