MALLOW FAMILY 
79 
Carpels not reticulate, puberulent on back; petals much surpassing the calyx. 
1. M. rotundifolia. 
Carpels rugose-reticulate on back. 
Petals much surpassing the calyx; carpels glabrate at maturity, the margin 
entire or only obscurely denticulate ; calyx-lobes mostly closed over 
the mature fruit.2. M. borealis. 
Petals only slightly larger than the calyx; carpels pubescent on the back, the 
margin winged and denticulate ; calyx-lobes spreading or erect. 
3. M. parviflora. 
1. M. rotundifolia E. Dwarf Mallow. Stems procumbent; leaves 
round heart-shaped on very long petioles, crenate, obscurely lobed; petals 
whitish or pale blue.—Weed from Eur. 
2. M. borealis Wallm. Bull Mallow. Widely branching, 4.3 to 
8.6 dm. high; pedicels tending to be reflexed in fruit; petals pinkish.— 
Weed from Eur. 
3. M. parviflora L. Cheese-weed. Habit of no. 2; petals pinkish — 
Weed from Eur. Very common in waste places and useful as a dry 
fodder when dead ripe. 
3. SIDALCEA Gray 
Herbs with rounded leaves. Flowers in terminal racemes or clusters, 
perfect or with staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants. Sta- 
minate flowers often with more or less imperfect pistil and pistillate 
flowers often with more or less imperfect stamens. Bractlets none (rare¬ 
ly 1). Stamen tube double. Fruit consisting of 5 to 9 carpels. (Sida, a 
genus of this family, and Alkea, ancient name for a mallow, alluding 
to the appearance and relationship of-these plants.) 
1. S. diploscypha (T. & G.) Gray. Erect annual 1.6 to 4.8 dm. high; 
basal leaves crenate, the upper more or less parted or divided; flowers in 
terminal clusters; petals truncated or merely retuse.—Valleys or low hills. 
2. S. malvaeflora (Moc. & Sesse) Gray. Checker-bloom. Stems 
erect or ascending, several from a woody perennial root, 4 to 7 dm. high; 
leaves crenate or once or twice palmately cleft; raceme loose, 7 to 28 cm. 
long; flowers of 2 sorts on different plants, one perfect with large corol¬ 
las. the other pistillate with smaller corollas; petals deeply emarginate.— 
Plains, valleys and low hills. 
4. MALVASTRUM Gray. False Mallow 
Herbs or shrubs, mostly hoary-pubescent or tomentose, with com¬ 
monly angular leaves. Flowers commonly in narrowly paniculate ra¬ 
cemes. Bractlets slender or filiform. Carpels 5 or more, 1 to 3-seeded, 
often splitting into 2 valves. (Malva, Mallow, and aster, disparaging 
Latin suffix, not genuine or true.) 
1. M. fasciculatum (Nutt.) Greene. Shrub 1 to 2 m. high, with long 
slender wand-like branches; leaves round-ovate or somewhat heart- 
shaped, irregularly or obscurely lobed, crenate; calyx-lobes ovate, obtuse 
or with a very short point; petals rose-purple, 1.2 to 1.8 cm. long; carpels 
smooth, promptly splitting open.—Dry hills, cent, to S. Cal. 
5. GOSSYPIUM L. Common Cotton 
Herbs or shrubs. Styles united into one; stigmas 3 to 5. Seeds numer¬ 
ous, bearing cotton. (Ancient name of the cotton plant.) 
