XIV. MALVACEAE 
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XIV. MALVACEAE 
Herbs, low shrubs or trees, commonly furnished with stellate 
hairs. Leaves alternate, simple and often deeply lobed or digi- 
tately compound. Flowers 2-sexual, regular, axillary, solitary or 
in small cymes. Calyx 5-lobed, rarely a spathe, persistent, except 
# in Bombax, sometimes furnished with a whorl of bracteoles. 
Petals 5, twisted in bud, base adhering to the staminal tube. 
Stamens numerous ; filaments united in a staminal tube enclosing 
the pistil, except in Bombax ; anthers 1-celled, borne on the tube 
itself or on short free filaments into which the upper part of the 
tube divides. Ovary sessile, 5-12-celled ; styles as many as the 
carpels, united for about half their length or more, stigmatic along 
their free ends or terminating in capitate stigmas ; ovules one or 
several in each cell. Fruit of 5-12 dry, 1-seeded carpels ultimately 
separating from the axis, or a many-seeded capsule splitting from 
the top in 5 valves. Seeds usually small, sometimes enveloped in 
a covering of long, silky hairs. — A large Order, most abundant in 
warm countries, but inhabiting nearly all regions except the 
coldest. 
Cotton is obtained from the covering of the seeds of various species of 
Gossypmm, a genus of this Order. Several kinds are cultivated in India, all 
having large yellow flowers with a purple centre. 
Herbs or shrubs. Leaves simple. Filaments united in a tube. 
Staminal tube dividing into short, free, anther-bearing fila- 
ments. Carpels 1-seeded. 
Bracteoles 3. Styles stigmatic along their free ends . 1. Malva. 
Bracteoles none. Stigmas capitate 2. Sida. 
Staminal tube bearing the anthers on its surface. Carpels 
several- seeded ........ 3. Hibiscus. 
Trees. Leaves compound. Filaments united only at the base . 4. Bombax. 
1. MALVA. The classical name of some member of the 
Order, probably the Hollyhock, Althcea rosea . — Temperate regions 
of the Old World. 
Hairy or pubescent herbs. Leaves long-stalked, orbicular, 
cordate, more or less lobed, crenate or sharply toothed. Flowers 
stalked or nearly sessile, in axillary clusters. Bracteoles 3. Calyx 
bell-shaped, 5-lobed. Petals longer than the calyx, notched. 
Stamens united in a tube separating at the top into short, free, 
anther-bearing filaments. Ovary 10-12-celled, carpels arranged 
in a ring round a central axis ; styles united for about half their 
length, stigmatic along their free ends ; ovule solitary in each 
cell. Fruit enclosed in the persistent calyx ; carpels indehiscent, 
1-seeded, ultimately separating from the axis. 
