CLXXIII ANALYTICAL DRAWINGS OF THE 
MALLOW AND PARIETAL ORDERS. 
( Malvales and Parieta/es.) 
T WO of the most striking features in the Family Malvacece are the large flowers 
and the five much branched and united stamens. These characters are well 
shown in the Cottons, species of the genus Gossypium, which, on account of the 
abundance of long soft hairs with which their seeds are covered, are economically 
by far the most important plants in the Family. The first two lines of figures on 
this Plate represent two species of the genus Malva , both large-flowered, the Common 
Mallow (Malva sylvestris Linne) and the Musk Mallow (M. moscliata Linne). 
In the first line, Fig. I represents a flower of Malva sylvestris , seen from above, 
of natural size, showing the obcordate petals marked with honey-guides and the 
central mass of stamens. Fig. 2 shows the calyx and epicalyx — that striking feature 
of the genus — as seen from below. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the centre of the 
flower, seen as in Fig. 1, showing how the calyx closes the spaces between the 
narrowed claws of the petals. Fig. 4 are the essential organs, seen at the stage 
when the anthers have discharged their pollen and their filaments have bent 
downwards, while the styles have elongated. Fig. 5 is the young fruit with 
withered styles ; Fig. 6, the “ cheese,” or fruit, dividing into ten mericarps, 
with the persistent calyx ; and Fig. 7 is the same in transverse section, showing 
the seeds and central axis. 
In the second line of figures, Fig. 1 is a vertical or longitudinal section through 
a flower of the Musk Mallow (M. moschala Linne), exhibiting the epicalyx and calyx, 
petals of uniform coloration, and central staminal tube. Fig. 2 is the epicalyx and 
calyx seen from below ; Fig. 3, a flower with some petals removed, showing the 
base of the others ; and Fig. 4, the gynaeceum. 
In the Order Parietales, as is seen in the remaining figures on this Plate, the 
pentamerous symmetry, so general among Dicotyledons as a Class, is the rule. In 
the Families of the Order that have representatives in the British flora it is also the 
rule that the gynaeceum is superior and not in any way adherent by its sides to, or 
sunk in, the receptacle, the latter being, in fact, slightly convex on its upper surface. 
In the Guttiferce, here represented by three species of Hypericum, in the third, fourth, 
and fifth lines of figures, the stamens may be originally five, as in Malvacece, which 
is seen to be the case in Hypericum Androscemum Linne, in the third line ; or they 
may be reduced to three, as in the two other species shown here. In all cases they 
are more or less copiously branched ; but, unlike those of the Malvacece, they are not 
carried up on a common tube, and are thus described as polyadelphous instead of 
monadelphous. In both cases, however, a study of development shows that we 
have to do mainly with branching of a few original staminal papillae and not with 
the cohesion of numerous originally distinct stamens. 
