55 
MALVA CREEANA. 
(showy red-flowered mallow.) 
class. order. 
MONADELPHIA. POLYANDRIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
MALVACEAE. 
Generic Character. — Fide vol. iv. p. 269, 
Specific Character. — Plant shrubby, deciduous. Stem erect, branched ; branches nearly erect, 
covered with short stellate hairs. Leaves petiolate, three-lobed, lobes toothed, deltoidly ovate, 
sparingly covered with stellate pubescence ; entire at the base. Flowers axillary, solitary, rose- 
coloured. Petals obcordate, slightly crenate. Peduncles shorter than the petioles. Involucre 
of three filiform leaves. 
There exists in British collections an extensive class of plants, a peculiar 
feature in the cultivation of which is of comparatively recent adoption. The group 
to which we allude is comprised in the phrase half-hardy herbaceous plants and 
shrubs, and the treatment is that of growing them in the flower-beds and borders 
in the open ground. If we revert to the last century, such a tribe is scarcely 
recognizable ; while, in the present times, their numbers receive immense yearly 
augmentations. 
Half-hardy plants, especially dwarf shrubs, are perhaps even more interesting 
and valuable than those which are thoroughly hardy. As ornaments either to the 
greenhouse or the flower-garden, they are alike available ; and many of them, if 
removed from the open air at a sufficiently early period, prove lasting attractions 
to the greenhouse when they could no longer be retained in the borders. By 
transference to the open ground during the summer months, their growth is also 
invigorated, and their appearance improved to such a degree, that when returned 
to the house in the autumn, they produce a manifest and delightful variation from 
the general comparative sickliness of other plants. 
; As being at once an illustration and an evidence of the propriety and force 
of these observations, we may introduce to the notice of our readers the subject of 
the accompanying figure. This charming plant is a half-hardy shrub, flourishing 
most vigorously in the open border through the summer season, and continuing to 
flower profusely when removed to the greenhouse upon the approach of autumnal 
frosts. Such treatment not only ensures the greatest duration of its beauty, but 
is at the same time the most congenial to its nature. 
