The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 37

1. STUaRTIA, L.

Sepals 5, rarely 6, ovate or lanceolate. Petals 5, rarely 6, obovate, crenulate. Stamens monadelphous below. Pod 5-celled. Seeds 1 or 2 in each cell, crustaceous, anatropous, ascending. Embryo straight, nearly as long as the alb.u.men; radicle longer than the cotyledons.--Shrubs with membranaceous deciduous oblong-ovate serrulate leaves, soft-downy beneath, and large short-peduncled flowers solitary in their axils.

(Named for _John Stuart_, Marquis of Bute.)

1. S. Virginica, Cav. Petals 5, white (1' long); sepals ovate; style 1; stigma 5-toothed; pod globular, blunt; seeds not margined.--Woods, Va., and southward.

2. S. pentagyna, L'Her. Leaves larger, 5--6' long; sepals acute; petals often 6; styles 5, distinct; pod angled, pointed; seeds wing-margined.--Mountains of Ky., Car., and southward.

2. GORDNIA, Ellis. LOBLOLLY BAY.

Sepals 5, rounded, concave. Petals 5, obovate. Stamens 5-adelphous, one cl.u.s.ter adhering to the base of each petal. Style 1. Pod ovoid, 5-valved; the valves separating from the persistent axis; cells 2--8-seeded. Seeds pendulous. Embryo straightish, with a short radicle, and thin longitudinally plaited cotyledons.--Shrubs or small trees, with large and showy white flowers on axillary peduncles. (Dedicated by Dr.

Garden to his "old master, _Dr. James Gordon_ of Aberdeen," and by Ellis to a London nurseryman of the same name.)

1. G. Lasianthus, L. (LOBLOLLY BAY.) Leaves coriaceous and persistent, lanceolate-oblong, narrowed at the base, minutely serrate, smooth and s.h.i.+ning; pod pointed; seeds winged above.--Swamps near the coast, Va.

and southward. May--July.--Petals 1' long.

ORDER 20. MALVaCEae. (MALLOW FAMILY.)

_Herbs or shrubs, with alternate stipulate leaves and regular flowers, the calyx valvate and the corolla convolute in the bud, numerous stamens monadelphous in a column, and united at base with the short claws of the petals, 1-celled anthers, and kidney-shaped seeds._--Sepals 5, united at base, persistent, often involucellate with a whorl of bractlets forming a sort of exterior calyx. Petals 5. Anthers kidney-shaped, opening along the top. Pistils several, the ovaries united in a ring or forming a several-celled pod. Seeds with little alb.u.men; embryo curved, the leafy cotyledons variously doubled up.--Mucilaginous, innocent plants, with tough bark and palmately-veined leaves. Flower-stalks with a joint, axillary.

Tribe I. MALVEae. Columns of stamens anther-bearing at the top. Ovaries and carpels 5--20 or more, closely united in a ring around a central axis, from which they separate after ripening.

[*] Stigmas occupying the inner face of the styles; carpels 1-seeded, falling away separately.

1. Althaea. Involucel of 6 to 9 bractlets.

2. Malva. Involucel of 3 bractlets. Petals obcordate. Carpels rounded, beakless.

3. Callirrhoe. Involucel of 1--3 bractlets or none. Petals truncate.

Carpels beaked.

4. Napaea. Involucel none. Flowers dicious. Stamens few (15--20).

Carpels beakless.

[*][*] Stigmas terminal, capitate; carpels 1--few-seeded, usually dehiscent.

5. Malvastrum. Involucel of 3 bractlets or none. Seed solitary, filling the cell, ascending.

6. Sida. Involucel none. Seed solitary in the cells, pendulous.

7. Sphaeralcea. Bractlets 3. Seeds 2 or 3 in each cell.

8. Abutilon. Involucel none. Seeds 3--9 in each cell.

9. Modiola. Bractlets 3. Seeds 2 in each cell, with a transverse part.i.tion between them.

Tribe II. HIBISCEae. Column of stamens anther-bearing for a considerable part of its length, naked and 5-toothed at the very apex. Pod mostly 5-celled, loculicidal, leaving scarcely any axis in the centre after opening.

10. Kosteletzkya. Involucel of several bractlets. Pod 5-celled, 5-seeded.

11. Hibiscus. Involucel of many bractlets. Pod 5-celled, many-seeded.

1. ALTHae'A, L. MARSH-MALLOW.

Calyx surrounded by a 6--9-cleft involucel. Otherwise as in Malva. (Old Greek and Latin name, from ????, _to cure_, in allusion to its healing properties.)

A. OFFICINaLIS, L. (MARSH-MALLOW.) Stem erect, 2--4 high; leaves ovate or slightly heart-shaped, toothed, sometimes 3-lobed, velvety-downy; peduncles axillary, many-flowered; flowers pale rose-color.--Salt marshes, coast of N. Eng. and N. Y. Aug., Sept.--Perennial root thick, abounding in mucilage, the bases of the _Pates de Guimauve_. (Nat. from Eu.)

2. MaLVA, L. MALLOW.

Calyx with a 3-leaved involucel at the base, like an outer calyx. Petals obcordate. Styles numerous, stigmatic down the inner side. Fruit depressed, separating at maturity into as many 1-seeded and indehiscent round kidney-shaped blunt carpels as there are styles. Radicle pointing downward. (An old Latin name, from the Greek name, a????, having allusion to the emollient leaves.)

[*] _Flowers fascicled in the axils._

M. ROTUNDIFLIA, L. (COMMON MALLOW.) _Stems proc.u.mbent_ from a deep biennial root; _leaves_ round-heart-shaped, on very long petioles, crenate, _obscurely-lobed_; petals twice the length of the calyx, whitish; carpels p.u.b.escent, even.--Waysides and cultivated grounds; common. (Nat. from Eu.)

M. SYLVeSTRIS, L. (HIGH M.) Biennial; _stem erect, branched_ (2--3 high); _leaves sharply 5--7-lobed_; petals thrice the length of the calyx, large, purple and rose-color; carpels wrinkled-veiny.--Waysides.

(Adv. from Eu.)

M. CRiSPA, L. (CURLED M.) A _tall, erect_ annual, with round and angled toothed and _crisped leaves_, and small _sessile flowers_ crowded in the axils.--Sparingly escaped from old gardens. (Adv. from Eu.)

[*][*] _Flowers only in the upper axils, somewhat racemose or paniculate._

M. MOSCHaTA, L. (MUSK M.) A low perennial, with the _stem-leaves 5-parted, and the divisions once or twice parted or cleft_ into linear lobes, faintly musky-scented, the _flowers rose-color_ or white (1' in diameter) on short peduncles crowded on the stem and branches, the fruit downy.--Escaped from gardens to waysides. (Adv. from Eu.)

M. aLCEA, L., with the _stem-leaves only once 5-parted or cleft_, the lobes incised, large flowers like the last, but the fruit smooth, and bractlets of the involucel ovate, has escaped from gardens. (Adv. from Eu.)

3. CALLiRRHOe, Nutt.

Calyx either naked or with a 3-leaved involucel at its base. Petals wedge-shaped and truncate (usually red-purple). Styles, etc., as in Malva. Carpels 10--20, straightish, with a short empty beak, separated within from the 1-seeded cell by a narrow projection, indehiscent or partly 2-valved. Radicle pointing downward. (Name drawn from Greek mythology.)

[*] _Involucel 3-leaved._

1. C. triangulata, Gray. Hairy-p.u.b.escent; stems nearly erect (2 high) from a tuberous root; leaves triangular or halberd-shaped, or the lowest rather heart-shaped, coa.r.s.ely crenate; the upper incised or 3--5-cleft; flowers panicled, short-pedicelled (purple); involucel as long as the 5-cleft 5-nerved calyx; carpels not rugose.--Dry prairies, Ind. to Minn., and southward.

2. C. involucrata, Gray. Hirsute or hispid, proc.u.mbent; leaves rounded, 5--7-parted or -cleft, the segments incisely lobed; peduncles elongated, 1-flowered; calyx 5-parted, the lanceolate 3--5-nerved sepals twice as long as the involucel; petals red or purplish, carpels indehiscent, rugose-reticulated.--Minn. to Tex.

[*][*] _Involucel none; calyx 5-parted; carpels strongly rugose._

3. C. alcaeodes, Gray. Strigose-p.u.b.escent; stems slender (1 high), erect from a perennial root; lower leaves triangular-heart-shaped, incised, the upper 5--7-parted, laciniate, the uppermost divided into linear segments; flowers (rose-color or white) corymbose, on slender peduncles--Barren oak-lands, S. Ky. to Kan. and Neb.

4. C. digitata, Nutt. Spa.r.s.ely hirsute or glabrous, erect; leaves few, round-cordate, 5--7-parted, the cauline commonly with linear divisions; peduncles subracemose, long, filiform; flowers red-purple to white.--Kan. to Tex.

4. NAPae'A, Clayt. GLADE MALLOW.