108 
Spring Flora of Oklahoma 
FAMILY 57. MALVACEAE. Mallow Family. 
Herbs or shrubs, with alternate, mostly palmately- 
veined leaves. Stipules small, deciduous. Flowers regu¬ 
lar, perfect, often large, rarely dioecious or polygamous. 
Calyx of 5, more or less united valvate sepals. Petals 5, 
hypogynous, convolute. Stamens many, monadelphous, 
forming a central column around the pistil, united with 
the bases of the petals. Ovary several-celled, entire or 
lobed. Fruit capsular, several-celled. Seeds reniform, 
globose or obovoid. 
Stigmas linear, on the inner side of the style-branches. 
Carpels beakless, petals obcordate. I. Maiva. 
Carpels beaked; petals truncate. II. Callirhoe. 
Stigmas capitate, terminal. III. Malvastrum. 
I. MALVA (Tourn.) L. 
Pubescent or glabrate herbs, with dentate, lobed, or 
dissected leaves, and axillary or terminal, solitary or 
clustered, perfect flowers. Calyx 5 cleft. Bractlets of 
the involucels 3. Petals 5. Stamen-column anther-bear¬ 
ing at the summit. Cavities of the ovary several or nu¬ 
merous, 1-ovuled. Carpels arranged in a circle, 1-seeded, 
beakless. Seed ascending. 
1. Maiva rot undifolia L. Cheeses. Stems procumbent from a 
deep biennial root, leaves round-heart-shaped, on very long petioles, 
crenate, obscurely lobed. Petals twice the length of the calyx, whit¬ 
ish. Carpels pubescent, even. 
In waste places. April-November. Oklahoma County. 
II. CALLIRHOE Nutt. 
Herbs, with lobed or divided leaves, and showy, axil¬ 
lary or terminal, perfect flowers. Bractlets of the in- 
volucel 1-3. Calyx deeply 5-parted. Petals cuneate, trun¬ 
cate, often toothed or fimbriate. Stamen-column anther¬ 
bearing at the summit. Cavities of the ovary many, 1- 
