08 
THALAMIFLORAS. 
ones 3-lobate wedge-shaped at the base, flowers sessile, 
involucellum monophyllous 12-toothed. 
Swartz, Obs. 269. — Cav. diss. III. t. 198. f. 1. — Be Cand. 
Prod. I. 453. 
HAB. Cultivated. 
FL. Autumn. 
A suffruticose herbaceous plant. The stem, branches, 
petioles, and nerves of the leaves, as also the peduncles and ex- 
ternal floral coverings, are of a blood-red colour. All parts of 
the plant are more or less acid to the taste. The Calyces and 
involucella are thick and leathery or fleshy, and form, when 
boiled with sugar, an agreeable acidulated conserve ; or they 
may be made into tarts. An infusion also may be prepared 
from them, known by the name of Sorrel-drink, forming a re- 
freshing beverage. Hernandez states that two drachms of the 
x’oot act as a gentle laxative. The fibres of the stem may be 
made into cordage. 
7- Hibiscus elatus. Mountain Mahoe. 
Leaves roundish-cordate very entire hoary-pubescent 
beneath, peduncles short 1 -flowered. 
Malva arborea folio rotundo, Sloane, I. 95. t. 134. f. 2 and 3. 
— Hibiscus arboreus, Browne , 284. — H. elatus, Swartz, Fl. 
Ind. Occ. 1218. 
HAB. Lower hills, and plains in the interior of the Island. 
'FL. January — March. 
A lofty tree, 50-60 feet in height, with the bark smooth, 
and branches spreading. Leaves roundish, cordate, abruptly 
acuminate, 5-7-nerved, minutely and distantly stellato-puberu- 
lous above, hoary and tomentulose beneath: petioles elongated: 
a glandulose linear slit near the base of the mid-rib of the older 
and larger leaves. Stipules large, amplexicaul at the base, 
oblongo-ovate, acute, puberulous, deciduous. Peduncles axil- 
lary, solitary, 1 -flowered. Flowers large, of a purplish saffron 
colour. Involucellum 10-fid ; divisions erect, acute. Calyx an 
inch in length, 5-partite for more than half the length. Petals 
nearly 3 inches in length, oblong, oblique, rounded at the apex, 
thickish and somewhat leathery, longitudinally veined, minutely 
stellato-puberulous. Column of the stamens of the same length 
as the petals, 5-grooved, subquinquedentate at the apex : anthers 
yellow, on short capillary pedicels, arranged along the angles of 
the column, leaving only about an inch at the base vacant. 
Ovary rotundo-conical, 5-sided, sericeo-pubescent : style in- 
crassated towards the stigmata, which are 5, of a deep purple 
colour, and pubescent with capitate hairs. Capsule globular, 
tomentose, 5-celled, 5-valved. 
This is a lofty tree with a straight stem, and affords a 
