158 
PLANTS INDIGENOUS TO 
[Malvacete. 
Order MALVACEAE. 
Juss. Gen. 271. 
Flowers hermaphrodite, rarely unisexual. Calyx 5- very rarely 3- or 4- or 6- 
cleft, or seldom spatliaceous; its lobes valvate in aestivation. Petals as many as lobes 
of the calyx, twisted in hud, connate at the base until the staminal tube. Stamens 
indefinite, rarely definite in number, very seldom reduced to 5. Filaments united into 
a column, almost always free towards the summit. Anthers kidney-shaped, one-celled, 
bivalved. Follen-grains globose, asperous. Staminodia none. Ovary with five or more 
seldom less cells, sessile. Ovules affixed to the inner angle of the cells. Styles as 
many as ovary-cells, free or connate. Stigmas free, rarely coalescent. Eruit consisting 
of free or coherent carpels, arranged around a central column or forming a loculicidal 
or septicidal capsule; carpels or cells 5 or more, rarely less. Albumen usually scanty, 
fleshy-mucilaginous. Embryo arcuate. Cotyledons foliaceous, plicate. Badicle cylin¬ 
drical. 
Herbs or shrubs, seldom trees, frequently star-hairy and mucilaginous, abundant 
in hotter regions of the world, gradually declining in number towards the colder 
regions of the globe, but not extending to the polar zone. Leaves alternate, simple, 
usually herbaceous, often lobed, stipulate. Inflorescence various, mostly axillary 
with a solitary flower. Calyx usually persistent, not unfrequently surrounded by an 
involucre, very rarely (in a certain species of Pavonia) not expanded during antbesis. 
Petals prevailingly yellow or red, exceptionally (in some Pavonia) never expanding. 
Base of staminal tube dilated and covering the ovaries.— Midi. Gen. 978 ; Lindl. Veg. 
Kingd. ed. iii. 368. 
Malvaceae touch in their affinity not only on the other columniferous families, 
but verge also to Geraniaceae and Phytolacceae. 
The Australian genera, with which we are acquainted, are Lavatera, Malva (Mal- 
vastrum), Pavonia, Hibiscus (including Eugosia), Abelmoschus, Paritium, Thespesia, 
Sturtia, Gossypium, Sida (including Abutilon, Abutilaea, Eleischeria, Hoheria, Law 
rencia), Halothamnus and Howittia. Of these Sida and Hibiscus are far the richest 
in species; the latter genus seems, however, not to advance to our colony, although 
a few species occur southward as far as the Lower Darling Hiver and at Port Lincoln. 
HALOTHAMNUS. 
F. M. Second Gen. Hep. on the Veg. of Viet. p. 10. 
Flowers dioecious. Calyx almost bell-shaped, plicate, short 5- or 6-toothed, without an involucre. 
Male flowers : Petals 5 rarely 6, unguiculate, spathulate, connate at the base with the slender staminal 
tube. Stamens 14-20; the free parts of the filaments arising fasciculate from the summit of the 
