Malvaceae. 
57 
gions. r l hoy abound in mucilage, and are destitute of any un- 
wholesome properties. The fibres of the bark of many of the 
species, are so tenacious, as to be capable of being manufactured 
into very good cordage. 
I. Malva. Mallow. 
Calyx surrounded by an involucre of 3-, rarely 6-6, 
oblong or setaceous bracteoles. Carpels capsular, nu- 
merous, circularly arranged, 1-seeded. 
Plants belonging to this genus abound in a mucilaginous 
juice. — Name, derived by the Latins from pa/.a/.ri soft, in allu- 
sion to the emollient nature of the species. 
1. Malva tricuspidata. West India Mallow. 
Leaves ovate or ovato-oblong serrated, flowers 
axillary solitary crowded with the leaves at the ends 
of the branches in a spike-like manner, carpels 3-cus- 
pidate 1-seeded. 
M. Americana, Cav. diss. II. t. 22. f. 2 M. Coromandeli- 
ana, Swartz, Obs. 262. — Willd. Sp. III. 776. — Sida Jamaxcen- 
sis. Miller, Diet. 
HAB. Common. 
FL. Throughout the year. 
Suffruticose, about a foot in height: branches hirsute with 
appressed hairs, compressed especially towards the ex- 
tremities. Leaves alternate, petiolate, ovate or oblongo-ovate, 
acute, coarsely serrated, entire towards the base, sparingly 
hirsute, penni-nerved : petiole terete, hirsute, nearly an inch in 
length. Stipules half the length of the petiole, lanceolate, cili- 
ated. Peduncles half the length of the stipules, axillary, sub- 
solitary, being accompanied by a short leafy flowering brancldet, 
crowded at the ends of the branches in a spike-like manner, but 
with a leaf (sometimes only imperfectly developed) below each. 
Leaflets of the involucre 3, lanceolate, length of the calyx : 
calyx 5-partite, ciliated. Petals obliquely truncated. Column 
of the stamens glabrous : filaments, where free, twisted and in- 
terlaced. Styles 10, reflected below the anthers: stigmata ca- 
pitate, papillose. Carpels 10-12, with an apicula at the inner 
angle, and two spreading horn-like apicula} at the outer : seeds 
reniform. 
According to former authors, the flowers are crowded in the 
axils of the leaves ; whereas the flowers are axillary solitary 
and crowded with the leaves, into a spike-like form. — This 
species, like its cogencrs, abounds in a mucilaginous juice, and 
is employed by the Negro women, as a substitute tor soap, in 
