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q j , M A L Y A pufilla.
Small-Jlowered Mallow.
M 0 NA D E L P H IA Polyandria•
G e n . C h a r . Cal. doubles the outermoft of three leaves.
Seed-cafes numerous ; feeds folitary.
S p e c . C h a r . Stem declining. Leaves roundifh-
heart-lhaped, flightly five-lobed. Flowers pedunculated,
generally in pairs. Petals the length of
the calyx.
S yn . Malva parviflora. Hudf. FI. An. 307.
M. minor, flore parvo cteruleo. Rail Syn. 251.
W E have this for the Malva parvifora of Mr. Hudfon, on
the authority of a fpecimen communicated by that gentleman
to Mr. Relhan, and faid' to have been gathered by himfelf in a
wild ftate near Hythe in Kent. Some feeds remaining upon
it being fown, vegetated, and the fpecimen here delineated is a
regular defcendant of the original plant. Specimens mod pre-
cifely agreeing with it are in the Linnsean herbarium from the
Upfal garden, and are incautioufly marked by Linnaeus M.parvi-
fora, though evidently diftindb from the genuine original ones
io named, defcribed in Amcen. Acad v. 3. 416, and well repre-
fented by Jacquin’s figure, Hort. Vind. t. 39. In that true
M. parviflora the leaves are very angular, and fharply ferrated ;
the flowers felfile (or nearly fo) 3 or 4 together in axillary
clufters.
There is more difficulty in diftinguifhing Mr. Hudfon’s
plant (which we have named pufilla) from M. rotundifolia, to
which it is rnoft nearly allied, and future experience muft fhew
whether they be permanently diftindt or not. In leaves and
item they are much alike ; but M. pufilla appears to have never
more than two flowers from each axilla, inftead of 4, 5, or a
ftill greater number; and the petals fcarcely exceed the calyx,
inftead of being more than twice as long. In the coverings of
the feeds, fo important in the neighbouring genus of Geranium,
we find no difference. In both fpecies when dry they are reticulated
with tranfverfe wrinkles. - -
In the Flora Anglica this plant is marked as biennial. We
have not quoted the Bot. Arr. becaufe every thing that is there
faid upon the fubjeft is either taken from Mr. Hudfon’s account,
or from the real M. parviflora of Linnseus.