Dicotyledojis with Polypetalous Flowers . 
*7 
Natural Order 
MALVACEAE. Tab. 14. 
D IAGNOSIS. - H erbs shrubs or trees, with alternate stipulate leaves. 
Flowers regular. Sepals 5, connate below; valvate in bud. Stamens 
hypogynous, indefinite, monadelphous ; anthers 1 -celled. Pistil syncarpous. 
Distribution. —A considerable Natural Order, generally dispersed throughout the warmer regions 
of the Globe : absent from the Arctic zone. The Baobab (Adansonia), the most gigantic member of 
the Order, the trunk attaining a diameter of 30 feet, though not proportionally tall, occurs in Equa¬ 
torial Africa and in India. 
Number of British Genera, 3; Species, 5. 
Flowers usually axillary, in fascicles or solitary. 
Calyx often furnished with an involucre of three or more bracts, as Mallow (Malva) with three bracts, 
Hibiscus usually with numerous bracts. 
Petals 5, inserted upon the base of the staminal tube ; twisted-imbricate in bud. 
Pollen in Mallow large, globose, muricate. 
Carpels usually arranged in a single whorl, connate, the ovary 5- or many-celled ; in Malo'pe capitate. 
Seeds with or without albumen. 
USES, &c.—The Malvaceae are generally mucilaginous, destitute of hurtful properties, and characterised by a 
tenacious liber, often used for rough cordage. Cotton consists of the long hairs investing the seeds of a few species 
of Gossypium, cultivated throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions. 
Plollyhock (Althooa rosea), Lavatera, Mallows, and several greenhouse and stove plants belonging to the genera 
Hibiscus and Abutilon, are generally cultivated for ornament. 
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