Monadelphia. 
( ^3 ) 
FRAGRANT HIBISCUS. 
T his robuft Plant has every Thing except Colour to recommend it to the 
Notice of thofe who value the Exotic Botany : but Nature, to make 
amends for what fhe has with-held in that Refpeif, has given it Fra- 
grance ; an Article of Value deny’d to all the others. This is not in its Flower, 
oratbeft, it is but faintly perceiv’d there; but is perfect in the Seeds : they have 
the Sweetnefs of Mulk without that Faintnefs, which attends the animal Per- 
fume. This was feldom perceiv’d more delicately than in the Seeds which ac- 
company’d the Specimen from which this Figure is taken : and they preferv’d 
their vegetative Power as ftrongly as their Scent ; for fcarce any of them fail’d. 
They have added a Multitude of the Plants to our Collections. 
' All that coiild well be given a Plant in Form, Nature has beftow’d on this : 
the whole Out-line of the Figure is in the common Growth of the Plant, great 
and graceful ; the Parts are all great, and the AfpeCt is at once wild and noble. 
The Form of the Leaf, pentangular in the upper Part, and toward the Ground 
heptangular, rough, ferrated, and with irregular Points, is much above any of 
the four elegant flower’d Kinds which follow ; and tho’ the Bloom has only a 
pale Y ellow for its Colour, except the fmall Variation in the Eye, the Difpo- 
fition of the Petals makes great amends, for fcarce any Kind has them fo beau- 
tifully waved. 
It has the double Cup of all the Hibifci : the outer one has eight Leaves, and 
the inner one is entire at the Bafe, but divided upwards into five Segments. 
T he Plant is a Yard high, and from thefe Cups burft out, at leaft, as many Flow- 
ers as there are Leaves, in a continu’d long Succeffion. 
The Filaments appear in a peculiar Form, and conftitute theCharaCfer of Clafs; 
which we have not before had Occafion to name, and which will be feen yet 
more diftinCHy in the following Plant. Their Number has no Place in this pe- 
culiar Character, it is their Arrangement. They are united in their Bafes, fo 
as to form one regular Column, or tubular Body, thro’ the Hollow of which, 
runs a Style, whofe five Heads, or Stigmata, fhew themfelves beyond the Ex- 
tremity of the Tube. The whole under Part of the Filaments, indeed, in a 
Manner, their whole Bodies are thus united into one uniform Subftance; but 
their extream Points are loofe, and feem fo many fhort Filaments themfelves, 
rifing from the Head of the Tube, and fupporting their Antherse. This Uni- 
on of the Filaments conftitutes the CharaCfer of the Clafs. As they form only 
one Body, the Term is Monadelphia. The common Mallow, and all its Kind, 
have the fame Conformation, and are of the fame Clafs. We (hall illuftrate 
this in fome fucceeding Inftances; and fiiall afterwards have Opportunity to Ihew 
what are thofe Clafles whofe Conftitution depends upon this Kind of Union in 
the Filaments, but where they form more than one Body. 
This Plant is a Native of the East and West Indies, of the Brasils, and 
of Surinam, and is well known in Egypt ; it is a wild Plant alfo in China, 
whence this came. 
Hibifcus foliis fub-peltato-cordatis feptemangularibus ferratis hifpidis. Linnaus. 
Abelmofch Authorum. 
