


NATURAL ORDERS 101 
It is to this group that the Adansonia, or Baobab-tree, said 
to attain the age of 5,000 years, belongs ; in fact, many of the 
plants belonging to this group are trees with barrel-shaped 
stems, enormous flowers, and beautiful petals. The Hibiscus, 
cultivated in English hothouses, grows wild in the tropics, and 
is very often planted to form garden hedges. The most 
common species has beautiful large red flowers. 
The most important plant, from the economic 
point of view, is the Cottan-plant, calico being 
manufactured from the hairs of the seeds. In some other 
plants of the Order, as, for instance, a species of Hibiscus, 
the bast fibres are strong enough to make hemp. Many other 
plants are medicinal. 
Uses. 
GERANIACE. 
MEADOW GERANIUM (Geranium pratense). A herb 
with erect stems and palmately-divided leaves. 
Inflorescence : flowers axillary, on long stalks, bluish purple, 
and large. | 
Calyx: sepals 5, 
Type. 
ae a Fee 3 — 
free, inferior. 
Corolla: petals5, 
free, hypogy- | 
nous. | 
Andrecium: sta- 
mens 5+5, free, 
hypogynous, in 2 
rows ; the 5 outer 
are longer, alter- | Af 
nating with the | a & 
tals; and lear 2 me ges 
P : : | Fic. 71.—MEpDIAN VERTICAL SECTION OF 
ng nectaries at GERANIUM PRATENSE. 
| their base. 

Gynecium : carpels 5, joined, superior. The style, generally 
called the bewk, separates at its apex into 5 styles, which bear 
5 stigmatic surfaces. When ripe, the 5 carpels become de- 
tached, and bend or roll back, being spirally twisted and 
