MALVACEiE. 
19 
2. SID A, Linn. 
Bracteoles 0. Calyx 5-toothed to middle ; lobes deltoid. Staminal 
column without any barren teeth. Ovary 5-10 celled ; ovules solitary, 
pendulous ; style filiform, with a capitate stigma. Carpels small, hard, 
dry, uniserial, separating from the axis when ripe, usually awned. — 
Herbs or undershrubs with entire leaves and small yellowish or white 
flowers, solitary or fascicled in the axils of the leaves. Distrib. Species 
80, mostly American, several universal tropical weeds. 
Leaves cordate about as broad as long. 
Leaves thick ; pedicels short 1. S. cordifolia. 
Leaves thin, very small ; pedicels short 2. S. diffusa. 
Leaves thin ; pedicels long. 
Prostrate ; carpels muticous 3. S. humilis. 
Erect; carpels awned 4. S. glutinosa. 
Leaves several times longer than broad. 
Leaves large, thin ; both sides green 5. S. carpinifolia. 
Leaves firmer, small, grey beneath. 
Leaves rounded at the base 6. S. spinosa. 
Leaves cuneate at the base 7. S. rhombifolia. 
1. S. cordifolia, Linn.; DC. Prod. i. 464. A biennial shrubby herb 
softly pilose all over. Leaves cordate, round or ovate, 1-2 in. long, 
thick, soft, crenate, obtuse ; petiole 1-1^ in. long, with dense spreading 
hairs. Pedicels short. Calyx thick, softly pilose. Carpels 8-10, 
with rugose borders, tipped with 2 long awns, ciliated with deflexed 
hairs. S. rotundifolia and borbonica, Cav. S. altheifolia, Sw. S. wal- 
therisefolia and ciliosa, Bojer. 
Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Seychelles, common. A universal tropical weed. 
Mauve a feuilles veloutees. 
2. S. diffusa, 3.B.K. ; 1)0. Prod. i. 463. Stems densely tufted, 
wiry, wide-trailing, thinly pilose upwards. Leaves round, obtuse, 
slightly cordate, thin, inciso-crenate, i in. each way, greenish, with a 
thin coating of stellate hairs beneath ; stipules setaceous ; petiole 
in. long. Flowers solitary from the axils, on pedicels about as long as 
the leaves. Calyx ■§• in. deep, thinly pilose ; teeth deltoid, as long as 
the tube. Petals bright yellow, i in. deep. Carpels 5, glabrescent, 
truncate at the top, obovoid-trigonous, not so long as the calyx. 
Seychelles, amongst grass on the shores of Praslin and Silhouette, Home, 433 ! 
Trop. America and Polynesia. 
3. S. humilis, Willd. ; DC. Prod. i. 463. A biennial, with trailing 
slender thinly-bristly branches. Leaves round-cordate, cuspidate, thin, 
green on both sides, sparsely hairy, inciso-crenate, 1-2 in. long and 
broad ; petiole \ in. long, clothed with fine spreading hairs. Pedicels 
long. Upper leaves of the branches often much reduced. Calyx-teeth 
green, thin, sparsely bristly. Carpels 5, small, not awned, much 
shorter than the calyx, not furrowed down the back. S. unilocularis, 
DHerit. Btirp. t. 56. S. calycina, Cav. 
